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Radical RHYTHM
The rhythm of our Christian journey is exciting; it’s where we see our purpose come to life. Contrary to what some people think, spiritual rebirth is not the end of a journey, but the beginning of one. We don’t “arrive” at salvation and stop there; things are just getting started. God has work for us to do — glorious, rewarding, wonderful work — and He provides all we need in order to do it.
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Think about your own journey; are you experiencing growth in your relationship with God? Is your Christian life much different than your old life, or has it barely changed? Remember, since the gospel is radical (there is nothing more radical than dying on the cross for sinners), it should create that kind of change in our lives as well. If your life isn’t drastically different, don’t worry — this can change. Pray now for God to bless you with radical faith and begin to identify roadblocks that are preventing you from feeling purposeful in your Christian walk. Set your sights now on growing and glowing in your Christian walk, and don’t let anything stop you. Remember, a walk requires movement. If you’re not moving, growing and changing, you’re in danger of becoming stagnant, and this is when life begins to lack joy, peace, and victory.
Overview Of The 3 Circles
Because movement is crucial in our new life, I’d like to share with you an illustration called The 3 Circles to help bring that movement into focus. It helped me personally to see that there is, in fact, a rhythm to our Christian life. The concept of The 3 Circles has been widely used to tell God’s story of redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let’s look at The 3 Circles to see how alive and dynamic our Christian life can be.
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The 3 Circles takes us all the way back to the beginning (Genesis). In Circle 1, Adam and Eve began their life on Earth. It was a perfect world God created, but it didn’t stay that way for long. God had given Adam and Eve free will and they used it to disobey God’s only command. As a result, they were sent out of His presence and they spiritually died. That’s the arrow marked “Sin.” Sin moved Adam and Eve into Circle 2, the broken world, away from God.
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Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we all must start our lives in Circle 2. We are born in the same condition they ended up in, spiritually dead, which is “apart from God.” We know this world is broken — All we have to do is look around and see the evidence; it’s everywhere. We see things like war, disease, death, poverty, violence, hatred . . . So much bad stuff going on in Circle 2.
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The crazy arrows leading out of Circle 2 represent the different ways we try to escape the brokenness on our own: things like money, religion, drugs, alcohol, relationships, and material things. But none of these work; we’re stuck in the brokenness. God never meant for us to be here though. He wanted us to be with Him in His perfect world. But God is holy, and the bad news is, He cannot be with sin. The really bad news is, if we die in this condition, we will be apart from God eternally.
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Despite the bad news, God had a plan all along. We, as human beings, needed saving — So He sent His Son, Jesus to rescue us (that’s the gift of redemption found in Circle 3). Jesus enters into our world, lives a perfect life, and takes every one of our sins to the cross. Because God is righteous, someone has to pay for sin; and because Jesus is fully man and fully God (another amazing mystery), He pays the debt in full for us. Jesus dies on the cross and is buried, but on the third day, He rises from the dead. Jesus conquers sin, death and hell — for us. Leaving the brokenness isn’t automatic though, we need to walk through the door in Circle 2. That door is Christ.
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.”
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John 10:9 NKJV
Jesus Christ is the way out of brokenness, the only way to pursue God’s perfect design for our lives. We must confess we’re sinners — remember, we were born this way — and that we need Jesus. By faith, we accept His work on the cross and acknowledge Him as our Savior. This is when we “Turn to Christ” (see the arrow between Circle 2 and Circle 3), are credited with Christ’s righteousness, and are able to come into the presence of God. Once we turn to follow Christ, we leave behind our “old life,” a self-centered life where we lived to please ourselves — Rebirth requires repentance. We’ll talk more about repentance in Chapter 4.
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Do you see the arrow labeled “Grow in Christ” that connects Circle 3 with Circle 1? Once we receive salvation and come through Circle 3, each believer receives the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, forever. Our lives have an important new purpose — to become like Christ, to bring God glory, to enjoy God’s presence, and to tell others about His Son. The Holy Spirit has brought the divine fire with Him, and as we submit to His leading we are able to surrender our own plan in order to pursue God’s perfect plan, bringing God glory. The Holy Spirit provides everything we need to grow more and more like Christ every day. This process will take a lifetime — This is our Christian journey, fueled by the fire within us.
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Now see the broken arrow labeled “Go Tell?” This is where The Holy Spirit leads us back (yes, back) many times into Circle 2, to help others find Jesus so they, too, can leave their brokenness. This is where our fire impacts others. So here’s the rhythm of our new life, for the rest of our life — confession of new sin and repentance, growing spiritually, enjoying God’s presence, becoming more like Christ every day, pursuing God’s plan, and going to tell others what we know — that there is hope, and His name is Jesus.
