John 1:29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The most important thing I learned from years of selling cars is the invaluable word ‘Next?!?’ Even car salesmen have feelings, and people are pretty mean. They say the harshest things sometimes, haha. Whenever any one hurt my feelings, or didn’t buy a car, the word ‘Next?!?’ would help me feel better. It applies across the board as a Christian as well.
The true Christian life is sustained by faith. We must keep a firm grip on our faith. If we do, we will progress, not stand still, not retreat. It is not the will of God for us to stay where we are. To be in the perfect will of God we must progress on to the ‘Next?!?’ thing. You will never progress in your faith if you don’t persist in your faith. You persist in your faith simply by doing the ‘Next?!?’ thing. That’s an Elizabeth Elliot quote. ‘Just do the ‘Next?!?’ thing.’
‘Next?!?’ Is my motto, and the motto of most Christians I know.
Friends and family forsake us? (Never have a clue why, ever). Ask them for forgiveness. (whether they do or not, is not your problem, that’s on them) But Keep on loving them and praying for ’em, other than that, ‘Next?!?’ As a Christian, you have yet to meet your next best friend, father, mother, sister, brother, or in my case donor-prayer warrior. Love and carry-on doing what God asked you to do. The next one will come along. Christians don’t moon over the one who got away. They quickly learn to not stalk or pursue. There’s too many people who want to talk to you and to love you. Christians don’t fret too much when they don’t get a reply. ‘Next?!?’
Lose a job or a sale? Find out why. Take a stab at winning that job or sale back. Once it’s obvious that you’re done, learn from your experience, improve, and ‘Next?!?’ It is said to fire people on a monday not on a friday to minimize the risk of suicide. Really? Why commit suicide over someone that doesn’t even want you around. haha
As long as you don’t lose your faith, all good. It’s easy to lose your faith. Many do. I am telling you, DON’T DO IT!
1 Tim 6:12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
Doing the ‘Next?!?’ thing that comes up in the same place, year after year, appears boring to those who don’t know the Lord. But it’s elementary in building relationships and thereby winning souls. Not jumping around, globe trotting, may seem very bland and boring to the worldly, unregenerated mind. But to us, it’s thrilling to see the ‘Next?!?’ thing God has for us as we plod along in hot and dusty Nicaragua. I literally do not have time to catch a breath between the ‘Next?!?’ thing God leads me to do. If He gives me 5 minutes of breathing time, I take a nap haha. I work from God’s heart, not for God’s (nor man’s) approval. ‘Next?!?’ FOR God, not FROM God.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us;
Even these missives are FROM God, not FOR God. He insists I do stuff, and I gleefully oblige, and after that, I eagerly say What’s ‘Next?!?’ The more I do from Him, the less time I have for endless tit-for-tats, mindless arguments and endless chit-chat. Time is running out! The writing’s on the wall! I can not wait! The bridegroom is coming! Every free moment is filled with an anxious air of expectancy for the next new thing from God.
Acts 3:4 Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
When I am having a free moment I try to get alone with God. Not only does it help me spiritually, but also with some age old ailments. Some call it mindfulness. Some call it, as the Bible says, being still and knowing Him (Psalm 46:10). I have to turn off everything. Sometimes even the fan (down here that’s unthinkable). I silence the phone or turn it off. No Praise and worship, audio Bible, sermons, I turn EVERY THING OFF! Just being still with My Lord, Knowing He is inside of me, yearning for alone time with me. The Creator of the Universe telling me ‘we need to talk!’ It’s scary when Winnie says that to me, but I love it when Jesus says that. I kind of have an advantage of being down here, alone. I am not getting a lot of ‘Godly Counsel’ from the people who are down here, actually doing it 24/7. I have to press in and hear from God myself. Then I do whatever I think He’s telling me, and I learn quickly if I actually am hearing correctly or not.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Probably once a month, with all the love and good intentions in the world, someone is texting me or telling me to go here or there. Last year people offered to fly me to the Asbury Revival. No Gracias!! I believe it was a genuine revival, but I don’t know, I wasn’t there. I don’t need to go places to be with God, He’s here with me right now as I am writing, and with you as you are reading this. We didn’t have to go to Kentucky to experience Him. Plus God didn’t tell me anything about it, so I don’t know anything about it. I usually think to myself when people are urging me to go somewhere, ‘I was just talking to God, He didn’t mention it’.
Probably about 10 well wishing friends told me I had to stop what I was doing last year and rush to the ‘revival’ that was happening in Malecon and 60,000 people got saved. I’ve been here a long time. Went to all of the ‘revivals’ down here. This one turned out that it was a Christian Rock concert and everyone wanted to meet the rock stars. The organizers were imprisoned for money laundering. I only go somewhere when the three things happen, in this order. 1. God stirs up my heart. 2. I get invited 3. I have peace (which includes Winnie weighing in). Otherwise I don’t go.
Really, I have no time to be entertained, and I love what we are doing. God is moving all over the place and although I never get that tingly feeling, I don’t need a break. The move alone of God is better than any feeling. But that’s not my personality. I LOVE tingly feelings and emotion. I do almost anything to get to travel. I could LIVE on the road, meeting new people, evangelizing all the time. But God wants me to stay put, and THAT is entirely against my DNA. My flesh resists it but I submit. That’s where I see Jesus. In the submission and stillness and yea, even in the doldrums. It doesn’t matter what I want. It only matters what He wants. I just want to know Him. And I get to meet Him almost daily just by doing the ‘Next?!?’ thing, here in Nicaragua.
Matthew 24:23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.
Like I said, I feel that I was shown I am going to do more in 2024. I think that 2024 is going to be Million Friends’ best year IF Winnie and I persist in the faith and as a result, Progress! We do both, persisting and progressing in faith, by doing whatever comes up ‘Next?!?’
John the Baptist stood in a river (incidentally, where the Israelites passed over into the promised land, selah!) and he baptized. He was baptizing probably only because God told Him to. So he was just being faithful. I don’t think he woke up and said ‘I’m going to dress like a wild man, eat nothing but bugs, and stand in the cold river, in the cold desert morning, and dunk people every day with no end in sight’ FOR God. The idea came FROM God, and in John’s obedience, doing this ‘Next?!?’ thing, day after day, FROM God, he saw Jesus. Who showed up in the long endless boring lines???? JESUS!!!!! See where I am going with this? If John ran from one temple to another or another ‘prophet’ he would have never seen Jesus. I see Jesus when I do the same old boring ‘Next?!?’ thing- As I serve the male prostitute tweaker, the child sex worker, the street kid hoofing glue or the town drunk. Investors say ‘the devil is in the details. I say Jesus is in the JOY!
Jesus
Others
Yourself
Want to see Jesus? Do the ‘Next?!?’ thing God shows you to do. To do the ‘Next?!?’ thing FROM God, you have to incline your ear and your heart (whole being) towards Him. He is worthy. Be burdened for souls, and for knowing God, nothing else.
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,