Please Don't Kill My Fish!

Hey, I am a fisher of men. I catch fish, that's what I do. I was called to do just that when I was 10 years old and it has taken a lifetime of wandering around in the desert of women don't do that, and did I really hear from God ? and it is just in the last 8 or 9 years that I have truly come into the full season of what it truly means to be a fisher of men. I am compelled to share the love of Christ with everyone I meet. Once I know what their spiritual status is, I go in accordingly, are they saved and discouraged, do they need a healing? or are they just plain ole lost? not born again, in need of a savior? I love sharing Christ
better than anything else in this whole wide world.

What I don't enjoy though is spending time fishing for those souls, you know using just the right bait, being quiet as I sit on the river bank and just wait on the Lord to open up that right opportunity, and then lo and behold there it is, that fish is on the hook and has now been caught and oh what a joyous wonderful feeling comes over me!! So excited for the fish and for me and then I take the fish to meet some church folks and they take their Jesus hammer out and start beating my newly caught (baby Christian) in the head with the Jesus hammer! No, I scream don't kill my fish, I just caught it, it doesn't understand the ways of how to be a sheep yet, it hasn't transitioned into that transformational happening just yet! Stop!! Don't kill my fish! and then I wake up and it was just a dream, or was it?

Isn't that what church folks do sometimes? Don't we see that new baby Christian and they don't dress the way that we think that they should, and their hair don't look just like we think it ought to and they have tattoos and piercings and they drink and smoke, and cuss and we just feel the need to walk up and start beating them in the head with the Jesus hammer, and the only thing that does is give them a holy concussion and leave them dazed, confused, bitter, angry and more often than not they leave church all together. What a shame! Why? Why do we do this? The Holy Spirit of God is our teacher, He is the only one that can clean a freshly caught fish, He is the one that transitions that fish into a lamb and then into a fully grown sheep, that is capable of feeding itself the Word of God and able to pray for itself and rebuke the enemy on it's own. To stand in the God given authority afforded the heirs of salvation.

Lord have mercy! We have got to stop judging people for how they look, what they wear or don't wear for that matter. Jesus don't care! Yes, He wants us to be modestly dressed but, this comes with training from the Holy Ghost, not from us putting chains of bondage on them with a HUGE book of rules and regulations. This is what repels people from church in general. They have just come out of the bondage of sin, they don't need shackles of religion.  They see Christians fighting with Christians, they see clothes line preachers that are so religious that they can't even stand their own selves let along anyone else. They are so bitter and critical that no one wants to be around them let along be like them. We must show the love of God to people, show them His mercy and grace for crying out loud! When you are fishing you are quiet, you dress comfortably and you exercise much patience and diligence and you carry a tackle box full of different kinds of bait to catch different fish and the Jesus hammer is NOT in the tackle box!

The Jesus hammer is for us to crucify our own stinking flesh! Not to kill baby fish(Christians) with. Lord help us to show the love of God every single place that we go. To be salt and light, to be His hands and feet extended to this dying world. To love without limits, to expand our capacity to have patience with the discipleship of new converts. Jesus did not die to bring religion, He died to bring us life and more abundantly. As a fisherman it frustrates me to see people falling by the wayside because of the cruel and unnecessary judgement dealt to them in our churches. Jesus didn't treat people that way, so, why do we do this? We are not qualified or authorized to judge anyone, except we should be judging our own actions and working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

I hear folks all the time saying things like, well..did you see what she was wearing? Well.. I know that she is doing a work for God but, she shouldn't be wearing that. Did you know that he still smokes? Did you know that he has been married before? Are you kidding me? I thank God daily that the Lord Jesus is not like people because if He was we would all surely be in hell right now. He is full of mercy, and grace. Yes, we will all answer to the Lord one day but, we will not answer to people. He is our judge. We are supposed to be training these fish to be overcoming, victorious sheep not preparing them to be the devils fish dinner. In frustration, I said to the Lord one day, "Lord they keep killing my fish!" He said, "They are my fish, not yours, give them to me and I will make sure that they become fully grown sheep, all is well." Wow! I said yes Lord they are your fish,and I know that you love them with an everlasting love and will finish what you started. Thank you Lord. Meanwhile back in the aquarium (church) I watch out for the Jesus hammer toting church folk that truly don't realize that they are doing anyone any harm. When Jesus told Peter to feed my sheep, I wonder if in the back of his mind, he was thinking and don't kill my fish? Just some food for thought today from a fisher of men.