STIRRED, NOT SHAKEN
“The question isn’t were you challenged. The question is were you changed?”
Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."
Wait, hold on, all you die hard, all things James Bond, experts, before you straighten me out with it’s “Shaken, not stirred!” I know, I know! I have seen a few 007 movies myself. Hey, it worked though. The title got you to read this far! My point is that so many like King Agrippa, get stirred up when they hear a message or read some Scripture or they feel the sting of the Holy Spirit’s conviction. However, so many are almost persuaded to change but are not shaken beyond just being challenged!
Isaiah 66:2 For all those [things] My hand has made, And all those [things] exist," Says the LORD. "But on this [one] will I look: On [him who is] poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.
God is not out to stir people up! No! He wants us to be shaken to the core of our being, to be moved beyond a stir in our hearts, to fear or revere Him until we are truly transformed by His word working in our hearts! As a pastor, I don’t just want to hear “Amens” when I preach the Word, I want to see the Amen of changed lives. People not just stirred, but people shaken and transformed by the power of God!
Oh Jesus, let there be alteration in our altar calls, for Your namesake and Your glory! God, let us be truly shaken and not just stirred! In Jesus name I pray! AMEN! HALLELUJAH!!
Every blessing!
—Tom