Today, one of G.I.F.T.S. own daughters, Van Shepherd shares a personal story of victory!
In one of my most painful and hurtful trials of life, God taught me that I had been called to the ministry of reconciliation. This ministry was not something I organized or thought of. It was a ministry that Jesus died for and I was an ambassador for His kingdom.
The ministry of reconciliation was one that I could perform outside of my home to strangers, friends, and other christian brothers and sisters, but the thought about being this minister of reconciliation to someone in my home was something that had not occured to me. Particularly, someone very close to me that done something that had caused me great hurt and pain.
Is it possible to get over that hurt and pain in order to reconcile someone close to you back to God? Well the answer is yes, you can. The first thing God taught me was that I was good at ministering outside my home, but I did not like it when it hit home. This problem caused to much pain. It was too close to me, and it affected me directly. The bible says that charity begins at home, then spreads abroad. Then God showed me that I must die to myself in order to be a minister of reconciliation. This was not a physical death but a death to my hurt, my pain and my feelings. The dying to myself helped me to see the bigger picture. That bigger picture was a soul. A soul that needed reconciling. A soul that God loved and wanted to bring back to him.
In 2Corinthians chapter 5, Paul writes that Christ died for all that we might no longer live for ourselves. When you die to yourself you begin to see the bigger picture, and that picture is a soul. Yes, God took my hurt and pain. He showed me how it did not even compare to the soul that He wanted to be reconciled back to Him. God told me that my hurt and pain was for a short time, but a soul is eternal. In that moment of revelation my hurt and pain went away because it did not matter to me anymore. I was to be in that moment, an ambassador for Christ, and a minister of reconciliation. My hurt and pain was no longer a factor. If Jesus carried my griefs, pains, and sorrows, then why should I? He told me to cast my cares on Him. Take His yolk which was light and easy. I started dying to me so that someone else could live.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 states, “… who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry or reconciliation; God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
WOW, this is powerful if you can get the revelation that all Christians are called to the ministry of reconciliation. It does not matter if it is someone outside or inside your home. We must die to ourselves so that a precious soul can live. God is using us as ministers of reconciliation to make his appeal. Oh how wonderful it is to be used by God. What the devil meant for bad, God turned it for my good, and now a son has come home to the Father.
Let God use you today in this ministry of reconciliation. Get the bigger picture and win a soul for Christ. It is not about us, but it is about being an ambassador, dying to ourselves and letting this ministry flow through us. Let God make his appeal through you today.
By Evangelan (Van) Shepherd
Girls Interceding For the Season (G.I.F.T.S.)