Symptoms of the Spiritually Dead

Ezekiel 36:26 I will remove your heart of stone

Today was my turn to share a devotion at work. For the past two weeks, I've been trying to “pass the buck” to someone else. I had a feeling that my poor coworkers needed a fresh voice since this was going to be their third time hearing mine. So I asked two friends who had not had an opportunity to share and prayed, “Please Lord, for my coworkers sake, let someone else do it.” No luck. I guess God’s answer was, “Nice try.”

So, here’s the question I posed: Do you think it’s every Christian’s job to share the gospel? Or should that job be left to the “professionals”; those that have studied the scriptures, who can read Greek, who have gone to Bible college, or maybe missionaries who are devoting their entire lives to the service to others?  How about an ordinary Believer whose life is a mess and who’s barely spiritually hanging in there? Does God want to use someone like me to share the gospel? Or do I just cause more damage if people look at my life and don’t see perfection? Will they call me a hypocrite?

These are the questions that I had to ask myself recently. You see, last week I got into a Biblical conversation with a friend. No big deal, right? This friend questioned me (not harshly) about a particular Bible point I’d made. I didn't have the answers for her. Now for a normal, non-paranoid, confident person, this would have been no big deal. But unbeknownst to her, I’m not normal. And her question, even though innocently asked, threw me off balance because it instantly touched on my biggest fear and the Enemy knew it. So he went on full attack mode that night and by the next morning I had a bit of a panic attack. 

You see, originally, I started my blog as a way to reach those close to me who didn't know Jesus. I found that if I was honest about my struggles, my friends were more receptive to the message of God’s grace and forgiveness. But my biggest fear has always been that I will make a mistake in my ignorance of the Bible and I will lead people astray. I fear that I will misquote or misinterpret something and that I will cause someone to stumble. I’m not a Bible Scholar nor do I have any formal training so I don’t feel qualified. That is why these devotions are so hard for me. That is why I pray about them so intensely because I want God to prevent me from doing anything to spiritual harm someone.

So in my full on panic attack, these thoughts kept plaguing me:

Who do I think I am?

I don’t know anything?

What if I make a mistake?

How can God use someone who keeps messing up?

That morning, I wrote a poem of distress and redemption that ended with this prayer:

Cause me to hunger for Your Word

Give me a passion for the lost

Hold my hand and lead the way

I will trust in You, Lord

I will follow You all my days

With my last breath

I will praise Your name

When I read my Bible that morning, these scriptures leaped off the page:

Luke 9:60-62 (NLT)He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.
Another said, “Yes Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Just last week, I heard a pastor on the radio speaking about symptoms of Christians who are "spiritually dead". He quoted from a message by Ray Stedman on Romans 8:5-13 called Why Not Live. (http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/romans/why-not-live)

The main scripture in the message is:

The thinking of the flesh is death, but the thinking of the Spirit is life and peace…(Romans 8:6 RCS Version)

Ray Stedman’s message reads, “Death is not something waiting for you at the end of your life; it is something that you experience right now, whenever you live according to the flesh.”

These are the symptoms he gives for spiritual death:

·         Fear, which can appear as worry, anxiety, dread, or timidity

·         Guilt, which can appear as shame, self-hatred, self-righteousness, or perfectionism

·         Hostility, which can appear as hate, resentment, bitterness, revenge, or cruelty

·         Emptiness, which can appear as loneliness, depression, discouragement, despair, and meaninglessness

As soon as I heard these symptoms, I thought to myself, “That’s what happened to me a few years ago!”  You see even though I’d been a Christian for 20 years, I had started to focus on things of the flesh; I was distracted by all the things of the world, temporary entertainment and pleasure. I no longer read my Bible, hardly ever prayed, and had difficulty concentrating at church. And before long, I had become what I like to call a “Christian Zombie”. Not completely dead but close too it.

Luke 9:60-62 makes so much sense to me now. You see both men desired to follow Jesus but they were too focused on the temporary things of this world. That’s why Jesus says that the “spiritually dead” are not fit for the Kingdom of God.  It’s not that He stops loving us. He can’t stop loving us because His very nature is Love, but He loves us too much to see us walk around like Christian Zombies.  He wants to set a fire in our hearts so that it’s burning with His love. When we are spiritually alive, then we can set the world on fire for Christ.

So how do we know if we are spiritually alive? We need to focus on the things of the Spirit. We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit, engaging Him in every aspect of our lives. Life doesn't get duller when we focus on the things of the Spirit but richer, fuller, freer, more passionate. 

In Ray Stedman’s message it says,

“If death is fear, then life is trust, hope, and confidence. If death is guilt, then life is a feeling of acceptance, security, and assurance. If death is hostility, then life is love, friendliness, kindness, and reaching out to others. If death is emptiness, then life is a sense of well-being, fulfillment, excitement, vitality, and fullness of life. With life comes peace, which, of course, is inner calm, a quiet spirit, a remarkable sense of being able to cope and to handle life.”

So, if God says in His word that it is our duty to go and preach the Kingdom of God, we had better be ALIVE with the Holy Spirit because we can’t to it on our own. You see, people tend to run and hide from Christian Zombies.  Trust me, I know.

I love the following quote by J.S. Baxter because it takes the pressure off sharing the gospel:

“What God chooses, He cleanses. What God cleanses, He molds. What God molds, He fills. What God fills, He uses.”

So just like God said, “Nice try, Yolanda” about passing the buck on this devotion, He is saying, “Nice try” to making excuses for not sharing the gospel. Here is my job description given to me by God:

1.  Yolanda, don’t worry about being a Bible expert or if you are gifted in evangelism. Your job is to pray for My Spirit’s wisdom and to share your story of what Jesus has done for you personally. I have promised to speak through you if you’ll let ME.

2.  Yolanda, don’t worry about whom to approach. Your job is to pray and be available. It’s MY job as God to set up your divine appointments.

3. Yolanda, don’t worry about making mistakes and being perfect. It’s actually better if you don’t act perfect because perfectionism turns people off and your mistakes are kind of endearing (God loves me just the way I am). Your job is to pray and be transparent. It’s My job to mold you into My Son’s image. People will be drawn to Jesus who shines in you. 

4. Lastly, don’t worry about the results, success or failure. The results are not in your job description. 

And just because I still wanted reassurance from God about my job description, He led me to this great motivational video from Francis Chan called "We Grossly Underestimate God." Please take 5 minutes out of your life to watch this amazing video below.

So now that you've watched the video with me, there is no “passing the buck” from God’s calling in our lives. In a few days, Christians will celebrate the biggest event in history. On Good Friday, Jesus shed his blood on the cross, paying the debt for our sins.  On Easter Sunday, He conquered death so that we could have eternal life with Him. So get ready, be willing, get excited, because God’s about to put you to work as Jesus’ personal spokesperson.

May The Lord bless you this Easter season.

Love,

Yolanda

This devotion is dedicated to my sister, Sylvia, who got saved first, shared the Good News of Jesus, and invited me to join her on the best journey of my life.

Romans 3:25(CEV) God sent Christ to be our sacrifice. Christ offered his life’s blood, so that by faith in him we could come to God. 

I love the following music video to the worship song, "Dead Come to Life". It plays like a modern day parable depicting the gift of salvation offered freely to those willing to receive. Click on link to watch video: "Dead Come To Life" by Jonathan Thulin.

Francis Chan "We Grossly Underestimate God"