From the Editor

God Uses Everything

STACEY MCKENZIE

Taking our places in God’s plan for our times

A recent issue of Faith Today summarizing faith trends featured a Wycliffe College study of Canadian adult converts to Christianity. The study noted the pathways they took on the way to conversion and how believers helped them get there. Thirty-nine per cent of respondents described their conversion as a process with no single moment of conversion, and 38 per cent as a process with a specific turning point.¹ For those who said it was a process, 39 per cent noted that it took less than a year, and for the remainder, the time frame ranged from a few months to more than 10 years. And how did Christians help them get there? Everything that we as Pentecostals are used to doing—demonstrating the love of Christ, inviting people to services, living our lives for Christ in attractive ways, answering questions on faith, teaching practical aspects, sharing the gospel, serving as a sounding board, telling stories, helping people understand the Bible, teaching about prayer, challenging stereotypes, and providing resources.²

The exciting encouragement behind these statistics is the reminder that, wherever we are, even in the most challenging contexts right here in Canada, the Spirit is the One who understands and directs our paths to draw people to faith in Christ. It is not usually up to us to comprehend fully why or how God chooses to use us, but I am encouraged by the results of this study that He will. Everything about our lives before and after Christ, and how He has transformed them, will point someone—whether we are aware of it or not—toward taking God’s message of salvation through faith in Christ seriously. And our influence is all crafted together to bring the outcome we all hope for—more people coming to know Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:5-8).

A woman in a yellow sweater walks across a overpass bridge, Toronto's CN tower is in the background

What do we have control over when it comes to how God uses us? We’re promised that we’ll always be effective and productive in our knowledge of the Lord if we pursue goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love (2 Peter 1:3-8). And we know that there is a relationship between the time we spend abiding in Jesus and the resulting overflow that impacts our speaking, preaching and teaching—even our ordinary living. He has cautioned us that apart from Him, we can’t do anything (John 15:5). Spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer are sometimes hard to maintain but necessary to hold close; it’s never too late to start (or re-start) becoming more dedicated to these pursuits. And while completely insulating ourselves from bad news isn’t wise or always possible, we can more easily guard our peace and confidence in God’s care by taking time regularly to be still (Psalm 46). Time seems to pass more quickly with the increase of our use of technology in both personal and organizational settings. There is a greater tendency for being overconnected and overworked, and endless opportunities for distraction. With the temptation never distant to lean on our own understanding and stray off God’s desired path (Proverbs 3:5-6), we can continually recommit ourselves to walking in step with the Spirit, being mindful of the dangers of catering to our sinful nature (Galatians 5:16-26). We can continue to wrestle honestly with the delicate balance between faith and action, knowing that while God doesn’t need us, we who know the sound of His voice are His chosen instruments for impacting the world through prayer and good works (James 2:14-26).

This edition of testimony/Enrich is full of examples of how God wants to work in and through us to bring about His purposes. He knows us by name, and whether we are still to come to faith or have already walked with Him for many years, He wants us to experience His presence and transformation in ways we haven’t yet. A natural result of that will be God’s kingdom coming to earth in hearts, circumstances and lives that is both a revelation and foreshadowing of the beauty we are moving towards—a joyful kingdom that will never be shaken and has no end (Hebrews 12:22-24). This is our hope, which will not be disappointed.

This article appeared in the July/August/September 2024 issue oftestimony/Enrich, a quarterly publication of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. © 2024 The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Photo © istockphoto.com.