“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9
A precious word God made alive
When I could see no light,
It did my troubled soul revive
And made the darkness bright!
It was a word about His grace
Of comfort and of ease
That thoughts of sadness did erase
And filled me with His peace!
The grace in Jesus makes me strong
In spite of my defeat,
Redeemed I still to Him belong,
In Him I´m still complete!
His precious grace my heart makes bold,
And do you ask me why?
Of Christ whose love me does uphold
I gladly testify!
His strength in weakness I pursue
As I the gospel preach,
Christ crucified will only do
When souls I want to reach!
2009-04-21
2009-04-20
A Pipeline for Jesus Christ
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water!” Joh. 7:38
“I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert….” Isa. 43:20
“And you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring a water, whose waters do not fail.” Isa. 58:11
Let me share with you a word you may relate to – it´s the word pipeline. I´m not going to talk about oil now. The word became relevant when I told Robert 8 months ago what had happened in his life a born-again believer. I said to him, “I had really nothing to do with this. I was a channel only.”
Funny enough he didn´t understand what I meant. “What is a channel?” he asked. “Oh, let me use another word. You know the word “pipeline”? I happened to be just a pipeline for Jesus Christ!” He smiled, and now he understood. The word “pipeline” has stuck with us ever since.
You and I are called to be “pipelines” for the Lord. What a high calling! In my unsaved days I was certainly a pipeline for Satan without knowing it. Oh yes, once I knew it, because someone said to me at one occasion, “You are a devil!” and I was, I must shamefully say.
The saving gospel came into my life, however, and made me a new creature in Christ. The old nature is still there and causes a lot of trouble. But I´m also a new man with a divine nature indwelt by God´s Spirit because of His grace bestowed upon me in Christ Jesus. The purpose for all that? To be a “channel” only, a “pipeline” to our immediate surroundings. May this be true in our lives in a more real way in a desert land day by day!
-jn-
“I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert….” Isa. 43:20
“And you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring a water, whose waters do not fail.” Isa. 58:11
Let me share with you a word you may relate to – it´s the word pipeline. I´m not going to talk about oil now. The word became relevant when I told Robert 8 months ago what had happened in his life a born-again believer. I said to him, “I had really nothing to do with this. I was a channel only.”
Funny enough he didn´t understand what I meant. “What is a channel?” he asked. “Oh, let me use another word. You know the word “pipeline”? I happened to be just a pipeline for Jesus Christ!” He smiled, and now he understood. The word “pipeline” has stuck with us ever since.
You and I are called to be “pipelines” for the Lord. What a high calling! In my unsaved days I was certainly a pipeline for Satan without knowing it. Oh yes, once I knew it, because someone said to me at one occasion, “You are a devil!” and I was, I must shamefully say.
The saving gospel came into my life, however, and made me a new creature in Christ. The old nature is still there and causes a lot of trouble. But I´m also a new man with a divine nature indwelt by God´s Spirit because of His grace bestowed upon me in Christ Jesus. The purpose for all that? To be a “channel” only, a “pipeline” to our immediate surroundings. May this be true in our lives in a more real way in a desert land day by day!
-jn-
2009-04-09
"Do this in Remembrance of Me!"
That night our Savior was betrayed,
Its gloom did all prevail,
For Satan and his whole brigade
Sought Jesus to assail!
“And it was night”, the Bible said,
The prince of darkness fumed,
Not knowing that his evil head
Would soon be crushed and doomed!
That night a supper was enjoyed
With broken bread and wine,
For worship was this meal employed
As a remembrance sign!
The Lord thus made the supper meal
A feast of thankfulness,
We as a holy priesthood kneel
And Him as Lord confess!
We break the bread and drink the wine
Until the rapture day,
When yonder in the air´s frontline
His bride He will display!
We at that table understand
We are but pilgrims here,
Nay, in a transient, foreign land
The Heaven is our sphere!
Jørn Nielsen
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord´s death till He comes.” (1.Cor. 11:26)
Its gloom did all prevail,
For Satan and his whole brigade
Sought Jesus to assail!
“And it was night”, the Bible said,
The prince of darkness fumed,
Not knowing that his evil head
Would soon be crushed and doomed!
That night a supper was enjoyed
With broken bread and wine,
For worship was this meal employed
As a remembrance sign!
The Lord thus made the supper meal
A feast of thankfulness,
We as a holy priesthood kneel
And Him as Lord confess!
We break the bread and drink the wine
Until the rapture day,
When yonder in the air´s frontline
His bride He will display!
We at that table understand
We are but pilgrims here,
Nay, in a transient, foreign land
The Heaven is our sphere!
Jørn Nielsen
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord´s death till He comes.” (1.Cor. 11:26)
2009-04-06
Winning an Argument or a Soul?
"Let your speech always be with grace (or “winning”, the Danish rendering) seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Col. 4:6
”Don´t you want to become a lawyer?” an officer once asked me as a soldier down in Germany. He meant to flatter me, as he liked my way of arguing. I was stupid enough to bask in that empty kind of flattery. (That doesn´t mean that I look down on lawyers. In fact, I highly admire them!)
