The Snyders in Germany

I am glad to feel like God is still using us in our time in America.  Not only have we had awesome opportunities to exhort and encourage friends and family in the churches but thankfully he still brings us into contact with those who have yet to follow Jesus.  Two nights ago was one such example. . .

Friday, November 22, 2013

I had a hard day with Peyton today since Amy wasn't there.  She misses her mom.  Desperately pressed into prayer that evening and felt like I got a vision of the eyes of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (that is Jesus as described in Revelation 5:5 [see also Gen. 49 and Numb. 24]).  They seemed to burn in my mind's eye with a loving fierceness.  As I was praying the presence prompted me to go to a local bar.  He prompted me to stop weeping over my difficulties and instead be strong and take courage.  So I stood up, cleaned my room and packed my bags.

When I went out that night on a walk I felt the presence of the lion and though I could not see him it was like I could see him running down the street expecting me to follow him.  I ran after the invisible lion and saw him turn into the bar.  I did not follow him in.  I was afraid.  Even though earlier I proudly told people that fear is a terrible decision maker I gave in.  I had never been in those bar though I'd walked past them a thousand times but I was so afraid.  "What will people think?  What if being in that place awoke some carnal desire in me and led me to sin?"  There even came the thought  "Doesn't Proverbs 7 instruct us to not even take the path past the house of an adulterous woman?"

I stopped in the street behind the bar.  "What am I so afraid of?"  I thought.  Didn't Jesus risk his reputation to share the truth by talking to the adulterous Samaritan woman while the two of them were alone at the well?  I do not desire the debauchery of the bar but I do desire Jesus.  This bar is the well of the hurting people of this community.  How do I expect any of them to be brave enough to come into the church when I am not brave enough to enter their bar?  I will just go in and see if I know someone" I reasoned with myself.

With a pounding heart I entered those doors to that most infamous institution for the first time in my life.  As I passed through the second door I experienced an anticlimactic reception.  A few people looked at me for a second and then nothing.  No one cared I was there so I looked through the bar for people I knew and quickly left without speaking to anyone.  Outside I was relieved by my experience but there was a problem.  The lion wanted to go back in.  I didn't.  But I dont want to be a wimp I want to be like the lion so we went into another grungy old bar up the road.

Again I was terrified but I pushed open the door and starred back at all the seated faces who were looking at me.  I hesitated and then just took the first open stool I could find.  A native American guy on my left started asking me what I was doing there.  We started talking and he kept saying.  "You know what!  I have to respect you.  You got a lot of balls coming into a bar and preaching Jesus."
"oh I'm not preaching.  If you want me to preach I can preach" I answered.
To which he retorted "okay go on and preach it!  I want to hear you preach it!"
I began explaining the gospel to the small audience around me.  A lady at the end of the bar overheard me and walked over.  I turned to see tears streaming down her eyes saying.  "Oh God oh God!  Why are you here why did God bring you here?"
We started talking and she just kept crying and confessing how she had turned away from her Christian upbringing.  As she cried I asked if I could pray for her and the man with her.  They each took one of my hands and I asked if I could pray for anything specific.  He asked for a good life but she paused for a minute and asked "for direction and that God would heal my two kids who I screwed up by my bad decisions."  She began weeping convulsively.

Then right there in the middle of the dirty, old smelly bar I got to bow my head and pray for these two hurting people.  I thanked God for his offer of forgiveness and redemption from any situation and for his steadfast love.  I thanked my Jesus for calling us back to himself and he strength to redeem us from our mistakes.  As the words hit her ears she crumbled and stood there sobbing uncontrollably under the realization of the unconditional love of God.  After the prayer the thin middle aged woman threw her arms around my neck hugged me while thanking me.  I felt really uncomfortable but at the same time I didn't pull away because I understood that it was from a pure affection and thankfulness that repentance had brought about in her life. They both thanked me profusely and I walked them to their car.  I reminded the woman that I had tried many things in life and that Jesus was the only one to bring real joy and satisfaction.  She froze, looked up at me and asked me to say it again.  "Jesus is the only thing that truly satisfies" I repeated.  She continued starring back at me apparently flabbergasted by the statement and so I repeated again.  "Only Jesus brings real satisfaction."

Do all those people remember the conversation like I do?  I pray so.

Either way I think this first experience is going to be far from the last experience I have "bar hopping with Jesus."

1. Give praise and affirmation - 

The tongue has the power of life and death - Proverbs 18:20

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her . . ." - Isaiah 40:1-2

I know that ultimately God must be the one who affirms my wife, children, friends and family.  That knowledge however, should not cause me to be become apathetic in my praise of others.  Such knowledge should rather drive me into being a more uplifting individual since I realize that it is of God to encourage the weak and fainthearted.  Joining him in his mission is sure to draw me nearer to him and his kind and gracious character.  I get to experience fellowship with my father God when we work together through my speech.  Furthermore, when some does arise that requires confrontation the addressed individuals will realize that God does not only speak when he is angry but all of his words are words of love.  Some are of forebodings of wrath while others are messages of affirmation, kindness and goodwill.  Let us then who speak speak as if uttering oracles of God.

2. Praise and affirm publicly - 

"a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3:17

If God thinks it is good to affirm and praise in front of others then it is safe to say that public affirmation is a very good thing.  It not only strongly affirms the one who is praised but it also motivates others to act in such a way as to receive similar praise.  I think if I heard God saying to a man as he died "well done good and faithful servant!  Enter your father's rest" then I think I would be pretty motivated to impersonate that man's faith.  In the same way when we see someone doing something well and faithfully we should praise that person.  Don't just take their helpfulness for granted.  Praise them and do it sometimes in front of others so that those people will also be motivated on to good works.
(In marriage praising your spouse publicly highly affirms her.  It stirs up other wives to live well.  It stirs up other husbands to also praise their wives.  It also stirs up young people to seek to live in a manner worthy of such actions)

3. Repeat -

"Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me." - 2 Peter 12-14

Many difficulties in marriage find their source in the fact that things which were once said are not often enough repeated.  Words of love and affirmation are lost in the haze of memory and after too much neglect some marriages break apart for lack of better communication.  But in this passage and many others the Bible clearly emphasizes the need for repetition.  The fact that Philippians 3:1 and Jude 1:5 repeat this point just confirms the need for us to be continually stirred up by the repetition of things we already know.  The doesn't mean that we just keep repeating the same mundane mantra.  We should be focused on the future and the development of our relationships into new realms.  But we cannot forget to repeat the stories and truths that have brought us to where we are.  Otherwise we build upon a crumbling foundation or become like a growing tree with rotting roots.  Our stories and history help set the course of the future.  
Knowing is not enough we must remember!