Today Friends it is a new month and I am COMPELLED to write on thoughts of being COMPELLED!

I was recently at a Women’s Conference where the powerful speaker used the word, “COMPELLED,” to encourage us to have the kind of faith that compels others to follow us.

I was impacted greatly by this thought, and frankly, I was convicted! It forced me to ask myself the question, “Does my faith, AKA, my life, compel anyone to be drawn to it and follow it?”

It has been over two weeks since that conviction was spoken to me and I have wrestled with this question ever since.

I believe that we are living in a culture that threatens to be ‘Post Christian.’ We claim to believe in Jesus, yet the rate of depression and anxiety in our culture is rising at an alarming rate. Do we really TRUST Him? When others see the way we deal with sadness and anxiousness, does it cause them to follow our example or simply fall into the status quo right alongside of us?  Does the look on our face differ from the looks on the faces around us? Do we have the “joy of the Lord” in us, even when our circumstances are anything but “happy?”

When the unexpected trial or tragedy hits us, do we fall to our knees and throw our hands up in the air, or do we call our posse and add to the grumbling and complaining?

Woe is me friends, because I must admit that too often I fall into the “cultural mode” of dealing with my life. Instead of compelling others to emulate my life actions and follow Jesus, I am repelling them away from Him.

As convicting as I feel to compel others to Jesus through my life’s actions, I am even more alarmed at the fact that my misguided actions can repel them!

For the purpose of this series we are going to use my favorite dictionary definition of COMPEL…

“To have a powerful and irresistible effect, to influence, to draw near.”

The flip side of this powerful definition is to REPEL…

“To push away or repulse, to drive off.”

Friends, the only way I see it is that we do one or the other. Our lives, unless lived in isolation, have the power to COMPEL or REPEL!

I know the task is daunting! It is too big for us to take on. The beauty of a life lived for God is that we don’t have to take it on ourselves. It is through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that people are drawn to Jesus. We just have to shine the light that directs them to Him!

How often have you sang the children’s song, ‘This Little Light of Mine?’ Has it ever convicted you to let that light shine? The simple words are truly profound!

“This Little Light of Mine, I’m going to let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.”

How do we let our little light shine? By living our lives the way God tells us to.

His Word, The Bible, is a LOVE Letter to us that is full of instruction and guidance.

The first thing we should be compelled to do in order to compel others is to PRAY!

I do not mean to just PRAY when you are desperate and need something, although that is a very good time to pray, but I mean PRAY DAILY, ALL THE TIME as a usual practice.

Look at what Jesus did,

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him.”                                                                                  Luke 22:39

The words that strike me first and foremost are, “AS USUAL!”

It was His HABIT! It was as normal or as usual for Jesus, as brushing His teeth, combing His hair, eating His breakfast or drinking His first cup of whatever warm beverage was available to Him.

This was a USUAL practice for Jesus. It was what He did DAILY and ALL OF THE TIME!

When we encounter Jesus facing the most difficult time of His life, we find Him PRAYING to His heavenly Father as USUAL!

The first practice of living a life that COMPELS and does not REPEL others, is to PRAY!

TRUTH BOMB

Making prayer the first response to anything, instead of a cry of desperation is a vital step to living a COMPELLING life.

Prayer should be as habitual as your morning cup of coffee!

Whether your preference is hot tea, hot water or like mine, that dark, rich caffeinated deliciousness called coffee, PRAYER needs to be as habitual and USUAL for us as taking that first sip and drinking it down!

If we are going to be True Lights for God that shine and help save this culture from becoming “post-christian,” we must live lives that COMPEL others to God!

COMPELLED TO PRAY IS STEP ONE!

Speak Truth Love