IMPACT By Jeannette Haley

Sometimes it may take a long time before we look back and realize that at certain points an impact was made on our life. Of course, we all eventually feel “impacted” when we suffer a loss or during times of great difficulty, but certain situations can stand out in our minds like stars shining forth in a dark background of forgetfulness. Each pinpoint of light is a reminder of the impact it had on our life.

“Impact” is one of two important words and a short expression that Rayola, my co-laborer in the Gospel, taught me nearly four decades ago concerning working with people. Often what we say, or do, can make an impact on the mind, will or emotions of others in ways we can’t imagine. The impact of truth, for example, will either silence or insult a person, or, if they love the Lord, will result in them gaining understanding, enlightenment and wisdom for which they are thankful.

As I grow older and look back over the years, it’s amazing to me how certain points of impact influenced my entire life. The amazing thing is usually the impact was simple, unassuming, usually very short and certainly nothing that would catch the eye of a movie producer. But it is such nondescript, commonplace, ordinary situations that God can use to direct our steps for our good and His glory. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

The true power of a life-changing impact is the Holy Spirit, and for that reason, those around an “impacted” individual will be affected, for better or worse, depending on their own world views, agendas, lifestyles, or beliefs. Impact, like a meteor hitting the earth, goes deep and leaves a lasting impression on the mind, the soul and the spirit whereas experiences generally leave memories that may, or may not be a turning point in our lives. Impacts that are sudden, short and simple broaden one’s perspective by way of bringing a “contrast” which is the second word Rayola often uses, followed by the third expression which is “the bottom line.”

Following are just three personal examples of “impacts” that produced “contrast” that developed into foundational “bottom lines” in my life, and hopefully, above all else illustrate the importance of yielding our lives to God for His use in making an impact on others for their good and His glory.

A quiet but lasting impact was made when I was still in grade school. My mother was going to have some dental surgery and arranged for me to spend a couple of days with a family from our church that lived a few blocks from us in a big, two-story house. The wife was my Sunday school teacher, and the husband was a godly man with a beautiful singing voice. They had two children, a boy around my age and an older girl. Neither of their kids paid any attention to me, but I didn’t care because the most impactful and wonderful thing about that short stay was their family devotions. Those meaningful Bible devotions at dinnertime made a lasting impact on me although their own children were obviously bored and uninterested. I remember lingering at the dinner table, asking questions and hungering to learn all I could about God and Jesus, so of course, when I returned home, I couldn’t be quiet about family devotions and pestered my parents but to no avail. What had impacted my heart had absolutely no effect whatsoever on my parents, except occasional annoyance and probably a strong desire to duct tape my mouth shut.

For me, the impact in this situation created a contrast between what I considered to be a “real” Christian home, and a “lacking” Christian home, and from there the “bottom line” for me was that I was missing out on a lot of valuable Bible knowledge that my heart ached for in spite of what I learned in Sunday and Bible study homework for children. Therefore, I devised a way to study the Bible by myself. Thankfully, my Great grandma sent me Bible study correspondence courses for youth from Moody Bible Institute. The bottom line is, God used my growing hunger to know Him and His Word to create within me a strong desire to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” 2 Timothy 2:15. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” Psalm 119:11. Now that I qualify as “an old lady” I must still maintain that the most valuable item anyone on earth can own is God’s Word.

Impacts have a way of surfacing even if one is unaware of it at the time. One such impact began the day I decided to visit Great-grandma at her little ground-floor apartment. While we sat visiting, suddenly a flurry of noisy children ran past her window as they chased each other around the courtyard. She may have been up in years, but she sprang out of her chair and the next thing I knew she was at her backdoor calling to the children, saying, “Come here, come here and stop all that screeching!” Amazingly, they all complied and then, what shocked me even more is she ushered them all into her tiny living room, got them to quietly surround her as she sat at her old pump organ, got them to sing hymns with her, and talked about Jesus. It didn’t matter where she was, she shared Christ and the impact that made on me not only took root in my mind and heart that real ministry is being available for God’s use wherever you are, but it became the bottom-line foundation of full-time ministry years later. The distinct contrast between what churches teach about the life and duty of a Christian (which is to make your priority working, serving, and supporting the church organization) and what she demonstrated (again, that you can serve Christ every day of your life, no matter where you are or who crosses your path) became the bottom line “cement” in my foundation. It’s easier than falling off a log to allow a particular church, pastor, ministry or movement to become your entire focus so much so that it consumes your life rather than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Exodus 20:3 God commands, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” In addition, nowhere in Scripture are we told that we cannot follow, serve, or obey the Lord and “Go” as commanded in Matthew 28:19-20 unless we have diplomas, degrees, man’s “ordinations,” titles, licenses, or years of education to make us “qualified.” Acts 4:13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (See 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; John 7:14-18; 1 John 2:27; Acts 1:8; Matthew 11:25.) [Emphasis added.]

