Laced With Grace

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful (wo)men who will be able to teach others also.”

2 Timothy 2:2

The power of one is an amazing phenomenon.  1 + 1 = 2.  And 1×1 only equals 1.  That is  true, unless the POWER comes from the One who has placed His hand upon it. God’s math is slightly different.

The Power of One is an investing of my life into another life.  If I were to touch one life with the Gospel every day for one year, 365 people would come to Christ.  What if  I just left them sitting there.  How will they grow?  How will they recognize the Power of One in their lives?

To effectively touch a life, I must invest time discipling that person. And that doesn’t happen over night! Jesus spent 3 years with His disciples before He left them. So, if I were to take what He taught them and condense that down to 1 year of intensive discipleship, look at how the power of one plays out over 34 years. The math equation of 1 + 1 =2 suddenly becomes God’s math – God’s multiplication table. Take a look:

Year 1: Evangelize 1 a day=365 . But if a Discipler disciples 1 a year (1 + 1=2).

Year 2: One person evangelizing will now have reached a total of 730 people. A Discipler is now not about addition, but multiplication because you and the one you discipled will each disciple one person – 2×2=4

I’m going to continue to carry out this concept below, but only with numbers – remember, a person who is evangelizing only is adding each year, but a discipler is multiplying.

Year 3 : Evangelizing: 1095 – compared to Discipling: 8

Year 4: Evangelizing: 1460 – compared to Discipling: 16

Year 5: Evangelizing: 1825 – compared to Discipling: 32

Year 6: Evangelizing: 2190 – compared to Discipling: 64

Year 7: Evangelizing: 2555 – compared to Discipling: 128

Year 8: Evangelizing: 2920 – compared to Discipling: 256

Year 9: Evangelizing: 3285 – compared to Discipling: 512

Year 10: Evangelizing: 3650 – compared to Discipling: 1024

Year 11: Evangelizing: 4015 – compared to Discipling: 2048

Year 12: Evangelizing: 4380 – compared to Discipling: 4096

Year 13: Evangelizing: 4745 – compared to Discipling: 8192

Year 14: Evangelizing: 5110 – compared to Discipling: 16384

Year 15: Evangelizing: 5475 – compared to Discipling: 32768

Year 16: Evangelizing: 5840 – compared to Discipling: 65536

on down to 34 years…..

Year 34: Evangelizing: 199,165 – compared to Discipling: 8,589,934,592

In less than 34 years, faith filled disciples (2 Timothy 2:2) can reach a world for Christ by living His life, doing it and saying it His way with His methods.

Gone is the excuse of “But I’m only one person! What can I do?” Do as the Lord has commanded us in Matthew 28:19 – MAKE DISCIPLES!  My job as a disciplemaker  is not complete until my disciple becomes a disciplemaker. At that point, you, one person, multiplied out in the lives of people you will never even realize you’ve touched, will transform the world for Christ!

If the Creator of the Universe demonstrated the importance of the Power of One, shouldn’t we? Don’t we want the world to come to know Christ and to walk in His freedom, fullness and fruitfulness? It all starts with the Power of One. 

Father,  May I faithfully declare your Gospel message to someone this year and then help them grow into Your disciple.  May the Power of One grow until we have changed the world for Your honor and glory.

YourHumbly Grateful Daughter,

http://marshahmusings.blogspot.com

“The Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.’ Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’” ~ 1 Samuel 17:44-45 (ESV)

I have a problem — I so often think about the ‘what ifs’…What if I am not good enough to do a certain task; what if I am not the wife/mother/friend I should be; what if…

Let me share a quote from Max Lucado from his books ‘Facing Your Giants’:

Focus on giants – your stumble; focus on God – your giants stumble…

Yes, fear can be a ‘giant’ in my life; but it does not have to be. Look at David — he faced his giant head-on, even taunted him. You see, if I focus too much on my fear, don’t look up and ask for help from my heavenly Father, I loose focus.

Slowly but surely I am learning to face my ‘giant’ head-on. Once again, we have major changes coming at work. On Tuesday I was paralyzed, on Wednesday I had the thought ‘what-ever’, on Thursday I was grumpy…You see, the ‘what ifs’ came back to mind. What if I can not handle the new tasks that are expected from me; what if a college looses her job, what if…

As I mentioned, I was (very) grumpy on Thursday morning; I picked up my prayer-journal in the morning and ‘talked’ it out with God. I told Him about my fears, the ‘what ifs’. After I was done, I felt better and had an open talk with my supervisor — I faced my ‘giant’ of fear head-on. It was good…

I know that if I continue to ‘talk’ things over with God, everything will work out. Not only at work, but also with all the other things going on in my life…

My sweet sisters, if you are having a ‘giant’ in your life – talk to our Living God about your giant; ask Him for strength to face your giant head-on.

Lord of Heaven and Earth. Lord, thank You for helping me facing my giant of fear on a daily basis. I know that I am weak, but in my weakness, You make me strong. Lord, You are the Lord of lords, the Name above all names. I am trusting in Your mercy, day after day. In the precious name of Jesus ~ Amen

Blessings to you and yours…

Today’s guest devotion was submitted by one of readers and the winner of our Laced with Grace “Women of Faith Conference” contest last fall. If you have never read BP’s blog ‘Raindrops & Rainbows’, I encourage you to stop by her blog after you read her devotion today…

Draining the bath water I could hear my son playing in the living room. As I entered the room, my happy boy was dancing around the room in his pajamas. He paused to tell me he was doing an interpretative dance. This took me by surprise. Where did my 4 year old come up with such a term? It was vaguely familiar to me, but I didn’t know why. When I asked him later where he heard such, he reminded me it was in one of his books. (The farm animals are in a talent show type contest and the pigs are going to do an interpretative dance.)

Little moments like these puzzle me and make me think. These moments make me realize something. After reading a book a few times, this phrase lodged somewhere in his memory. We are gathering information from various influences whether we realize it or not.

I wonder how many random bits of information are stored away in our brains that we don’t even consciously know are there. When we hear these phrases repeated to us, how often do they sink into our hearts? This has been a reminder to me to be careful of the things I hear and see.

What music do you have playing? Are they lyrics uplifting or do they depress you without even realizing it? Is the television always turned on? Maybe it’s only for “background noise,” but we hear little bits and pieces of whatever is on. Are the shows portraying high morals and values you want to portray in your own life? What about the books you read? Do you rationalize that they’re “only fiction” as you read to make it seem okay for the foul language, violence, or sexual content? Do you tell yourself I’d never do that or say that or go there? But then you catch yourself thinking a thought or phrase you heard or read? Once we let these things in to our hearts, they will come out at some point.

We must guard our hearts. Remember this verse:

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” ~ Proverbs 4:23

The phrase “above all else” speaks strongly to me. Are you guarding your heart by monitoring what is coming in? Just as I was surprised to hear my son remember the phrase “interpretative dance” from his book, you probably have things in your heart that would surprise you. Take inventory of what’s going in to make sure you are really guarding your heart.

Blessings,
BP from “Raindrops & Rainbows”