BE THE CHANGE

It jumped at me one day as I was walking through my garage. Maybe you have one in your tool chest as well. It may have an official name, but I have always identified it as a “spark plug gap gage”. It is a perfectly round little hickey-do that looks like an enlarged silver dollar with a little round hole near the edge. The Lord dropped a message in my heart through the title of this handy little precision tool. I would like to share it with you!

#1) SPARK: Anything that activates or stimulates; inspiration or catalyst. A person or thing that precipitates change.

Who is the person that first comes to mind when you hear the word “Inspiration”? Or who do you think of when you hear the phrase, “gitter-done”? We have heard a lot about change in the last few months. Yes, our beloved country could use some rather dramatic changes. The kind of change we really need comes only through yielding to God’s Holy Spirit. It will never happen through a political platform. When you think about it, no one has ever effected change to compare with the most talked about and most written about person in history: Jesus Christ! Who has inspired or caused revolution like Jesus? Exactly, no one! However, before we start to think that people can’t change their world let’s look at just one of many other examples: Philip the evangelist was a planet shaker in his day. Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. NKJV THERE WAS GREAT JOY THAT CAME TO A WHOLE CITY! Samaria was a city that was bent down by demonic oppression, depression and in a few cases possession. Philip was empowered by the Holy Spirit to spark a revival. You have the potential as a child of God, to set off a mighty move of God!

#2) PLUG: to work with stubborn persistence.

I love this usage of the word “plug”. Plugging and plugging will bring a breakthrough. You say, “Plugging is so monotonous”. Well, yes I guess it is. However, listen to the incredible strategy of James J. Corbett, “Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish that your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round — remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.” Reminds me of James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. NKJV I believe that I have learned if I keep plugging and keep getting back up when I fall down that I will eventually wear ole slippery out. Otherwise, he will wear me out, and that thought just makes me mad! Here is a little strategy from our Lord Jesus that will pull us through time and again: Matt 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed. NKJV Just go a little farther and pray. You are bound to overcome!

#3) GAP: break in a line of defense, an interruption of continuity.

Ezek 22:30 So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. NKJV The Lord is still looking for those who will stand in the gap for the lost of this world. His merciful heart breaks with longing for some to stand with Him on behalf of those who don’t know Him. If we are to become world changers, we must find a way to fill it. That great way is now and has always been prayer. Mighty moves of God only come as mighty prayers are continually coming up before God! The Lord intervenes in the affairs of men by way of invitation. Prayer is a heavenly gift that loosens hells grip on the unbelieving. Prayer is that which bridges the gap. Prayer changes the one praying. Read carefully the following true story:

Charlie Peace was a criminal. Laws of God or man curbed him not. Finally the law caught up with him, and he was condemned to death. On the fatal morning in Armley Jail, Leeds, England, he was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. “The Consolations of Religion,” was the reply.

Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow-human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet not slide over the phrase with a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, “You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings”?

All this was too much for Charlie Peace. So he preached. Listen to his on-the-eve-of-hell sermon. “Sir” addressing the preacher, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worth while living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!” (Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, Fires of Revival Publishers, Zachary, LA, 1973, p. 19)

Friend truth without compassion that only comes from hearts broken by much time in the presence of God, is driving people from Christ rather than to Him! James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. NKJV

#4) GAUGE: A means of estimating or judging; criterion, measure precisely and against a standard.

1 Chron 12:32 of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, NKJV Change comes through people who are keenly aware of the day they are living in and have the discerning to know what should be done. Radical chaos calls for radical wisdom to bring order to a run-away world. The world that you and I are living in is disintegrating for lack of people who know what to do. Jesus knows what to do for our world. He gives wisdom to everyone who simply asks for it! See James 1:5. Prov 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. NKJV In your estimation is there anything other than Jesus that can help this old world. If you feel there is, I would love to hear what you believe it is! When people are born again, they are dramatically changed. Changed people, change people you know.

#5) CHANGE: to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. to transform or convert.

Dr. John Geddie went to Aneityum in 1848 and worked there for God for 24 years. On the tablet erected to his memory these words are inscribed: When he landed, in 1848, there were no Christians. When he left, in 1872, there were no heathen.

Spiritual Leadership, J. O. Sanders, p. 24.

Brother and Sister you are the best person to bring change to “your” world. 

Will you be the change?

Every blessing!

Tom