What really makes a lasting impact on a person’s heart? An impact so powerful that it can never be forgotten; an impact so moving and compelling that it can move a person years later? What causes a person to be so impacted that they drop to their knees in brokenness and repentance? As stated above, it is the Holy Spirit, and that brings me to the third unforgettable impact that occurred in a church in Juarez, Mexico. Black Buffalo (Ray Wilson, his wife and team of North American Indian Missions) was taking a small group from America across the border to Copper Canyon where the Tarahumara Indians live. The situation became tense when we reached the border because of crisis in the country. (Around 1981.) It was necessary for Ray to meet with the pastor and his wife who, I believe were American missionaries, to secure corn for the Indians. That is a long story for another time. Our little group sat together in the back of the church, which was packed with Hispanic people, all speaking Spanish of course. Most of us couldn’t understand a word they were singing or preaching except our missionary guides and an evangelist friend. It was interesting to me how, before the service began, all the men left the sanctuary and went into another meeting room to pray and seek the face of God. And pray they did, like nothing I had ever witnessed before, or since, while the women prayed in the sanctuary.

There just aren’t words to describe how utterly moving, powerful, and life-changing that service was even though all the music, worship and preaching was in Spanish. Through it all there was an incredible, awesome, overwhelming, powerful manifest presence of the Holy Spirit that filled that church and made a lasting impact on our group. I remember that, try as I might to keep my composure, and even though I didn’t understand a word that was said, by the time the service was over the entire front of my white cotton blouse was saturated with tears. Who can stand in the presence of our Holy God and refrain from shedding tears? I later learned that one of the men who was in our group wasn’t even saved at the time, but the Holy Spirit drew him in and impacted his life so much that when he returned to America he traveled from coast to coast and border to border trying to find a church filled with the presence of God in such a manner. Sadly, the last I heard (many years ago) he disappointedly found none.

The contrast between the absence of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy Spirit is as distinct as darkness and light, or life and death, and the bottom line on this subject can be summed up by Psalm 78:41, “Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them” Isaiah 63:10. To the Church Paul wrote, “Quench not the Spirit” 1 Thessalonians 5:19; “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” Ephesians 4:30.

The modern, westernized church has lost the ability to make an impact on generations of godless, worldly, entertainment seeking, weak-minded lovers of self, yet such deluded persons give lip service to whom they believe to be “Jesus” while pursuing worthless life-styles that make no impact on others for Christ, bring no contrast between the holy and the profane, or establish the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the bottom line truth for their lives. The fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom has been relegated to the dust bin of history along with the entire Old Testament and parts of the New, while so-called “Bible studies” are really just “book studies” that, while they may contain some “milk” are sadly “anemic” and fail to offer real “meat” leaving the people spiritually malnourished and unprepared to be victorious overcomers of the world, the flesh and the devil, all of which we are repeatedly admonished in the Word to overcome.

A.W. Tozer summed it up when he said, “The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted. Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its culture, actually stands in sharp opposition to it.”

O God have mercy on us! We have forsaken the narrow way for pleasing, self-serving ways. We have ignored your commandments and replaced them with platitudes and vain philosophies. We have given our strength to worthless causes, and endless vain pursuits. O Lord, forgive us and cause us to be so impacted by the power of the Holy Spirit that our eyes may behold the contrast between dark and light, righteousness and lawlessness, godliness and ungodliness so that we will return to You, and seek Your face with our whole hearts. Your Word, will and ways must always be our bottom line. Amen.