Who has God Entrusted to You?

[Christ4Ever]

But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as [the gospel] for the circumcised [was] to Peter Galatians 2:7

When Paul realized that God had entrusted him with reaching the Gentiles, it couldn't have been easy for him. He expressed his feelings in Romans 9:2-5. His heart was with the Jews, "that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart." he wrote in verse 3 "For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh".

Who has God entrusted to you? Are you open to the possibility that He might lead you to reach people who don't look like you, talk like you, or think like you--no matter how burdened you might be for those who do?

Galatians 2:8 (NIV) explains why Paul came to the conclusion that he did: "For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles." How is God at work in you? Who is He reaching through you?

Prayer: Father, make it clear to me who You want me to reach. Of course, I want to be available to all, but I know that You often equip us to reach a specific people group.

 

[Brother-Paul]

It is hard to comprehend what Paul was going threw, he was a Jew, but he had a love so deep, a love for each other that only the Jews know of, they are a special people, they love one another as we know Christ loves us, yet they rejected the Messiah, they rejected the Christ.

The first two verses of Romans 9 shows just how Paul really pours his heart out. He is broken because of Israel's rejection of the Messiah. Because of his conversion and ministry to the Gentiles, Paul had probably been accused of turning his back on his own people, the Jews. As we all know people can be quick to point a finger. Paul pleads for his people to believe him and receive his message as from God.

Romans 9:1-2 (NKJV)
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

Jeremiah gets the name the weeping Prophet, like Paul he was broken over the lost.

Jeremiah 9:1 (NKJV)
1 Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Our Lord Himself stood broken hearted over Jerusalem crying,

Matthew 23:37 (NKJV)
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Such love.

Paul must have been torn in two, he wanted to do right for his people, but also wanting to do right and be right with God. It would be easy to say which way he would choose, he knew which way to go, but it cannot of helped him sort it out in his heart and his head as he bears their pain, how easy it is in these situations to call a person a traitor, it is always easy to point a finger, scripture doesn't say this but we can be pretty sure name calling would have gone on. Paul was a Jew, and he had, as the Jews saw it turned away from them to the Gentiles.

Paul's heart was broken for his people and his greatest desire was for their salvation. So much so that he would have gone to Hell in their place.

As hard as it was for Paul, how much harder it must have been for our Lord, we can feel the pain, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem'

Many times we are called to reach out to a lost soul, many times we may feel God is telling us to do or say something we may not feel right, what do we do?
Remain silent, over look this one and catch the next, how much do we care that a soul should be saved, do we have 'Such Love' as Jeremiah, Paul and our Lord showed?

Paul shows us a true soul-winner's heart

When we are saved we are each given a task, that task is clear in the words Jesus gave us the great commission...

Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

We are to have Such Love for all lost souls, Jews and Gentiles, a love like that of Jeramiah, Paul and our Lord.


A big thank you our dear brother Christ4Ever was his wonderful heart felt post, we join him in prayer in agreement as he asks...

Who is He reaching through you?

Prayer: Father, make it clear to me who You want me to reach. Of course, I want to be available to all, but I know that You often equip us to reach a specific people group.

Take me, show me, lead me, use me Lord, in Jesus Name we pray Amen.