Day 20 - What If I Don't?

It has been a privilege to train and mobilize christians around the world to step into their God given call of sharing their faith. Over time, we’ve amassed many stories that testified of God’s goodness, but I’d like to share one story that the Lord used to open our eyes to what has been happening in the world around us.

Our team was flying home after organizing a mass evangelism outreach that impacted over 17,000 people throughout the Dallas metroplex area. Our teams were blessed to watch hundreds make a decision for Christ at their doorstep over just a couple of days. We were exhausted and looking forward to a few hours of rest on the plane ride home. I found myself seated next to a woman I didn’t know, and as the flight started to progress, I felt compelled to ask her if there was something going on in her life that I could pray for her about, ultimately, in the hopes it would be a door to sharing the gospel with her. Despite the fact that I share my faith as a part of my lifestyle (coming home from a large evangelism outreach, no less), I still felt uncomfortable beginning the conversation with her. Subtle excuses started to form in my mind- she’s going to dislike a stranger engaging her in conversation - I’m going to feel embarrassed - it’s going to make things awkward for the rest of the flight, etc.

While I was still having this inward struggle, I couldn’t help but notice what was transpiring two seats in front of mine. A passenger had stopped the flight attendant saying, “Excuse me. Could I talk to you for a second?”. Recognizing the tone and phrasing that was used, I listened in to figure out what was going to happen next. The passenger continued, “I’m a medium, and sometimes I get visions and insight into people’s past lives.” She then gave the woman a run down of all that had been “revealed” to her about this flight attendant’s “past life”, sparing little detail and lacking no confidence. After the medium had finished, the flight attendant expressed visible gratitude, telling her, “I can’t wait to tell all of this to my co-workers.” She was clearly moved by what she had been told and proceeded to walk to the back of the plane with a huge smile on her face.

This is where the clear conviction of the Holy Spirit hit me. While I had been sitting there struggling to put my flesh to death, the enemy wasn’t delaying; in fact, he was taking ground quickly without a moment’s hesitation.

We once heard a close pastor friend encourage his congregation to participate in an upcoming outreach with these words:

“There may be people who say ‘no’ to us when we ask if we can pray with them and share the hope we have found in Jesus, but let’s make sure that we don’t say ‘no’ first.”

Ultimately, we have no control over whether someone receives the Good News , but may it always be said that, as the Body of Christ, we’ve shown up and given our “yes” to Jesus.

We may be the only source of light to some of the people we encounter, so we need to respond to the fact that, “in the absence of light, darkness prevails”.

Challenge: Today, allow Christ’s love to compel you to live as a person of action. Start an interaction with someone today by asking: “Is there anything going on in your life that I can pray for?” Tell them that Jesus transformed your own life and that you’d be honored to stand with them in prayer. You’ll be amazed at how many people will allow you to lead them in their first conversation with Jesus simply because you stepped out and asked.