day 2373: You Don’t Need Everyone…

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! 10 For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.”

It’s good business practice to have already previewed with everyone who is going to be in the meeting what it is that you are going to present and then see where they stand on the topic or issue.  If we can, we try to win them all over and remove the naysayers so that the way is smoothed.  But, that’s not always possible so the next best thing is to preview with everyone, be ready to address objections that will be raised and have enough of the right people to support you to win over the consensus of the group.  Many times we will spend too much time on the naysayers and miss or not understand what it takes for the real influences to carry the day.  We need to be sure we spend enough time with them so that we understand their relationships with those who will go negative on us, so that the negatives don’t overly sway the supporters. It’s tricky and can be time-consuming, but it is necessary.

We can be shy, hesitant or downright afraid to speak of our faith with others.  And then when we don’t we can get down on ourselves that we didn’t and we become even more reticent next time. In these times it is helpful to me to return to the accounts of those who were bringing the Good News to people who had never heard of such before.  Paul led this effort and even he needed constant bolstering and support from the Lord.  We tend to think that Paul was supernatural in some way.  He wasn’t.  We know so, because he died just like we will and between the time he began preaching the gospel of Jesus he carried with him the same challenges, frustrations, worries and fears that any human being experiences.  But, he went beyond believing; he listened and acted upon what God was telling him.  And as such, he spoke boldly.  We aren’t being asked to do anything like Paul did.  What God is asking of us is to speak from our hearts on what He has done in our own lives.  Not everyone will agree and it is a certainty that not everyone will stop what they are doing in their lives to change their beliefs, but as God told Paul, He is with us when it’s not everyone.

Reference: Acts 18: 9-10 (New Living Translation)