Publication: One-to-One, Spring 2014
Her little hand was raised high, arm waving to get my attention. I was visiting with the Second grade at Covenant Christian School in Mobile, Alabama, as I do each week, and it was time to take prayer requests from the students. Requests had been made to pray for colds and sniffles, for parents who were sick, for a neighbor with cancer, for an upcoming trip … and one goldfish who had recently died.
But the little girl persisted, and so I asked her, “What would you like us to pray for today?” She replied sincerely, “For all the people who don’t know Jesus, so that they could be saved.” Every prayer request moved me, each in its own way. But, that one grabbed my heart. I told her, “Yes, let’s pray for that right now, and let’s all pray for that every day!”
How much does it mean to you to see others receive faith in Jesus Christ? Enough to pray for it? Enough to share it with others, in both words and actions?
In this issue of One-to-One, we feature an interview with John Elefante, the renowned singer, songwriter, and producer. John has a beautiful song called “Pass the Flame” from his best- selling album Defying Gravity, which expresses his heart as a father, as a husband, and as a son. Part of the chorus says: “We are the light in a darkened world/We are the fire on the arrow/We must pass the flame.”
The faith that we have received in and through Jesus Christ—that “one true faith” passed on to us at so great a price for which we now contend— contains within it the mission to share it with others (see Jude 1:3). Any belief system or creed that does not compel us in love to share it with others, with conviction, is not true faith.
When we recognize, by god’s gracious revelation, the worth and power of what we have received in Jesus, how can we not want others to receive it as well? Especially when He reveals to us just how much He loves others and desires to bring freedom and blessing to them. His love for them becomes our love for them.
Furthermore, we have seen the utter bankruptcy and failure of every other attempt to change people’s hearts and lives; the kind of change that actually transforms our society for the better. No political system, no mere ideology, no plethora of new laws can have a lasting positive effect on the human heart. No matter how much power we cede to the state, we’ve seen that the state cannot ultimately solve the problem of personal motivation and perspective.
John Elefante, along with his brother, Dino, and Scott Springer, wrote an amazing song for Petra that asked, “When will the world see that we need Jesus?” This is the big question. Every other answer has and will come up short. And how will the world know, if we refuse to tell them? If our hearts are too hard to pray, our knees are too stiff to kneel, and our eyes too dry to cry?
Scripture Reference: Jude 1:3
STEPHEN SIMPSON is the Editor of One-to-One Magazine and the Director of CSM Publishing. In addition to publishing ministry, Stephen has served in leadership for churches and ministries in Costa Rica, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and Michigan, as well as being the Senior Pastor of Covenant Church of Mobile (2004-2013). He continues to travel in ministry across North America and in other nations.