God speaks
As I was
riding home from the Chicago O’Hare airport last Sunday night in the back seat
of our green Audi, God brought to mind a friend’s name,
Aaron. I thought it was odd since
I hadn’t talked or even thought of him in awhile. I didn’t think much about
it and proceeded with what I had been doing, but God was persistent and kept
pushing me to pray for him. I thought,
‘okay God, You’ve been teaching me a lot about listening prayer and I’m listening.’ So, I prayed for him most of the way home
because I felt such a strong burden on my heart for him. Later on that evening, I got in contact with
Aaron just to let him know God had put him on my heart and I had been praying
for him all afternoon, but even more intensely in the evening. He responded by asking, ‘well, did you know
that I was speaking twice and giving an announcement about my resignation in
front of the church tonight?’ and of course I had no idea since I hadn’t kept
in contact for at least a month. He said
he felt a peace about speaking and he felt prayed for.
Praise
God!
Just last
night (Thursday), at Granger
Community Church,
I was sitting next to a lady who was by herself. To preface, this is considered a
‘mega-church’ so there are certain people I see every week that I know, and the
rest I have never seen before or don’t know, therefore it wasn’t unusual to be sitting next
to someone I didn’t know and had never seen before. I just felt a tugging at my heart to talk to
her. She was a short and stout lady with
curly brown hair and glasses. I leaned
over to ask what her name was and I think it caught her off guard. I could tell that it wasn’t a common occurrence
for her. Her name was
Maxine and she said it came from her
father’s name Maxwell who was dear to her.
As we continued to talk I asked if there was anything I could pray for
her about and she looked up at me, her eyes lit up, and said, “as a matter of
fact, there is!” She said her son and
daughter-in-law were in the process of making a decision about moving up to
North Dakota but were struggling with whether this was God’s will for them or
not. This move involves her
grandchildren leaving her as well and as a grandmother that is a struggle for
her. She thanked me for being a blessing
and willing to pray for her.
I could
have missed two wonderful opportunities for God to use me through prayer if I
weren’t listening. Praying for other
brothers and sisters in Christ is so important and can be a blessing and
encouragement to them. Prayer is powerful
and I am learning that when God brings people to my mind, I need to stop and
pray for them right away instead of dismissing it as if it’s nothing. Listening to the Holy Spirit speak to me is
something I’m working on. I know I have
already missed many chances to pray for people because I was consumed with my
world and my list of things to get done, but God is teaching me and I am
thankful He is a patient God. There are
so many people around us who are in need of love, to know someone cares,
waiting for someone to just stop, and even just pray for them. That’s what Jesus did!
Devote yourselves to prayer,
being watchful and thankful. Colossians
4:2
(PS we’ll deal with Aaron’s Michigan hat later- GO IRISH!)
