♪♫♪♫ “Tell me His name again, and sing me that sweet refrain. He who in love, came down from above to die on the cross in shame. That story my heart has stirred, it’s the sweetest that ever was heard. It banishes fear, brings hope and good cheer, O tell me His name again!” ♪♫♪♫

This song really sparks a joy in my heart as we have sung this song in our car to the Sounds of Faith Tell Me His Name CD on road trips. It has an upbeat tune and then the words are the kind that stick like jelly to your fingers and run through your mind all day. It is the sweetest story that’s ever been heard.

There is a story that goes along with the song, I’ve heard two different versions of it and I’m not sure which one is true. The story goes like this… a missionary spoke the name of Christ to a person in their foreign land and they had never heard the name of Jesus before. They proceeded to tell them of Christ and His life, death, and resurrection. Then the woman traveled back to the missionary and asked him to tell her of the name of Jesus one more time.

There have been many times in my lifetime that God prompted my heart to write someone a letter and tell them of salvation and Christ. Sometimes I pray for those people as God brings them to mind, that something in their life would remind them of that letter or they would find it and believe on Him. I’ve many lettersbut the best ones are those I know God was prompting me to do to sow seeds of truth in the hearts of friends and family members. I couldn’t save them, but I could do my part to share what I knew and believed.

Many years ago God prompted me to write a distant family member and send them a specific gospel book that would tell them about salvation. I delayed, allowing being busy to be my excuse to put it off. A gnawing reminder would occasionally speak to me as I went about my business. Months went by and I still kept pushing it off. As you may have guessed I waited too late, as my family member had suddenly passed away in his sleep.

I think my heart was torn from my chest and I felt the burden of guilt, that maybe I would have sent the book he could have read that would have given him another chance to choose Christ.

But I delayed.

The opportunity was over.

I remember standing in an evening church service speaking my testimony crying in tears encouraging people that if they had someone on their mind, they should try to speak to them or send them a letter or a book too. That’s what I’m doing in my own way to those who read this. Does God keep speaking to you about anyone in particular? Please tell them…

Other names come to my mind, always specific people in high school. Neighbors. Family members. Their salvation has never stopped being a part of my prayers, I may forget for a while, but they always return to my mind. I know I’m not in their daily lives, but I pray for them to remember our conversations. I also pray God would bring another Christian into their lives that would have the boldness to speak up and witness to them. That somehow the Holy Spirit would water the seeds and help them to see Jesus for who He is as the Saviour.

A bad thing did happen once, as I sent a book to my ex-brother-in-law as we had prayed for him for many years. I just felt bound by my conscience to try and see if he might be open to reading it because he was in a place in his life where he might take the time to read it. Maybe he would take the time to consider Christ, it was a long shot. I later heard that he was angry about it and threw the book at my sister out in the front yard on one of her next visits to pick up their kids. I felt bad for her, because I never meant to be the cause of her being yelled at by her ex. Some people will just plain reject God and His Word no matter what you do.

I wonder sometimes if when God confronts the lost about the people He sent to speak to them if they will remember the time they yelled, fought with, rejected, and ridiculed the witness. My heart shutters for them as it will be too late.

Late last year I felt prompted to write some letters to some special people in my life. I did not know about their spiritual relationship with God. The reply to one of them was a sweet assurance of their salvation. They had accepted Christ and as a teenager been very involved in church camps and did bring their children up in church. They thanked me for writing them. It was a special blessing to my heart to know that my loved one did know Christ and had peace about their eternal life. I believe taking the risk sweetened our relationship.

I’ve been asking myself as the current events seem to be rocking back and forth in uncertainty if I need to send out more books or write any letters to people I know do not know Christ. It can be a scary proposition when the fate of someone’s eternal life could hang in the balance. My response to the Holy Spirit’s prompting is necessary to win souls. I only wish I had been more fervent in years’ past. I only hope I will have the boldness to do it and not just write about it.

What if I didn’t say anything or delayed like I did in the past?

What if I pursued worldly entertainment or used all my time during this break to create a bunch of extraneous crafts or scrolled through the news articles for hours?

I challenge myself to let go of the temporary and invest in the eternal. Take the bushel of isolation off and reach out to someone as the light shining into a dark world (Luke 11:33).  Not necessarily in person, but however I can within the means I can do it respecting social distancing guidelines, telling them His name again.

Tell His name again to the same people you’ve spoken to in love again. Send them a link, a letter, a text, give them a call as it seems the days are growing shorter. Every day is nearer to Christ’s return. Please reach out to those you love one more time. Reach out to those you don’t love but know need Jesus one more time. You never know what the eternal outcome may be.

May you all be abounding in the work of the Lord until He comes!

I Corinthians 15: 57,58 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.