Thank you for praying, the Lord was faithful and though I did not see any results from the gospel message I gave last Friday evening nonetheless I trust that God's Word never returns empty without accomplishing what He desires. We were a small group and I included more of my own personal testimony - somehow that seemed right and so I trust that the Lord has used it.
I was praying for another message this morning as I will be speaking again next Monday evening at the Imperial Hotel in Stroud; probably to a different group of people all with different needs and different reasons for not believing in the Lord Jesus but nonetheless all needing to hear the truth that Jesus Christ is God and that He came to offer salvation to a desperate world. I was reading Psalm 126 and came to verse 5, 'those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy bringing his sheaves with him'. I know that this psalm is not really about witnessing to the gospel of Christ but nonetheless it seemed to be God's Word to me for next Monday. Not so much that I would speak about it but that I would put this word in my heart and stand on the truth of it - stand on the certainty that though I might weep at the apparent hardness of the ground or the difficulty in finding the right way to tell the message of Jesus - yet God is promising that there will be a harvest and that I, Ann Absolom, will come again with a shout of joy and I will bring the sheaves - I will bring those who have believed in Christ with me. I will one day see and know that the fields were indeed white and that I did my small part in bringing in the harvest.
I needed that this morning - needed to know that I was doing what the Lord would have me do - needed to hear Him speak and to again be assured that He saw, that He cared, that He was accomplishing His purposes and that He knew that those purposes were what concerned me. So I am now sitting at my desk looking out at a beautiful frost covered garden and marvelling at my God, my Father - wanting to cry tears of joy that He, the Creator of the universe would have revealed His truth, His grace, His amazing love to me.
Do you need to know His love this morning? Do you need to store up His truth in your heart? Do you need His grace or His mercy or His forgiveness? Come boldly to His throne of grace and find help in your time of need. Come quickly, do not let the enemy keep you locked up in guilt, in shame, in disappointment or sorrow - come running to your Father and let Him rejoice over you with shouts of joy. He is waiting and He will never disappoint you. He is there and He longs for you to hear His voice and to feel His arms around you. He is here, now, with you by His Spirit and He is whispering, today is a new day - whatever yesterday held for you it is gone. His mercies are new every morning, His grace is a never ending river in which you can swim for eternity and His love is powerful enough to enable you to speak and to live for His glory.
If you know someone who needs to hear the Gospel, please bring them along next Monday evening and also please pray that I will have the right words and that the Lord will give me the confidence and power to speak His Word without hesitation and with great joy.
