Series: Call Me
Romans 10:13 ESV
Matthew 19:26 ESV
As we wrap up the series on Calling on God (or others) for guidance we remember the ultimate promise found in scripture.
Romans 10:13 we read, “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That scripture reminds me of the first time God gave me the opportunity to tell someone God loved her. She was a woman who was just a few years younger than me.
She told me she was not raised in church and her parents were not raised in church.
As I looked at her that day, processing what she had just told me, I thought of the generations upon generations of people in my family who went to church all their lives.
My dad’s people were mostly Baptists. Several generations back my great-grandparents and their great-grandparents went to church.
My Mom’s people were Methodists. Once again several generations back my great-grandparents and their great-grandparents went to church.
That was just the way it was with us. My dad did tweak it a bit when he joined the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) when he was an older teenager.
In the same way I tweaked it a bit when I was 15 and I joined a local Methodist church because it’s where all my friends went to church.
That was the extent of changes we made in my family. It wasn’t a question of going to church, it was a question of where you would go to church.
I personally liked going to church and it certainly wasn’t a hardship for me. My friends were at church and I went to church. It’s interesting that in Sunday School I was with friends, but when church started I always sat beside my dad. I wasn’t told I had to do that…I wanted to sit with him.
This young girl I met that day had no history of church.
Not only did her parents not go to church, she said no one in her family went to church.
I asked her if she had friends who went to church and she told me she did not.
She was crying the day I met her and I knew she was struggling so I asked her how I could help her.
She didn’t know.
She did tell me she had a problem she had to figure out so I asked her if I could pray for her.
She shook her head “yes”.
So I prayed. I don’t remember what I prayed but after I told her that Jesus loves her and wants to help her. I asked her if she wanted Jesus to help her and I explained that if she wanted Jesus in her life, she could invite Him to walk with her.
She shook her head “yes”.
I gave her a very simple prayer she could pray when she was upset or felt alone. I told her Jesus would always be there when she asked for help.
I told her when we call on Jesus, anytime day or night, Jesus will hear.
By the end of our conversation she had stopped crying.
I invited her to come to church where I went but I also told her there were many churches in that community and there were many people who would be glad to help her, pray for her, and love her.
I told her she was not alone.
I told her she would never be alone all the days of her life because Jesus was just a whisper away.
The last words I said to her were, “saying the name of Jesus is a prayer.”
I believe that because when I pray, I speak the name of Jesus and I have a sense that the Spirit is near.
Since that day I’ve shared the same message with others, children, men, and women. Since I worked in children’s ministry for many years that was my focus group.
After I turned fifty, God surprised me and called me to go to Seminary where I studied a segment of classes in Evangelism. I studied many approaches and was trained to teach evangelism in churches. I learned a lot and all of it was helpful, but at the end of the day, loving someone enough to take the time to gently pray for them, find out if they are struggling with something, and tell them that Jesus personally loves them is what really matters.
My “take-away” was that love is the answer.
Making judgements about people is not my job.
Jesus doesn’t need my help in knowing how someone else needs to change or do.
Jesus IS God.
In Matthew 19:26 we are told, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Some might say that referred to a specific incident, but I think it’s still true 100% of the time.
Jesus knows exactly what every person we meet needs. If we are unsure about what to say to someone who has never called on the name of Jesus, we can simple ask and Jesus will show us and/or tell us what to do or say. God knows the heart of every person. Without exception. Just turn to Jesus, ask, listen, and wait.
Spiritual Practice: Pray
Ask Jesus if there is someone you know who is struggling. Offer to pray for them. Pray they will open their heart and let Jesus help them.
In God, Deborah
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