Do my thoughts and feelings have power? Yes, they influence my will and shape my character according to what I think about, what I feel, and what I behold. Yet the people around me may not even realize that something meaningful or interesting is taking place in my heart. I may come to a gathering filled with inspiration from above and shining like a sunflower, but no one will learn anything about me or what moves me if I remain resolutely silent and share nothing.
But when I open my mouth and begin to share the good news, my words can exert a tremendous influence on the lives and minds of other people.
The enemy of souls knows the persuasive power of words, and he never tires of sowing doubt and unbelief in the hearts of naive and unwary people. For his purposes, Satan uses those who have not accepted God’s plan for their salvation, or believers who have entered enemy territory and tasted the forbidden fruit.
My words have persuasive power when spiritual power is added to them. But which spirit will give authority to what is said is decided by my heart, which chooses who will become my spiritual husband and lord. I choose Christ.
The next brick in the house of happiness is called ‘I share the good news.’ In recent years, thanks to the Internet, many people have appeared who want to share their knowledge, worldview, and experience with others—or simply talk about whatever comes to mind. Each of them has an audience and followers, and all of these people come under the influence of the words they hear or read. Yet behind all words stand two spirits and two powers that oppose one another and pursue different goals.
Evangelism is the sharing of information that reveals different aspects of God’s plan of Salvation and is good news to those who hear it. Evangelism may be personal or public and may be informational in nature. It may edify, comfort, strengthen, teach, persuade people of the truth, or reveal what was previously unknown. When it is supported by influence from above, it possesses a special creative power and can bring change to the minds and lives of those who listen.
Let us consider our School as an example. Is there someone in it who shares the good news? I think there is. Do you think this person is happy in what he does? I believe he is very happy. What spirit leads the person who writes these lessons for you? This can easily be determined by the fruit that what you study produces in you. I believe that God’s Spirit directs our entire learning process.
Would you have learned anything useful if this brother had not shared with you the good news that gladdens and fills his heart? I do not think he is the only person in the world through whom knowledge is given. But when a heart is open to God and longs to share its blessings with others, God begins to use that soul and work through it.
In the phrase ‘I share the good news,’ the connection between both parts is very important: the human factor—my participation—and the good news, which is given and revealed by the Holy Spirit. When the human and the Divine are united, the words spoken or written by the hand of a believer are strengthened by the Holy Spirit and possess convincing power that establishes people in the truth, even after time passes and that person dies. The best example of this is the Bible. All who wrote it, except Moses, have fallen asleep in the Lord, but their words continue to turn souls to Christ to this day.
And what is the purpose of this School? We can only suppose that, in the future, someone may also study our lessons and that his life will become better. But today we have what we have, and this already brings joy.
I share the good news. What happiness it is to be God’s herald, to share His light, to speak about love and blessedness, to see and hear the influence your words have, and to be a little paintbrush in God’s hands, allowing Him to paint in the hearts of your friends beautiful landscapes of the Eternal Homeland with its unshakable laws of love and happiness. This truly brings blessedness into life and gladdens the heart.
In recent years, an abundance of different messages has filled the airwaves. We are simply overwhelmed with all kinds of information, and its excess causes many people to become weary and repulsed. When I become merely a conduit for someone else’s ideas by sharing a link or a good quotation, I do not receive the same satisfaction and joy from evangelism as I do when I study the message deeply, make it a part of my life, and personally explain to others the essence of what I have understood and accepted. Otherwise, my heart remains without the fruit of happiness.
I receive many messages every day. I immediately look at the content and quickly determine whether it is a personal message or something sent out to many people. It is such a joy to hear living words spoken especially for you and to read a letter written to you from the heart. All these personal letters have an influence. This, too, is personal evangelism.
Our lessons are public evangelism and are written for a broad audience. No matter how interesting they may be or how much love is invested in them, they do not contain the same deep warmth of heart that can be given only through personal conversation or a personal message. But those who wish to learn or hear something always have the opportunity to receive something meant especially for them.
Every one of you, my friends, is God’s messenger of the good news. The Lord begins to work through your words and letters when you open your mouth or begin to write. A part of your heart mingles with Heavenly truths and is passed on to another person to become a seed, water for a seed already sown, a tool that prunes away what is unnecessary, or kind hands that gather good fruit. All of this is in your hands and in your words.
God always uses people who entrust their lives and wills to Him and who desire to multiply God’s talents so that they may return to their Master the riches entrusted to their souls, together with a profit. God will ask each of us to give an account of what we have done with the talents and opportunities we received.
When I share someone else’s experiences or revelations, that information may do good, people may change, and they may find solutions to their problems, but I remain without profit. However, if I have learned a lesson from another person’s experience or revelation, passed it through my own heart, tested it in my life, and then given it to others, my own heart begins to tremble with happiness, because I am sharing the good news.
If the Apostle Paul had decided only to make sturdy tents of such quality that everyone admired his work, what benefit would that have brought us? I do not think we would even know his name. But he chose the better path and, while working with his hands, continued to share the good news.
I enjoy building, and I can show you photographs of what I do, but that will not change your life. However, if I reveal to you what God is doing in my life and on my construction sites, that testimony will have a certain measure of success in influencing your life as well. But if you have no interest in me and all my work of evangelism is empty to you, then I think that even God will not be able to help you through me. In that case, all my efforts for others will be in vain, but I will still be happy.
Bible verses for this chapter:
1 John 1:1–5; 1 Corinthians 9:16–18; 1 Chronicles 16:23; Psalm 96:1–3; Isaiah 40:9–10; 52:7–8; 61:1–3; Nahum 1:15; Acts 5:42; 8:4, 12, 35, 40; 2 Corinthians 4:3–7; Luke 12:42–44