Work of God, Part 2

I was also reminded of another principle last week. I was reminded that I need to be aware and sensitive to the presence of God regardless of what I see with the natural eye. The "flesh" part of my (your) life may not always recognize and identify the fact that God is doing His work around us. And there are those times that God will call us to join with Him in His work either through prayer, possibly a testimony and in some cases He even opens the door for us to share the Gospel message with someone. I am still learning that I need to be sensitive to the presence of God even after all of these years of ministerial service.

Let me illustrate that supposition for you today. I told you yesterday that we took a few days vacation last week. Little did I realize that the Holy Spirit did not receive a copy of that memo so He just kept doing what He always does, that is, touching the lives of people so that they can recognize the ministering presence of God. That very demonstration happened to us in the lobby of our hotel. The Spirit did not realize that I was off the "Pastoral clock" and away from my "duties" during that time frame on Tuesday. 

I entered into a brief and friendly conversation regarding vacation time with some individuals. I did not bother telling the individuals that I was a Pastor taking a break and as a matter of fact it didn't APPEAR that they were very interested in knowing about my occupation. We chatted for a few moments and they moved on to another section of the lobby. In a few minutes one of the ladies came over to where I was sitting and asked me if I was a Preacher. She said, "You sound just like a Preacher that I watch on TV" (I want mention his name because he receives enough publicity as it is). Without hesitation she spoke these words; "Will you pray for me? I need God to bless me and provide direction for my family and decisions that we face." She did not ask about my ordination. She did not ask about my denomination affiliation (although our ensuing conversations revealed that they were from a different branch of Christianity). SHE JUST WANTED AND NEEDED PRAYER!! None of those things that I mentioned seemed to be important to her at that time. God was at work in her heart and she was led to me to ask for prayer. I wish I could tell you that I discerned that she was going to ask for prayer. I wish that I could tell you that I was not surprised that she would ask for prayer in the lobby of the hotel. BUT I can't tell you that. I was surprised somewhat but then I realized that you or I can not stop God from working. He is always working to involve Himself in the affairs of human beings.

I could go on into greater detail but needless to say but Ann and I prayed, encouraged and shared the Word of God with two other individuals from this same family in a matter of a hour of our time. The Spirit was at work and we were asked to join with Him in what He was doing in their lives. More than likely we will never see these individuals again (they live several states away) but for those few minutes we were able to see God at work. Tears flowed freely from their eyes even in the midst of others that were around us. They were neither embarrassed or intimidated by the presence of the Spirit. They had surrendered to the work of the Spirit at that moment and they were receiving what God had planned for that encounter with Him.

CHALLENGE: Each of us are called to make our self available to God so that He can work through us for His glory! Are you making yourself available to God? Opportunities await those who do.