A Challenge To Be Like Jesus

	Sign In Sign-Up

DAILY DEVOTIONAL THURSDAY MAY 16, 2002
(John 3:1-21)

After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. "Sir," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this." Jesus replied, "With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God." "Born again!" exclaimed Nicodemus. "What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?"

Jesus replied, "What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; so don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again! Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom he will next bestow this life from heaven."

"What do you mean?" Nicodemus asked.

Jesus replied, "You, a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things? I am telling you what I know and have seen--and yet you won't believe me. But if you don't even believe me when I tell you about such things as these that happen here among men, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? For only I, the Messiah, have come to earth and will return to heaven again. And as Moses in the wilderness lifted up the bronze image of a serpent on a pole, even so I must be lifted up upon a pole, so that anyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

"There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don't trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God. Their sentence is based on this fact: that the Light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the Light, for their deeds were evil. They hated the heavenly Light because they wanted to sin in the darkness. They stayed away from that Light for fear their sins would be exposed and they would be punished. But those doing right come gladly to the Light to let everyone see that they are doing what God wants them to."

A challenge to be like Jesus. Ministry is often incorrectly identified as what those who have the title Rev. after their name and preach on Sunday do. WRONG! While that is an example of ministry, most ministry happens in a one-on-one setting as one who knows Christ shares HIS love and hope with someone else. ALL people who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior are called to be "ministers." This is not something that we can choose to, or not to do, but it is part of who we become when we accept Christ as our Savior.

I have been blessed by God over my 12 years in full time ministry to have spoken to literally hundreds of thousands of people at churches, millions via radio and television, and millions more over the last 4 1/2 years on the Internet. But God told me one day, verrrrry early in my ministry as I was sharing His love with someone in a one-on-one setting, that "no matter what I would ever do for God, nothing was greater than what I was doing at that moment!!!" WOW!!!! We are so used to judging "success" by huge numbers, we forget that Jesus spent the majority of HIS ministry sharing His love and hope in one-on-one settings.

I have a challenge for YOU today. I don't care how old you are, or what you may do for a living. My challenge to YOU today is to find someone, someone that you would never normally interact with, and talk to them about Jesus. In the passage of Scripture that I expect you to read today (at the top of this Devotional), Jesus sought out someone that He probably would have never had any communication with. What did He do? He shared the plan of salvation with him.

I am asking you to find someone today, go to them and simply share with them the fact that Jesus loves them, and that He is the way, the truth, the life!!! God will tell you today WHO that person is. The challenge is to make it your number one priority to go to that person and share how Jesus has impacted YOUR life.

I love you and care about you so much. The greatest thing ANY of us can do for God is to share His love, His grace, with someone who needs to know that love and grace in their life. Make time today to find someone who needs the love of Jesus in their life. YOU will be God's messenger to share that love with them. God will use you as HIS instrument if you will simply be obedient.

***NOTHING THAT YOU WILL DO IN YOUR LIFE, WILL BE MORE IMPORTANT!!!

The destination of the human soul is VERY important to the Lord. THAT is why He took the time in His ministry to share in a one-on-one setting with so many. Make it YOUR goal today to be like Jesus, and share His love, His hope, with someone that you know who needs the Lord in their life. I am praying for you today as you take this challenge and God uses you to make a difference in someone's life. BE LIKE JESUS!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com.

***NEW AUDIO DEVOTIONAL! You are now be able to get an audio version of the Daily Devotional each day done by me at http://www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html. As wonderful as it is to be able to communicate with you through email, many of these Devotionals need to be heard. I pray that this new free service will be a blessing to you.

Are you Saved? If your answer is anything but a resounding yes, click here.

For live prayer and answers 24/7, whether you are Saved or not, visit LivePrayer.com. Someone is always there for you.

To view more inspiring Devotionals such as this one, or to search for one on a specific topic, check out the Devotional Archive.

To receive your own devotional each day, or to sign someone else up to receive these free inspired daily devotionals, have the e-mail address ready and visit the Free Devotional Signup page. Subscription can be cancelled at any time.

To view other inspirational websites, visit A Place Of True Inspiration And Hope on the Internet.

For your very own free website, please visit www.50megs.com.

Questions or suggestions about this website should be directed to the webmaster.