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I'M GONNA LET IT SHINE – Part 1
Gale W.
TeSelle
April 17,
2008
A few years ago, I read a book
called “I’m Gonna Let It Shine” by Dr. James Montgomery the founder of Dawn Ministries, a world-wide
church planting organization. The book has chapter headings like … Hide
it under a bushel. No! … and … Don’t let Satan snuff it out … bringing
back memories of the song I used to sing as a kid in church, “This
little light of mine, I’m Gonna Let It Shine.” It’s an excellent book,
an easy read, and it has a convicting message. I have several extra
copies I can give anyone who wants to read it. I highly recommend it.
For me, one of the most memorable
sentences in the book was this statement by Dr. Montgomery … “When it
comes to revival, we are often waiting for God to show up and do the
miraculous while God is waiting for us to show up and do the obvious.”
[1] He goes on to say … We don't need a new
call from God. We just need a swift kick in the seat of the pants
... to get on with what God has always wanted us to be (in the Great
Commandment) and to do (in the Great Commission). No truer words could be spoken to me and I
suspect to you also. Too often we get off course as ambassadors of
Jesus Christ and forget why God left us here on earth after he saved us
for eternity with Him. We are easily distracted with the latest fad and
the busyness of the world and of the church. We forget we need to keep
the main thing … the main thing. If we loved the Lord God with all our
heart, soul, mind, and strength; and loved our neighbor as ourselves …
and if we would go out and make new disciples, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit … wouldn’t the church be
growing by leaps and bounds in Bowie, Mitchellville, Crofton, and around
the world? I think the answer is YES!
But here’s my problem and maybe it’s
your problem too. I have had a tendency to cover my light. I suspect
the early followers of Jesus did too or else Jesus would not have said
in Matthew 5:14-15 … You are the light of the world. A city on a
hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone
in the room. Jesus was instructing His followers not to cover their
light, but to put their light on its stand for everyone to see.
At first, when I became a born-again
believer, I was very reluctant to share my testimony. You see, I was a
pretend Christian, going to church, participating in programs and
activities but never really having a relationship with Jesus Christ. If
I shared with others that I had just received Jesus as my Lord and
Savior, at age 45 after going to church my whole life, what would they
say? What would they think? It took me three months before I told my
wife and family and three years before I gave my testimony at Mt. Oak
Church. The first and most important step to make sure “I’m Gonna Let
It Shine” is to put your light on a stand for everyone to see. Declare
to your family, your friends, your co-workers, and the world, that you
have been born-again and you have the light of Christ in you; that you
will be doing your very best to help others see Jesus as you shine.
Sharing our testimony … our story of
how we came to know Him, tells others who we are. It’s easier to shine
our lights when everyone knows we are lighthouses. I recently posted my
testimony on this website. Just go to
“resources-testimonies” if you want to read it. A few sermons ago, the Pastor
of my local church asked
everyone to write out their testimony and share it with him and the
other pastors. He did that because he wanted to include more
personal testimonies as part of his Sunday service. I thought that was a
great idea. I urge you to take that step of writing out your
testimony. Then share it for others to see … you’re a lighthouse!
Go to
Part 2 of this article
1 James H. Montgomery.
I'm Gonna Let it Shine p.35 (William Carey Library, 2001)
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