Encountering Authentic Love – by Hilary Lynne
Mar 1, 2017 | 1 comment
Robert Hotchkin
Hilary Lynne is a bold and faith-filled prophetic evangelist and founder of “His Love Empowers Miracles.” She encourages and loves everyone God puts in her path, winning many souls to the Lord! She is a revivalist with a strong healing and miracle anointing from God. She preaches and teaches the Word with passion, igniting believers to be set apart ones who pursue righteousness, obedience and purity in all aspects of life. Hilary is believing for a billion soul harvest in her lifetime through media, evangelism outreaches, and crusades. Hilary shares from her heart how God can use us to impact and reach those around us and win many souls to the Lord.
We are called to be “set apart” from the world, but also called to reach the lost who have yet to encounter the true love of Jesus. The best way to achieve a lasting impact is by following Christ’s example of loving them back to life and being someone they can genuinely trust (Matthew 22:37-40). The true love of Christ enters someone when they know you care about them, their family, their interests, even their pets!
Meet People Where They Are
To love people back to life, it is more important to connect with them as opposed to preaching at them. Jesus called some who were the most unqualified, unpolished people in the world’s eyes to be His disciples. There were others Jesus could have chosen that were more scholarly, clean-cut, and known in the community, but God always looks at the heart. God designed each person in this world with greatness, giftings, and a unique personality to impact this world! The unsaved just don’t know they are called yet! We need to bring it out of them!
That is what God did for me. He came to me in the greatest struggle of my life, through a couple that I deeply respected. He sent this couple to my house one night and they said, “God wants us to pray for healing in your knee.” I cynically thought to myself, “Hmmm… did God call you on the phone to tell you that?” I didn’t have any idea what a word of knowledge was at the time, but still for some reason I invited them to come on over. On August 11, 2011, at 9:30 p.m., this couple said something so simple, yet so profound to me, that I use it whenever I evangelize to this day; it is from Hebrews 13:8 which says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” They asked me, “Do you think that includes Jesus as your healer? I said, “Well, I guess so.” With very little faith, I accepted their prayer and went to the gym the next day and ended up running, jumping, and playing basketball for four hours straight, with NO PAIN! What Jesus did in 2011 was to fill the need of being Healer in my life. No doctor, no pain medication, no rehabilitation have even made a dent in my knee recovery – until I met Jesus face to face through that couple’s faith and willingness to reach out. That true, authentic love took me from being a backslidden, lukewarm, weekly churchgoer, to a radical, fearless, empowered and bold witness for Christ!
He now uses me just like He used that couple. And He can use you the same way – to bring a word of knowledge or a healing prayer, giving someone some divine encouragement to shine the brightness and glory of God into their hearts, or perhaps to buy some groceries for someone who is in need.
You Are God’s Treasure Seeker
Jesus looked past people’s exteriors and into their heart with the eyes of love. We should, too. There are many different kinds of people in this world today. Some people are already believers in Christ but refuse to go to church because they have not felt like they fit in or were received. Others are seeking after “truth” but just haven’t met Him who is the Truth. Still others are angry with God because they blame Him for a loved one dying, or a childhood pain or trauma, and feel like He has not been there for them. And then there are those who grew up “in church,” but they have no relationship with Him. All are just waiting for someone like you to share the real love and real truth of Jesus with them in a personal way.
People Need to See the Real Thing
There was a young man I knew when I was a PE teacher at a high school. He didn’t like me very much, never wanted to hear anything about God, and would even use profane language to try to shock me and push me away. But about six years later our paths crossed again and he invited me to come play basketball. I said yes but asked him in return to come to church with me. To my surprise he reluctantly said yes. He came to church with a very hard heart, but by the end of the service he was so impacted he responded to the salvation call! Now he’s leading hundreds of kids, athletes, coaches, and young people to Christ, and evangelizing all over Facebook with words of encouragement and Bible scriptures! This young man saw me as being real and relevant in his life. I was a coach who forgave his bad behavior before he even asked for forgiveness. I chose to go play basketball with a bunch of guys to show him I cared. We need to remember that it can take days, months, or even years of faithfully sowing love into people’s lives before their walls come down and they accept Christ. The people God puts in my path will experience genuine love for who they are in the present moment, flaws and all! God says you do the loving, the encouraging, and never give up on them, and I’ll draw them to Me. If you simply ask people things that interest them, their family, their background, their interests, their struggles, they will begin to see that you are the real deal. And the real key is the art of listening. Don’t interrupt them, let them talk and share their heart with you.
Are you ready to be used mightily by the Lord? Are you ready for millions to come into the Kingdom? I know I am! Teamwork makes the dream work!
Prayer Directives
Let’s pray and agree that:
God is raising up a new breed of prophetic evangelists who are filled with radical, bold love that will penetrate people’s hearts, connecting them to Jesus! (Matthew 22:37-40, Romans 5:8).
May God fill His people with endurance, steadfastness, and grace to continue to love those who are hard to love. Jesus is our model; He never gave up on us! May God’s mercy and compassion triumph over judgment in this company of evangelists! (1 Corinthians 13:7)
Jesus was relevant to all types of people He met. He treated everyone with dignity and respect no matter their appearance, and spoke to their heart. God’s revivalists are a people who can speak to this culture with effectiveness. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)
Millions of souls will be won to Christ by an army of evangelists who are in the community, schools, government, media, and business; others who God has called for full time service will leave their careers behind. Pray all those God calls accept His invitation! (Matthew 22:14)