Unfollowed Promptings

This spring, I am challenging our church family to do some “soul spring cleaning.” One of the ways we can do that is to be honest with ourselves about what holds us back when God asks us to do things. I can think of many times when I felt God calling me to do something. Sometimes it seemed a little weird, but most of the time it simply involved talking to a particular person, and being willing to talk to them about God. 

There’s a story I love about my late friend Bob Stoakes that his precious wife, Mary, shared with me after Bob graduated to heaven. Years after they were married, a young pastor and a friend had been recommended to visit Bob, and at first Bob was very reluctant to meet with them. He had no relationship with Christ at the time, and frankly did not see the need to chat with a pastor. But the pastor and his friend were persistent, and in the end they had a conversation in Bob and Mary’s living room. After sharing the gospel, the pastor had the boldness to set aside any fear, and bluntly asked Bob if he was ready to know Jesus. Bob said yes, they prayed, and Mary said their lives and marriage were radically different from that day forward. 

I love that story because it reminds me of how wonderfully powerful the gospel is. According to the parable of the soils in Matthew 13, our job is not to be clever with the gospel, but to “sow” it generously, and allow it to take root where it might. Our job is to share – the rest is up to God’s handiwork and the state of the soil it falls on. On the outside, it might not have appeared like there was a chance this message would get through to my friend Bob. But thanks be to God, His grace is greater than we could ever imagine!

As we consider spiritual spring cleaning, I want you to consider your reasons for avoiding sharing the gospel, and then I challenge you to work through them. Perhaps you fear that you cannot answer a tough question? If so, I encourage you to ask those hard questions and work on having good answers for them. If you are afraid of how a person might respond, it is a good time to consider how the apostle Paul was willing to make himself a “fool for Christ.” (1 Corinthians 4:10) I am not sure what reasons you have for avoiding the promptings of God, but I want to encourage you to identify them and work on them so that when He prompts you, you say, “Here I am, send me!” 

Expectantly, 

Shawn 

P.S. Please join me in praying for several in our church family who are mourning the loss of loved ones this week. (click here)