martyr:: to be or not to be...that is the question!!!

Sometimes when I sit down to write something for my blog I am at a loss for words, and I wonder why I even blog :) then other times I sit down with a message on my heart that I want to convey but once I begin to write, something completely different comes out.

Then there is today... I have a thought but don’t know how to formulate it - I want to write about a quote that was thought provoking for me but don’t really know where to go with it...

As believers... ”we are called to be Martyrs, not Spectators”

To be a Martyr means to be a witness, an eye witness to some account, usually legal and in a historical sense. Then there are spectators, they are people who watch games, shows or events, often those on the sidelines.

When I think of this in relation to my relationship and walk with the Lord I realise I don’t want to just be a spectator...I don’t want to be someone who is standing on the sidelines who lets life or God for that matter pass me by. I want to be a person who is right in the middle of what the Father is doing - like a witness in the courtroom.

Again I go back to Francis Chan and His balance beam illustration and how there is SO much more to God and life than what we see. In the grand scheme of things we are only on this earth for such a short period of time...WHY are we so cautious about how we live?? WHY don’t we get right in the middle of what God is doing and go for it with reckless abandon??

As believers we have the privilege of having fellowship with the Lord and with that comes an intimate knowledge of who He is. Through that intimate knowledge we have an opportunity to pursue the fullness of WHO God is. This is a lifetime journey. But one that we have an open invitation to. This past week I was reminded of how much our Father loves us (me), I am realising that there is so much of His love that I have not experienced and what I have experienced it is so hard for me to trust. BUT this IS the fullness of God - HIS LOVE! God wants us to be martyrs of His love for us, not just spectators on the sidelines viewing His love for us from afar.

I want to leave you with this story::

Yesterday some friends of mine and I went out on a “treasure hunt” (basically we asked the Lord to speak to us about people He wanted to share His love with and then go find them and tell them all about it). As we asked the Lord who to talk to I got the name Tom, and saw a picture of a water fountain. After about 45 minutes we still had not discovered Tom or the fountain...after some suffering some dehydration or perhaps God’s direction my parched throat took my friends and I over to the local store for some water. After leaving the store my teammate yelled out “FOUNTAIN”!!

I was floored, in the past few months here I have yet to see one fountain in Coconut Grove (the area of town we were in). We promptly crossed the street and looked for people to talk to. The first couple I approached did not speak english...so I went on to the next couple. They were super sweet but once I brought up prayer they were off!! I am now standing alone in the middle of the street (Don’t worry there was no traffic :D) when I see a lone man walking toward me...

with a burst of confidence I walked up to Him and said, “Hey is your name Tom??”

“ah yes it is...”

“YOUR NAME IS TOM??”

“uh, yep!”

“OOOOh...I’m Lori, my friends and I are on a treasure hunt and think you are who we are looking for....see we wrote down fountain, and we are right next to the fountain, and the name Tom, and that’s your name”

Needless to say we were all stunned! I got to share a bit of God’s love for him and let him know that the Father was after his heart!! He walked away encouraged, as were the rest of us!!

I share this to tell you that it is SO Simple to be a martyr, it just takes a conscious decision to engage in what the Father is already doing around us!!

Be bold this week and be a martyr in what the Lord is doing around you.