It´s one thing to win an argument. It´s a completely different thing to win a soul. It´s stimulating for our pride to disarm an opponent. However, winning a soul usually means loss of your own prestige. Sometimes you may even find yourself in a situation where you must humbly say, “I´m sorry!”
Recently I felt I must do that to one of my toughest opponents in the local newspaper. I had used just one little ”innocent” word against him, but I felt it wasn´t right, so I wrote him an “I am sorry-letter”. Suddenly he was my opponent no longer – he even wanted me to visit him and his sick wife!
The same thing happened when I did that towards another harsh debater. He immediately gave me a ring and the tone had completely changed.
Oh, never mind about ”winning”. Let´s rather by the grace of God overcome our own pride for the sake of some soul won for our Lord Jesus Christ!
"Lead me to some soul today/ and teach me, Lord, just what to say/ friends of mine are lost in sin/and cannot find their way/ few there are who seem to care/few there are who pray/ melt my heart and fill my life/give me some soul today!"
-jn-
”Don´t you want to become a lawyer?” an officer once asked me as a soldier down in Germany. He meant to flatter me, as he liked my way of arguing. I was stupid enough to bask in that empty kind of flattery. (That doesn´t mean that I look down on lawyers. In fact, I highly admire them!)
It´s one thing to win an argument. It´s a completely different thing to win a soul. It´s stimulating for our pride to disarm an opponent. However, winning a soul usually means loss of your own prestige. Sometimes you may even find yourself in a situation where you must humbly say, “I´m sorry!”
Recently I felt I must do that to one of my toughest opponents in the local newspaper. I had used just one little ”innocent” word against him, but I felt it wasn´t right, so I wrote him an “I am sorry-letter”. Suddenly he was my opponent no longer – he even wanted me to visit him and his sick wife!
The same thing happened when I did that towards another harsh debater. He immediately gave me a ring and the tone had completely changed.
Oh, never mind about ”winning”. Let´s rather by the grace of God overcome our own pride for the sake of some soul won for our Lord Jesus Christ!
"Lead me to some soul today/ and teach me, Lord, just what to say/ friends of mine are lost in sin/and cannot find their way/ few there are who seem to care/few there are who pray/ melt my heart and fill my life/give me some soul today!"
-jn-
2009-04-02
Win them for yourself - and then for Christ!
”But we were gentle among you…we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us!” 1 Th. 2:7-8
Try to put yourself in the shoes of an unbeliever. How are you going to reach him/her? By posting a gospel tract? Or by writing an article? Or preaching a nice sermon at a place where only Christians would meet up? Or may-be singing or chatting in the local radio? Or what?
The non-Christians watch TV like you and me. They learn about religious sects and their fanaticism. And now your gospel tract shows up. What happens? You are probably looked upon as one of those religious fanatics. May-be I´m putting the subject to extremes, but still….
One morning I gave my card (I don´t call it a ”tract”) to a gentleman on the road. My little card has an extremely brief message with a beautiful lay-out garnished with the Danish flag plus other Nordic flags. He looked at it and put the question to me: ”What sect, Sir?” I asked him, “Why that question?” He replied, ”I noticed the words ”Jesus Christ”! That may sound strange in the US, but over here the mere mentioning of Jesus Christ must be sectarian!
My point is simple. Do use the printed word and the mass media, if you can. But soul winning takes more than that. It implies a life. The personal contact must be there. An angry newspaper reader has been extremely cruel to me over the years in the local columns. My column discussions with him led to nothing, until I one day I saw with him and his sick wife personally in their home abt. one hour´s drive from here. That changed everything. We are now friends, at least.
The old soul winner rule should still be gently applied with sincere love and wisdom and never be forgotten: “Win them for yourself – and then for Christ!”
-jn-
Try to put yourself in the shoes of an unbeliever. How are you going to reach him/her? By posting a gospel tract? Or by writing an article? Or preaching a nice sermon at a place where only Christians would meet up? Or may-be singing or chatting in the local radio? Or what?
The non-Christians watch TV like you and me. They learn about religious sects and their fanaticism. And now your gospel tract shows up. What happens? You are probably looked upon as one of those religious fanatics. May-be I´m putting the subject to extremes, but still….
One morning I gave my card (I don´t call it a ”tract”) to a gentleman on the road. My little card has an extremely brief message with a beautiful lay-out garnished with the Danish flag plus other Nordic flags. He looked at it and put the question to me: ”What sect, Sir?” I asked him, “Why that question?” He replied, ”I noticed the words ”Jesus Christ”! That may sound strange in the US, but over here the mere mentioning of Jesus Christ must be sectarian!
My point is simple. Do use the printed word and the mass media, if you can. But soul winning takes more than that. It implies a life. The personal contact must be there. An angry newspaper reader has been extremely cruel to me over the years in the local columns. My column discussions with him led to nothing, until I one day I saw with him and his sick wife personally in their home abt. one hour´s drive from here. That changed everything. We are now friends, at least.
The old soul winner rule should still be gently applied with sincere love and wisdom and never be forgotten: “Win them for yourself – and then for Christ!”
-jn-
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