You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 15:16

Thank you to all of you who have been reading my posts and to those of you who have responded back with words of encouragement! Writing these posts and likewise being able to discuss and pray with many of you on the topics has strengthened my personal walk with the Lord over these past few weeks. And for those of you who read my posts and want to comment, but don’t want to comment publicly, I definitely ask that you use the “Contact” page of my blog and leave a message there. All it does is send your message directly to my personal Email address. If I know that even one single person is blessed by a post each day, then it makes it all worth it for me! So don’t be afraid to message me or comment!

For those of you wondering why I started this blog, a few of my brothers in my discipleship group had initially encouraged me to write Emails and share what God was putting on my heart. So I started writing these Emails and sending them to a few groups that I’m part of, as well as to a handful of family and friends. I got a few mentions in the first week that I needed to put these on a blog so that it’s easier for people to go back to my old writings (instead of digging through Emails), and also so that they would be easier to share with others outside of my mailer list.

Reluctantly, I said to myself that if it was something God wanted me to do, then I would need to get confirmation by getting X number of unsolicited requests to put them on a blog. If I hit that number, then I would step out in faith and just do it. I seriously thought I set the number high enough to make it difficult (yet still somewhat feasible) to reach, because I honestly didn’t want to put them out there for people outside of my close circle to see. But to my surprise, that target was hit by my second week of writing. To me that was confirmation from the Lord that He wanted me to step out of my comfort zone (as usual) and follow His lead.

I’ve received many messages of people being blessed and challenged by these posts, so I do feel like there was definite purpose in writing down my thoughts. Thus, I’d like to pass on the encouragement on to those who also have the desire to share God’s love through writing or any other form of communication, but are held back by many of the hindrances I mentioned in my post yesterday (For When I Am Weak). There’s an entire world of lost and hurting people out there, and I feel like even in this group of us reading this blog, we can have a far-reaching and long-lasting impact on the world if we’re willing to step out and allow God to use us.

So that leads me to my thought for the day. How do we extend our reach to share the Gospel?

I’m encouraged that within my community of brothers and sisters here in Dallas, that I see this happening already. At the church I go to, our leadership has made recent decisions to become key partners in prolific mission organizations located across the country and south of our country’s border, to name a few. We’ve begun to restructure our house church ministry (i.e. small groups) to ensure that we are able to reach and plug in everyone at our church, offering more accountability and support to those lost in the mix. Various brothers and sisters have been going out on missions trips, ministering to people while on business travel, and recently sharing daily devotionals with their own small groups. A good friend just traveled to the deep south to lead worship and volunteer at a missions organization geared towards sparking revival of Christ’s church nationwide. We’re all gearing up for year-end ministries to serve the homeless, the underprivileged, and the less fortunate. A few couples reading this are in the process of adopting internationally. And hopefully God will also use things other things we each do or create in His Name, to impact someone who may be on the other side of the world, via the internet. Matter of fact, I recently spoke to my Dad, who told me that he’s been sharing my Emails with people in the Philippines!

These are just a few examples from just a handful of people in my personal community. It’s amazing what God can accomplish through us when we’re willing to say yes to Him!

Now this is not to pat ourselves on the backs and say that we’re there or that we’re the ones doing something. This is all God, and it’s all the Holy Spirit working through us. All glory, honor, and credit goes to Him. We are just the tools and instruments, the hands and the feet, that He uses to carry out His will. If we don’t do it, then He will use someone else– so for that I cannot boast about anything that He, in His sovereignty, chooses me to do.

There is much work to be done, and we can only do this through God’s calling and empowerment, otherwise our own efforts are futile. As Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matt. 9:37, Luk. 10:2)

Hopefully my message today simply gives inspiration to keep pushing the Gospel forward, however God is leading you to do it. I’ve never considered myself a writer, and even 3 weeks I would have never imagined that I’d be writing on a faith-based blog.

And for those of you thinking that you have to do something extreme in order to extend your reach, that’s not the case either. There are many opportunities for us to make an impact, without even having to venture outside of our daily routes or routines.

I will keep pushing this point in my posts because it’s quite simple, and we can all do it: Pray and genuinely ask God specifically to present you with opportunities to share His love and Gospel message every day. See what happens, seriously. And when He responds and you recognize those opportunities, step out in faith and take them! We are His workers, His “hands and feet” so-to-speak, so let’s take ownership of that responsibility and extend our reach for Christ!

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

[From November 11, 2015]