CATCH AND RELEASE

Matthew 4:19  "Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Fishers of men.  All of us are called to be witnesses of the Lord's goodness; the message of His love for all, His redeeming salvation for each soul.  We are to be a witness not only in what we say, but what we do. How do we show what the Lord has done for us?  Do we joyfully meet each day with excitement for what the Lord has for us that day, or do we complain to all that will listen about the unfairness of what our job is, what we have going on in our lives.  We all experience times when we would prefer to have a better day, and all understand when we have our moments, but some Christian people I know simply complain all the time.  There is always something wrong with everything. Never a cheerul, thankful word for what the Lord has done for them.  What do you suppose those who do not know our Lord think when they get a steady dose of this witness?  He is certainly not witnessing for the Lord.....and so often I don't think they realize what they are doing.  But that is not really what I believe this is about.

When we witness to someone and tell them of the Lord, how He came to earth to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, to redeem us and make the way for us to have a relationship with the Father, we lead them to the foot of the cross.  There our work ends for a time.  There will be a time when we will stand with this brother or sister and give them help in areas where needed, but there is a period of time when the work is all the Lord's.  We catch them....then we need to release them to the Lord for His complete work of forgiveness, cleansing and just loving on them so they will know the love that will never leave them again.  We can tell them all this but they need to be held by the Lord, feel that infilling of the Holy Spirit as they confess their sins, as they give their hearts to the Lord Jesus.  Once the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will receive the guiding and leading of the Lord.  This is a special time in the life of each person that comes from the Lord.  No amount of conversation, no amount of our telling them what we have experienced will give them that feeling of total completeness and washing that comes with the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  We, no matter how much we may want to do this, cannot accomplish this.  It is solely the work of the Lord.

So often, we, in our over zealousness, want to tell them all they are doing wrong.  Tell them all they need to ask forgiveness for; we simply want to help clean them up.  The Lord does not need our help in this area.  All we do, is keep reminding this person of what all they have done wrong, how we think they need to change.  We see in them the things that remind us so much of the way we were before the Lord work in us.  But the Lord needs no help from us.  He is in the process of His cleansing blood washing over this child that has need of His love, His forgiveness.  He is pouring His oil of mercy and grace onto this one, He is infusing love into his heart and filling his spirit with unbridled joy.  The Lord does not need us reminding him of his sin, as the Lord has already forgotten it and wants this precious newly cleansed child to know the sin is gone forever more.  Just release Him into the Lord's care.  We have done our part, it ended at the foot of the cross.

Father, I thank You for Your words to me.  I pray I have given as You wished.  I love Your words, Lord, I love Your Word.  Thank You for enlightening Your Word to me and letting me share You with my friends.  Help me, Lord, that as I witness for You, I do it joyfully with a heart of thankfulness.  Lead me Lord, as I speak to others about Your love, Your precious sacrifice for all that will come to You, to accept You as their Savior; lead me Lord, and teach me when to let go, to release them into Your care.

01-09-12