Just have to share a short story. This morning I arrived at the church at 9:30 for Women’s Monthly Prayer. When our time came to an end, I slipped into the Evangelism Seminar. Loved hearing all his stories and encouragement. When we broke for lunch, there was a table of small booklets sharing the gospel including the gospel of John. So I prayed about which three to select b/c they all had different photo’s on the front and I knew that the Lord knew who would be receiving these booklets and which cover would be most interesting to each person.
Fast forward to later in the day. Now I am shopping at Publix and preparing for Robin & Art Dykstra’s Prayer shower tomorrow here at 3:00. I was also shopping for the Discipleship Training with Skip Gray next Friday & Saturday. One of the items on my list was 4 crates of water and they were heavy! When I checked out I asked the cashier if there might be someone to help me get them in my car. She went and found Stephen. He was a very nice young man, perhaps at the most 22 years old. We had a bit of chit chat on the way to the car about the changing weather. As he was helping me unload the water, he asked me what I was going to do with all that water. (Right then I knew that the prayer I had prayed earlier today was about to be answered...I prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel today and to give away 1 of my 3 booklets...after all “you have not because you ask not” : )
This was my answer to his question, “What are you going to do with all that water? I told Stephen that this coming weekend that we were having a conference teaching us about getting to know God better and learning more about His wonderful ways. His response was, “Oh, so it’s a religious gathering”... “Well, I said, not really, it’s more a gathering focusing on relationships with each other and God. I said to Stephen, “So what is your spiritual interest?” “Oh am am really in to Buddhism” he said..... and for 10 minutes he never stopped talking passionately and genuinely about how much he loved their teachings. I listened intently. He then went onto say that out of his loyalty he was strongly considering shaving his head and wearing the salmon colored robes they wear. He then continued to tell me how impressed he was with their character and authenticity. When I was certain he was done, I said Stephen, can I ask you a question? “Yes”. Have you ever read the entire Bible? “Well I have read some chapters” he said. I said, “But you have never read the whole thing, right”? “No I have not.” I said, “well here is some food for thought: How do you know it’s not true if you don’t have the whole truth?’' He said, “well that’s a good point”. I told Stephen that I had a portion of the Bible in my car that I just got today and wondered if I gave it to him if he would read it and give it some consideration. I said, “you mentioned earlier that you were open to everything, so I thought you might be open to reading something very important” He said, yes, I will read it”. I asked him if he was a man of his word and he assured me that he was. “As a matter a fact he said, the next time I see you here at Publix I will tell you what I think about what I read.”
Will you please pray for Stephen. The enemy has grossly deceived him, it really broke my heart. Will you pray that God would open his eyes, mind and heart to understand what he is reading in the book of John and be gripped by the love and grace of God. He is a young man who has let his heart be captured....but right now, it’s by the wrong God. Let’s pray that God captivates his whole being. He is so young, so impressionable....May Jesus Christ impress him beyond measure!
Our time was short b/c he had to get back to work, but it was amazing to watch God answer my prayer that was offered up only hours earlier! This song describes it all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuuZMg6NVeA
To the praise of His glorious name!
Debbie
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