Never Be Ashamed of What You Believe

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. – 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

There was a time when I was as lost as I could possibly be. I spent a lifetime looking for love in all the wrong places. And unfortunately I left myself open to being used, abused and taken advantage of. For a long time, I felt guilt of my own until Jesus delivered me and set me free. When you have absolutely no idea who you are and the awesome power that you carry in you by the grace of Jesus Christ, you are bound to stumble and fall over and over again. It took a while – it took a long while for me to realize the higher calling upon my life. It took me a good minute to realize who I was and to whom I truly really belonged. Since I found my Heavenly Father, my life has not been the same. I have discovered gift after gift given to me by Almighty God; gifts that I can use to bless the world for eternity. I also have discovered special talents that I have – simple things that I just happen do better than others and that I can use give to further His kingdom. Since I found God, I have refused to look back at whatever I think I might have lost and I look forward to all there is for me to gain. God has opened many doors for me – most importantly He has made me a proclaimer of the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ.

I have been writing about the awesome power of God since January 1st 2007. I have been sharing the gospel that has grown to be an intricate part of my life via this medium and a quarterly magazine that I write for. I have been privileged to share this awesome gospel with others without shame and without embarrassment. The gospel is the truth and it is the only truth that can set the soul of any man free. A lot of people go to work, home and play bound and gagged by all the things of this world. They are alive because they breathe but there is no real life inside of them. The evil of a pluralistic world is painfully obvious. People can chose the god they want to believe in and the kind of life they want to live. Free speech is welcomed and embraced until you try to talk about Jesus Christ as being the only way to get to God. But as Christians, we are to know, believe and proclaim only the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel that comes from God and the only gospel that has the power of God.

For all believers that keep on sharing Christ with the world, the power is not in the orator or the writer, the power is in the God of the message. So long as we are preaching the gospel of His Son, we must never be ashamed of what we believe in. We are instructed to keep proclaiming His Word until He returns. I for one do not deserve the grace that God has shown me but I have learnt that Our God is no respecter of backgrounds and past. The Bible tells us in John 5:21 that the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. I am grateful for the grace that God has shown me in my life and as long as I live I will be committed to spreading this gospel in whichever way that I can.

Don’t be afraid to proclaim what you believe. People may not always agree with you but you can never light a candle and put in under a bushel. As long as the light and the power of the Holy Spirit reside inside of you, you will not be able to control the desire to win souls for Jesus Christ. It simply comes with the territory.