Have you ever asked yourself, “If the Holy Spirit is still at work today, why don’t we see miracles in America?” Well, ask no more! God is STILL working, even amidst a pandemic! Nothing can stop my God!
Last week for ministry, my team decided to go for a little outreach in the town next to where we are living here in North Lawrence, Ohio. It is one of our goals as a squad to do evangelism outreach everywhere that we go. Obviously, because of the virus, we have had a hard time getting “out” to do some evangelism. However, where we are in Ohio is pretty sparse as far as population is concerned, and the restrictions here are much more lax than they are in most of the other places we were in. Needless to say, we were all pretty excited to get to share the gospel again, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!
Our squad split into 3 groups, and I decided to partner with my teammates Jacob and Bridget for the day. We all walked around the city for a little while, asking the Lord to highlight someone for us to talk to. We didn’t really “get anything” at first. I began to feel really strongly that we needed to go to the park, so we decided to head down there.
While walking around in the field, we saw a group of young adults (five people, to be exact) sitting in a pavilion. I knew in my spirit that we were supposed to go and talk to them, so we began to make our way towards them. That was were we met “D” (name replaced for sensitivity reasons).
“D” was very friendly and began to open up to us pretty quickly about his life. He had said he was a believer, but he was having a hard time reconciling his circumstances. He proceeded to go into great detail describing some very traumatic events in his life, including a string of heartbreaks and battles with mental health.
As we were talking, he also mentioned that he had lost feeling in his left arm after an incident with a handsaw. My teammate Jacob did not skip a beat; he asked him if we could pray for him right there, in front of his friends. And “D” actually agreed.
About this time, my attention shifted from D to his friends. The friends were all kind of laughing. Some of them even said, “I’m sorry. I bet you guys really want to go. This guy never shuts up. He does this all the time,” to which I responded, “Oh no man. It’s our Friend who does THIS all the time.
And of course, guess what happened?
“D” was HEALED!
At this point, Jacob and Bridget jumped straight in to tell “D” the truth about the Gospel— Jesus came to die for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God! He came to bring life and life more abundantly. He came to heal the sick and save the lost and broken! And that is EXACTLY why Jesus healed him in that moment!
Suddenly, the man who “never shuts up” was speechless. So I turn my attention back to the friends. “You see. Something happened here right now. What other explanation do you have? You were just saying no one can get him to shut up, and yet Jesus just did in like 5 seconds.”
Suddenly, the were attentive. As Jacob and Bridget continued to share the gospel with “D,” I proceeded to share the gospel with the other 4 friends. They mentioned how Christians usually did not give them the time of day. All the Christians they had known only preached condemnation. This was the first time they really had a chance to express their thoughts and have a conversation with Christians without feeling condemned. At the end of our conversation, everyone left feeling encouraged… including us! It’s always a great day when the Lord shows up and manifests His power like this!
Here’s the kicker though. The fact that this was one of the ONLY times they had ever had a conversation like this with Christians tells you a lot about where the church in America has failed to reflect the image of Christ. We are meant to show love. But instead of discipling people and leading them to Jesus, we push them away. If that doesn’t break your heart, you might need to start looking at what motivates you as a believer.
Lord, continue to send more laborers into your harvest. The fields are SO ripe with harvest here in America. Open up our eyes to see this. Fill us with the boldness of Your Holy Spirit so that we will be inspired to speak life and truth to one another in love. Amen!
In all things, be blessed!
AG
