Just give her more of Jesus

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and founder of AnGeL Ministries, has been called by her father “the best preacher in the family.” She has been teaching for 25 years and in 2000 launched “Just Give Me Jesus,” a series of life-changing revivals held in arenas throughout the United States and overseas. Recently, Lotz spoke with Associate Editor Kirk Noonan.

PE: You’ve established yourself as someone who loves to speak and write about Jesus. What is one thing about Him that many people tend to overlook?

LOTZ: He was God in the flesh. It was God who confined himself to a woman’s womb and submitted to the birth process. It was God who walked on this earth so we could see how He responded when He was tired and hungry and ridiculed. It was God who went to the cross and gave His life. What we observe in Bethlehem and see in Nazareth and who we bow down to at the cross and rejoice in at the Resurrection is a revelation of God in human form. That deserves our respect and awe.

PE: Some people say Jesus was murdered. You don’t agree with that. Why?

LOTZ: No one can murder God — you can’t take God’s life. He deliberately gave His life by refusing to take the next breath. It was His intent to go to the cross and give His life as a perfect sacrifice for us.

PE: How do you see people responding to Jesus?

LOTZ: People can’t be neutral about Him. He provokes adoration or rejection and hostility. He is controversial because of who He is and because of His claims of being the Son of God, the only way to heaven and the only Savior for us. Because He says He is the only way to have eternal life, He flies in the face of people’s pride and religiosity. His uniqueness carries with it an authority and power. Many people don’t want to be accountable to anyone, much less to a God who requires obedience and holiness.

PE: Have people lost a reverent fear of God?

LOTZ: It’s not just nonbelievers; many Christians also do not fear God as they should. If a person has no fear of God and is comfortable with Him, he or she might become his or her own god. We have to have a fear of God. If even Christians lack a fear of God, those in the world will lack it even more.

PE: Why is it so easy for believers to put Jesus on the back burner in their lives?

LOTZ: Each person would have a different answer to that. But many people are so busy they don’t maintain daily disciplines such as Bible reading and praying. They have abandoned personal holiness. When that happens some of the things that are fundamentally important to God are easily shrugged off because there is safety in numbers. We compromise saying, “Everyone is doing it. It must be OK. The whole world can’t be wrong.” But God still demands holiness, which to me is living like Jesus.

Just Give Me Jesus Anne Graham Lotz #38TQ1096 My Heart’s Cry: Longing for More of Jesus Anne Graham Lotz #38TQ1097 To order, click here or call 1-800-641 4310

PE: What do you say to a person who lacks discipline in prayer and Bible study?

LOTZ: We’re talking about a relationship, not a religion. With my husband, I have to talk to him and listen to him and we do things together to foster our relationship. In our Christian lives our relationship with God is the same. I need to talk to Him and I do that through prayer. I need to listen to what He has to say to me and I do that through reading my Bible. I also need to do things with Him and I do that through service and obedience. We miss the point if we are praying just to get answers or reading our Bible just for information. The focus of these disciplines should be to develop and maintain an active, close and loving relationship with God through Christ.

PE: What does it tell you if a person is not yearning to be closer to Jesus?

LOTZ: They are either spiritually dead or spiritually sick. It’s possible to be born again and have the Holy Spirit within you and grieve Him with your sin or quench Him with your disobedience. You can get along like that and have no desire for Jesus for a season, but you are missing out on all that God wants for you. He wants us to be saved and go to heaven, but there is so much in between. To waste your life and miss the abundant life and blessing God has for each of us is a tragedy.

PE: What would be a good first step to getting closer to Jesus for a believer who is feeling spiritually empty?

LOTZ: Get on your knees and tell Him you feel empty and you want to come back. Your relationship with God is a love relationship. God does not blame you for growing spiritually dry and for not being consistent. If you are sincerely turning to Him because you want to come back into that love relationship, He welcomes you. In fact, He’s been waiting for you.

PE: What is the focus of your books and meetings?

LOTZ: God led me to offer the “Just Give Me Jesus” events for those who want more of Him and for those who don’t know Him at all. It’s amazing because at each meeting we see thousands of people who are longing for a fresh touch from God.

The week before Jesus was crucified the disciples began to understand that He was leaving them. They desperately clung to Him and He poured himself into them through His words. I felt I needed that from Him too. Jesus is everything we need. He has been the answer to my heart’s cry. All that I am doing through my books (Just Give Me Jesus and My Heart’s Cry for More of Jesus) and the arena events is offering people the answer that I have found to my heart’s cry, and that is Jesus.

PE: What would you tell someone if you had only a few minutes to share your faith with him or her?

LOTZ: I would tell them that God loved them so much He created them to know Him and that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. I’d also tell them that if they would place their faith in Him they could have their sins forgiven and have a personal relationship with Him that will ensure that when they die they will go to heaven. I’d also tell them they are not doing Him a favor by accepting Him; instead they are doing themselves a favor.

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