Do you notice how we start out in brokenness and come full circle, back to brokenness? When we return though, we return with a purpose, to lead those still stuck there to the door. We point them to Christ and share how He met us there in our brokenness and brought us out as we placed our faith in Him.
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"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
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Matthew 28:19-20
Telling God's STORY
How do we tell God’s story of salvation? One of the effective ways I like to use is The 3 Circles, pictured below. I share in Chapter 3 of my book, THE FIRE ON THE INSIDE CHANGES EVERYTHING, how The Three Circles illustrates for us the rhythm of our Christian life, but it is also a great visual tool to use when sharing the gospel. You can begin with Circle 1 or Circle 2, depending on the circumstances. Quite often I begin in Circle 2, because this is the crazy, messed up world we live in, and then I move back to Circle 1.
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Let me show you what I mean. Let’s say that I’ve met someone who is distressed about the condition our world is in, and they share that they are having a difficult time believing a loving God would allow this all to happen. I’ve already asked them about their faith and they do not know Jesus personally. I’ve asked if I can share an illustration to show how much God really does care, and they’ve agreed. Now as I prepare to draw out The 3 Circles, I immediately pray and ask God to give this person ears to hear the message and a heart to believe it. This quick prayer is called an “arrow prayer;” short and to the point.
I draw Circle 2 and say:
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You’re right, all we have to do is look around us to see how broken our world is (I write “Broken World” in Circle). We see sickness, pain, suffering, hatred, violence, and poverty all around us. But this isn’t the way God originally made the world (I draw Circle 1 and write “God’s Perfect World” in it). God made a perfect world, but the first humans rebelled against God by disobeying Him; they wanted to do things their way. God calls this sin (I draw an arrow connecting Circle 1 with Circle 2 and write “Sin” above it). Sin moved humans into brokenness, away from God, because a perfect and holy God cannot be with sin.
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As a result, here we are in this broken world, apart from God. Now people try all sorts of ways to get out of brokenness on their own (I draw a few squiggly arrows leading nowhere out of Circle 2). Some people turn to relationships, drugs, alcohol, money, success; even religion, but nothing works – they’re stuck here. The bad news is if they stay here in brokenness and die, they will be separated from God forever.
But God loved us so much He had a plan to save us (I draw Circle 3 and write “Jesus” in it). God was giving us a way out of brokenness through His Son, Jesus. Because sin could not be ignored by a righteous and just God, Jesus came and lived a perfect life so that He could pay the sin debt we owed by dying on the cross for us (I draw a cross). But Jesus didn’t stay in the grave; three days later He rose from the dead, defeating death, giving us a way out of brokenness (I draw the door in Circle 2).
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If we believe that Jesus died for our sins, and was raised from the dead (I draw an arrow that connects Circles 2 and 3 and write “Turn to Christ”), and we turn to follow Christ, we can leave brokenness and grow in our own relationship with God (I draw an arrow that connects Circles 3 and 1 and write “Grow in Christ”).
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As we follow Christ, we pursue God’s plan, and one day when our life here on earth is over we will spend eternity with Him where there will be no more pain, death, or evil. In the meantime, as we live out our lives and grow in Christ (I draw dotted arrow between Circle 1 and 2 and write, “Go Tell”), we can be used by God to go tell others stuck in brokenness that the way out is through faith in Christ.
God doesn’t want anyone to die without knowing His Son personally.
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Each person gets to choose for themselves; accept Christ and what He has done on their behalf or reject Him. (This would be a good time to ask what choice they would make.)
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You can adjust the words and the length of your conversation accordingly. Prepare ahead of time by practicing drawing out The 3 Circles; the more comfortable you become with it, the more excited you’ll be to share the cure to the sin problem we’ve all experienced — that cure is Jesus Christ.
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Once we’ve shared God’s story, we may have the opportunity to share our own experience of when we met Jesus. We’ll talk about this next. I hope you can see what a glorious privilege it is to be used by our mighty, all-powerful God who doesn’t need us but wants us to be part of His amazing work to redeem mankind. Trust the Holy Spirit to guide you — Our telling of God’s story needs to be Spirit-led and Spirit-filled. Pray as God gives you an open door and let the Holy Spirit take the lead. You might want to pray Paul’s prayer just as I do: “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel . . . Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should” (Ephesians 6:19-20).
