On December 25^th, many in the world will celebrate the birth of our Heavenly Savior, Jesus Christ.  Outside of Easter, this has to be the most agonizing holiday for Satan and the rest of the fallen angels.  Oh well …

 

Sure the devil has done everything possible to try to get people’s focus off what the Christmas holiday truly represents, by giving us Santa Claws and tons of debt come late January when the credit card bills come due … but because retailers greatly desire you and I to spend money this time of year, Christmas in one form or another shall prevail, we’re confident!

 

Whether it be Santa Claws or Stressful Claws (spelling intentional) … people simply delight in blessing others with gifts, don’t they?

 

Most of us reading this understand the connection made between God the Father giving the world His GREATEST gift to us at this time of year, that being Jesus Christ.   We would like to refocus your thinking just a little, if you’ll allow us, regarding “giving gifts” to keep things down here on earth a bit more in proper perspective in light of eternity this holiday season.

 

For those of us who are believers in Christ, we’re going to get to meet our heavenly Father one day face to face.  Jesus will most likely be the One to introduce Him to us.  Father’s lap might be so high we might need a modified Space Shuttle to get up there, or maybe we will be instantly made so big that we can easily sit on it.  However it works out, most likely we’ll want Him wrapping His huge yet gentle, tender hands around us, and impart His love to us in ways we simply cannot now imagine. 

 

At that moment in time, when He first speaks, how will we respond if He asks us this question:  “What special gifts have you brought me?”   

 

Let that question sink in very deeply.  Ponder it a great deal.  Sooner or later … the question is most assuredly going to be asked.  The matter is going to be addressed in some manner.  Every indication from scripture is that it will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ, where you and I will have ample opportunity to explain our reasoning for what we did while on earth, and our rewards to some degree will be based on what we say.  If Jesus should ask us WHY we spent so much money buying gifts at Christmas time, but never gave a second thought to putting some of that money into trusted ministries that are on the front line making themselves fully available to be used of God to help snatch souls from going to hell, what will our answer(s) be?   

 

No guilt trips here, please understand.  All we are trying to do is help people stay focused on what is going to count in eternity and what isn’t.  It’s tough to do, especially this time of year, with all the “obligations” that confront us, isn’t it? 

 

Can you think of any greater gift we could hand to our heavenly Father – any more special and precious gift we could lay at His feet that first moment we stand before Him … than lost souls who are now in heaven?

 

We exhort everyone reading this to think long and hard about THAT appointment we’ll each have with God one day.  I’ve got to believe we will want to see the biggest smile plastered on His face we could help bring about … by His grace of course.

 

“By His grace, of course.”  Let’s address that statement for just a Santa Claws twinkling moment. 

 

A special brother in the Lord, Harvey Feyen, and I had the privilege not long ago to sit across from a man who has spent much of his adult life in prison, (at age 44, that has been over 20 years). At the same time our dear wives, Kathleen and Colleen, ministered to women in another room who also have spent much of their time as well in prison for their drug related crimes. 

 

The brother we were conversing with was about to be released back out into the streets.  He was fearful, because he had been through this cycle so many times before.  Get released from prison; trust God for a job to try to support himself; get tempted to escape from life by getting drugged up; give into that temptation; start up the habit again; begin breaking the law again to support the drug habit; get caught; go back to prison.  This has been what much of life has been all about for him, and he sat at the end of the table with much pain on his face because it was evident that he had no more hope now than what he has had in the past.  “God – will this cycle EVER end?”

 

I guess Harvey felt to let me invest into this believer in Christ as much as I felt to, because I did most of the talking.  Please realize, when you are in a position to speak to someone like this, you may very well be the last person God will put in this individual’s life before they pass into eternity.  (The same goes for YOU. I hope you realize, when God gives you the opportunity to speak into anyone’s life.  We need to soberly realize what we say to them might well be the last words they’ll hear from any other human voice, prior to slipping into eternity).

 

In doing my very best, I tried to perceive what the Holy Spirit wanted me to impart to him.  Teen Challenge kept coming up, and by God’s grace, that will be his next spot to lay his head for the next year.  He had tried Teen Challenge once before: made it 10 days, but his flesh wouldn’t let him stay any longer.  It screamed for another drug high. 

 

After quite some time, I felt like I had deposited in him everything I could sense the Holy Spirit wanted me to say to him, and THEN something else came to mind. 

 

I began to share with him that it has been my observation that most Christians I have met over time have one ultimate goal in mind, and that is simply make it to heaven.  Beyond that … little more.  People with a history of drug addiction especially fit in this category, because being addicted to drugs usually involves breaking the law to one degree or another to support one’s habit, and life for them is not much different than the brother Harvey and I was speaking to.

 

I felt to share this observation with the brother.  I shared with him that many Christians I’ve met are very open and content to let others be players on the field, so to speak, and they’ll enjoy life and Christ by being a loyal fan in the bleachers for Jesus.

