Fear and Great Joy

I usually don't blog what God is telling me in my quiet time, but this morning was amazing. For the last hour I have been weeping over the lost in Canada - broken because they don't know Jesus when Jesus had his body broken for them. As I read the resurrection story from Matthew, I began to weep again because I know somewhat of the feelings these people were experiencing.

"Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.' Listen, I have told you. So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news." (Matthew 28:5-8 HCSB)

After seeing the angel, these ladies had fear and great joy as they went to tell their friends about Jesus. I know that I am working by myself and not with God when I don't have fear when I tell my friends about Jesus, but there is an inexpressible joy that comes when I tell someone about Jesus. My job is not to tell them how bad of a person they are - the Holy Spirit will do that - my job is to tell them that Jesus paid the penalty for their sin, so they can experience the extreme joy of having an intimate relationship with the God who created them. The God who cannot look upon sin loves you so much that He had His sinless Son pay your penalty so He cannot just look upon you, but walk with you, talk with you, love on you and have you tell others about Him. Yes, it is going to be fearful because we don't know what the other person is going to say, but yes there is going to be extreme joy when we do that. "I pray that you will be active in sharing your faith so you will know every good thing we have in Christ Jesus." "Philemon 6