As I went shopping today a man was coming out of the store limping and in much pain. I felt quickened to catch up with him and pray for him, but it was cold and my daughter was anxious to get in the store. I felt a little convicted because I really felt God wanted me to talk to the guy but shopping soon took precedence over my conviction and it passed. Until my daughter says, "There he is, Mom." I looked up and sure enough the guy was literally there in front of me. He had come back into the store! The blood rushed to my face because I knew this was a follow through moment, so I followed through.
I don't know what the guy thought when I was done praying but I do know He encountered God today. I did my part so I can rest tonight feeling relieved that I didn't lose the opportunity that God gave me to bring Him into someone's circumstance.
This event brought me back to the thought about cynicism and how it can derail us from praying with a stranger or even a close friend. Sometimes we pray for someone or open our lives to someone just to watch them fall again and make more bad choices, letting cynicism take it's ugly root in us. It is so important to remember all God needs from us is to help the person get in God's presence then trust God with the results, anything beyond that becomes about us, then our pride is attached. God is not devastated by people's sin or their impossible circumstances. I have come to believe that He delights in showing His strength to deliver us out of the worst that we can imagine.
I suppose that's why He deliberately picked the woman at the well to bring light to an entire city. You could say that unclean woman started a revival, or at least helped it happen. We better get our "holier than thou" theology cleaned up because we are about to be shocked at the vessels God will soon be using to usher in His power and anointing. A surrendered soul is what He cares about, a broken spirit, a contrite heart.
Luke 6: 20
Looking at His disciples, He said;
" Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
" But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets."
I think the church has success all wrong. We look at our lives and if trouble comes our way we dissolve and are embarrassed, yet after reading this........
Hebrews 11:35-38
V35 women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they would gain a better resurrection.
V36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword.
V37 They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-
V38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
As I looked in that man's eyes, I wanted him to see Jesus, I wanted him to witness His presence and the power that has visited me and transformed my life but, in my worldly agenda I wasn't prepared. Choose to change with me and get a little uncomfortable. Look back at verse 35. They were tortured and refused to be released, so that they could gain a better resurrection. Enough said!
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