 

Then I shared with Him that I’ve met a fewer percentage out of the masses of Christians who have a much different perspective on life.  These are believers in Christ who simply refuse to accept floating through this life being “willy-nilly” about being used of God down on His harvest playing field.  These are people who declare, “I don’t want God to just use me to make a small dent in this world for the cause of Christ: I'm trusting God to use me to make a HUGE dent in this world for Christ!”

 

Well, you know where this is going, most likely.  I asked the brother what he was going to do with his life from this moment on.  I asked him if he was going to allow Satan to keep the ring through his nose and keep repeating the cycle leading to nowhere and maybe even hell if he stays on the same path he’s been on for way too many years.  Or - was he going to grow up and enlist in the Army of God, and for the first time in his life receive the necessary deliverance, healing and training to get on the path of the few who aren’t simply content staying “buck privates for Jesus their whole life down here.”  I then asked him if he wanted to aspire to be one of many crack (not as in “dope” either!) soldiers in the Army of God that will do anything our Commander asks them to do at whatever cost to rescue souls from hell and somehow become engaged in the disciplining  process.

 

I truly trust that he made his mind up that very evening, and one day in heaven, we’ll get to see all the "awards Jesus pins on his chest." 

 

You may not have the call of evangelism on your life like others do.  We realize that.  Again, no guilt trips.  But that does not mean you cannot daily determine to somehow invest in the cause of Christ to help raise up other crack frontline evangelists who are called to win souls. 

 

Someone has to recruit and then train those soldiers in the beginning.  Those soldiers for Jesus need to be encouraged, because Satan will try to discourage them at every turn.  Those soldiers need prayer for protection and direction from God; they need assurance when they are growing weary that they will ever make it through “boot camp;” they need help of all kinds to rise to the fullness of the call God has on their lives … and God will always give us assignments in helping prepare others in the Army of God, if we eagerly want those assignments from Him. 

 

Yet here’s the point in writing about this.  Is it solely God who determines just how many daily assignments we receive from Him, or do we play a much more critical part in it?  Does so much truly hinge on OUR determination to get engaged and stay engaged in this battle for lost souls, and then helping those newly saved souls find THEIR place in the Army of God as well? 

 

You may feel differently, but we believe it does hinge much more on us than what we may realize.  He never forces us to do something we truly don’t want to do.  He loves us so much that He lets us make choices on a daily basis, doesn’t He?  We can include Him in those choices, or we can make them on our own.  We can include the counsel of God’s Word and His Spirit as we make choices that involves our daily time, talents, and financial treasure … or we can allow “obligations” and “expectations of others” and “selfish interests” that screams for our attention to sidetrack us, can’t we?

 

Sure it’s His grace that enables us to declare that we want to make a HUGE dent in this world for the cause of Jesus Christ and then be able to tangibly do something to see that happen over our lifetime. However, will that door of grace open up fully to us if we are content to let others be “heroes of the faith” and we’ll just remain “spectators” in the bleachers until we die? 

 

If you’ve been content to remain a spectator for much too long, we hope God will use this Update to be a catalyst to move you down out of the stadium seats, walk out onto the playing field, and tell the Coach you are ready to pay whatever price must be paid to play on the team.  You’re done being an observer.  You now want others to observe YOU.

 

We have many exciting things to share what God is doing through this outreach, but we’ll save them for a future time.  God didn’t want this Ministry Update to be about what He’s doing through this outreach.  He wants certain ones reading this to have their OWN Ministry Update to share who may have a difficult time having one to share at this season of their life.  

 

It is truly really about making disciples after all, isn’t it?  Making disciples sometimes incorporates many issues that aren’t quite so obvious to the average person. 

 

If you’re are in relationship with Jesus Christ, from this moment on and forever … please NEVER AGAIN consider yourself to be “just an average player on the field.”  None of us fully know just how much God may have us in training to be the NEXT coach on His playing field to replace the one who God is using to tutor us now.   

 

Afterall, is the super-star hero the one God will reward the most, or will the coach who was used to help develop the abilities of that “hero” so he or she could one day become such a hero … be every bit as important in the overall scheme of things, and be worthy just as much of the same rewards the super-star hero has entitled coming to him or her?

 

Every time God takes one of His coaches to heaven, someone needs to backfill him or her.  God might well intend that person to be YOU.   Have you ever considered that...?

 

We would like to end this ministry update by saying thank you so much and God bless you for being such a vital and important part of this ministry in this past year and even beyond that.  If you have shared with others any of the Precious Testimonies or writings, referred anyone to our website, or perhaps even given a financial gift in the past, you may never see the fruit of your labors from the lives you have effected for the Kingdom in this lifetime.  Please know that God sees every little thing you may say or do for others, no matter how insignificant it may seem to us.  Your reward will be just as great when we finally do see whose lives were changed for the cause of Christ when we all get to heaven.  We love you and pray that you and your loved ones will have a very blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year for 2008 in reaching many souls for Jesus Christ!

 

In His Love & Service,

Norm & Kathleen Rasmussen