Sweet, Sweet Jesus

I have wanted to write this blog for a while, and after yesterday, I have decided it’s time.
           
Have you ever listened to someone call to the name of Jesus? Someone who called out to it in a personal way? It has such a sweet sound. It isn’t a name that seems too big or far off like Lord or God and it isn’t as mature sounding as Christ, but…Jesus… my Jesus.. it is sweet, humble, and personal, yet still higher than any other name.
 
I feel like Christians, as we grow in maturity, we lose the heart of a little child, and we stop saying Jesus and begin referring to Him as Jesus Christ, Lord, God or Christ. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with those names. They are just as reverent and holy as Jesus, they are the same being. But, when you say the name Jesus out loud… the sound of it is such a child like sound. It’s so personal and close. It makes me think about the verse that says blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God… or in order to inherit the kingdom of heaven we must have the faith of a child. Because that really is what I believe it takes. In order to same the name of Jesus as a personal name and not be ashamed, you must have the faith, love, and trust of a little child. It is what it takes.
 
I don’t know about you, but this challenges me. I feel like, as I have grown in my walk, I fell into that trap of saying every name, but simply Jesus. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand part of the reason most Christians begin to refer to Jesus as God, Christ, or Lord is because we are growing and we are learning different aspects of Jesus’ character, which I praise God for! But I feel like, in our growth, we should continue to grow in child like faith as well. I don’t want to grow in maturity, unless I continue to grow as a child. I want to see God like the pure and innocent child like heart does. I want Jesus to say to people let her, the little child come to Me. I want to the reliance on Jesus that a little child has on their parents. I want to be so proud of the name of Jesus in my life, that everyone I encounter, no matter who they are or where they’re from, I tell them who my Jesus is and what He has done in my life. I want to rejoice and not be able to stop telling people. I want a walk that I can’t keep silent about. Where do you stand?
 
Now, this isn’t a random rant, there was something that brought this up. I have thought about it a lot over the last few years, but yesterday was the first day that I felt fruit. In Matthew 28 Jesus tells the disciples that they are to go forth into the world preaching the gospel, teach, and disciple. Now, the word go when literally translated means “as you are going”. So as you are going to the grocery store. As you do errands and chores, school, and work. In your daily activities we are to share the gospel, teach, and disciple. But this only comes as a natural when one is walking according to the Spirit and not ashamed of the name of Jesus and after failed attempt and failed attempt, yesterday we had an opportunity and we took it. You see, yesterday morning my prayer was, “Lord as we are going may we be aware and open to divine appointments from You.”. And it happened. God is good! Yesterday, Darby and I went to visit a friend, then at 11 we went to meet the rest of our team at the church. Well, when we got to the church no one was there, so we decided to go down the street to the internet café because we needed to google something. We went to the café, but the power was out, which equaled no internet, so we walked to the store and got water. All the while I had been praying that even in our errands we would be fruitful and aware of divine appointments. After the store we started walking back to church, but saw that the internet café was working on getting their generator set up. And since we had time we figured we would wait to see if we could do our google search. So we walked in and say down. We met a woman named Scovia, she was very nice and we got to know her a little bit, next walked in Jonathan. Jonathan was a young man around the age of 25. After talking to him for a little while we found out that he was in Lira working so that he could save enough money to go veterinarian school next year. He was from a village on the outskirts of Lira, which the fact that he has made it past high school and college level courses even though came from the village states that he is a bright young man. And it didn’t take long for us to begin to talking about God and God’s purpose for this young mans life. Now, from what I have gathered, he was not saved, he kept saying he believed but he was waiting to do God’s purpose and mission after he went to school. We tried to explain to him that God had a purpose for him even while he was in school, but he just didn’t understand. We continued to talk, but he continued to remind me of the man that asked Jesus if he could go back and first bury his father before following Jesus. And after two hours we parted ways, praying that a seed was planted and that God would open Jonathans heart to Himself soon.
Ok, you’re probably thinking, “What does this have to do about the sweet name of Jesus?” or “How is this encouraging?” Well, it isn’t entirely, but this is what encouraged me… We opened our mouths. We saw the opportunity God opened up and we took it. We weren’t ashamed of who Jesus was and we opened our mouths. It wasn’t forced, scripted, or awkward. It was a real encounter, with real conversation, and with confidence in the Name we were proclaiming. It was God. He was there, His Spirit brought the opportunity and boldness, and His name was spoken.
 
I don’t know if the purpose of yesterday was for me to see Jesus working in this way, or if it was for Jonathan. Honestly I pray it was for both, and will continue to pray for Jonathan. But I do know one thing… Jesus, the sweet name of Jesus… He is the one whom I want the world to see and hear about. And I want to be one of the ones who is unashamed in my daily life to share Him.
 
Who is Jesus to you? Are you ashamed, or confident of Jesus? Will you seek to be a child? Will you seek to aware of God’s divine appointments?
 
Obongo mi gum! (God bless you!)