Now let’s talk about the next best story…
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
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John 3:16
Our STORY
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."​
1 Peter 3:15
God will give you opportunities to share your story, too. Before I could be part of a mission trip, I needed to write mine out and be prepared to tell it. Most recently I traveled to Kenya, where our team visited several villages in the county of Turkana. We shared both God’s story and our own personal stories. In Kenya, we referred to our stories as the “3 Walk” because the Turkana people walk everywhere. In fact, every man, woman and child had walked to be with us, many of them walking several miles to hear about Jesus.
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If you are part of God's family you have a story of how your life was changed by Jesus, and as the Holy Spirit leads you, you will be called to share it. Whether you’re going to the lost in your own neighborhood or on the other side of the world, there is no greater joy than to share the life changing, lifesaving news of Jesus Christ and how it has impacted your life.
When God asked me to share my story for the first time, the story I hid in shame for many years, I thought I must have heard Him wrong. I was prepared to go to my grave and not tell a soul about my past but God changed my heart. He helped me to see that others were in need of hope, just like I was, and that my story could encourage them. He showed me that my story is His story, a story of love, hope, and redemption. Christ had met me in my brokenness, offering me a way out — a way out of despair and into His eternal family as His beloved daughter. He wants to meet others stuck in brokenness too, and He wants to do it through you and through me. Your story is also God’s story of love, hope, and redemption. Don’t keep it to yourself, share it.
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Once we are His, He places a burden on our hearts to be transparent, so that our stories can be the backdrop to His love, mercy, and grace. I urge you to think about your own story of your life before Christ, how you met Him, and what your walk with Him is like now. When God calls you to tell your story, how will you respond? Be brave and trust that He will help you share it. May God be glorified in the telling of our stories.
"Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story –
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe."​
Psalm 107:2
If you haven’t already written out your testimony, your 3 Walk, the time to do it is now.
Don’t wait or you might feel unprepared, apprehensive or doubtful about how it all happened. If you are a believer — it happened. Now is the time to think about the details. Don’t overthink it — Less is more, and we should focus on the main figure of the story, Jesus Christ. We don’t want to lose people’s interest as we drone on and on about how broken we were.
You may not recall the specific moment or day — maybe it occurred over a period of days, weeks or months — but the truth for every believer is that there was:
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Life before Christ
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Circumstances that caused you to turn to Him
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A personal account of what life is like now, as you walk with Him.
That’s the 3 Walk. It’s helpful to have a short version and a longer version, depending on the circumstances and the amount of time you have to share. Think about if you had only a few minutes to share with someone the single most amazing event of your life; what led up to it, and what followed it. Spend a minute on each part of your story. Then expand it a little, should you be given the opportunity to share more. Focus more on how you met Jesus and what your walk is like now that you walk with Him.
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The 3 WALK
Your walk without Christ
(Think about your life before you met Jesus. What troubled you most as an unbeliever? What did it feel like for you to be lost — emptiness, a longing for peace and forgiveness, burdened by sin or regret?)
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Your walk to Christ
(Think about the circumstances that caused you to meet Jesus; what caused you to turn to Him? How did you hear about Him? Was there a specific moment or period you can remember when you asked Jesus into your life?)
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Your walk with Christ
(Think about the difference Jesus has made in your life and how you could relate that to someone who is searching. How have you been changed? Share what the fire within you feels like. How is God using you? What does it feel like to pursue God’s purpose and plan? What does it feel like to have a purpose? How does it feel to know you have peace with God, eternal life, and that your earthly life now has meaning?)
As we focus with intention on our spiritual growth, mindful of the holy fire — the very presence of God within us, we can show the world what a changed life looks like.
"Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed."
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Psalm 34:5 ESV
May we increasingly demonstrate outwardly the inward transformation of the heart, so others may see and meet Jesus through us. Let’s not neglect the fire. Let’s be grateful that we are on this side of brokenness and obediently go back to help others come out of brokenness through Christ. There are people still trying to escape brokenness on their own, and they are in deep trouble. Go and tell them that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). I spent 57 years stuck there, and as ugly as it sounds, I was on my way to hell. But in an instant, when I put Jesus on the throne of my life, the Holy Spirit’s blaze began to burn within me, and I came to life; it was the most amazing feeling; it still is. If you are His, you’ve experienced this too. Don’t you want others to experience it? At just the right moment, someone was available to tell you. Are you ready to GO tell?
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Jesus said:
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“Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you.”
Mark 5:19 NKJV
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If you are stuck and unable to share, pray for courage, boldness, and strength. Let’s commit to GO out in Christ’s strength (it’s right inside us) and fulfill His purpose by walking in obedience.
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Remember:
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