People everywhere need to hear from God
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
So, we’re sitting at our favorite fishing hole (Alex City boat ramp) Monday, and lightning strikes me.
Not literal lightning. It was like a light bulb went off in my heart. That’s the way the Lord speaks sometimes in answering prayer.
To comprehend the fullness of this, I’ve got to go back to Sunday afternoon when I opened the service with scripture reading and prayer.
Do you want to know which verses I read? They are found in Ephesians 6 and pertain to a man who asked for prayer.
That man was Paul. He was in bonds as a prisoner at the time. After encouraging the saints about the whole armor of God, Paul had a prayer request.
Verses 18-20 state, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I my open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
I read those verses at the service, and then it dawned on me: Paul was in prison, yet he was still praying for an opportunity to witness to somebody about the Lord.
When I thought about it, I realized that we are free to proclaim the gospel to whomever the Lord opens the door to speak.
At that point, I asked those in the congregation to pray a similar prayer – to ask God to open a door of utterance to share the gospel with somebody in need.
I emphasized that prayer and asked them to take the prayer to heart and watch and see what the Lord would do with it.
Fast forward a day to the boat ramp. We fish off the docks for bass, crappie, catfish, and bluegill. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking much about sharing the gospel at that moment.
Basically, the Lord had to hit me upside the head to get my attention.
I walked from the bank to the dock where two young men were fishing. One of them left. I walked past the other one on the dock and cast my line. Then, I heard a dove cooing. At that point, it hit me so fast. It was the Lord directing me to speak to that young man.
That whole prayer from Sunday came back to me. God answered that prayer and directed me to the guy on the dock.
So, I opened my mouth and began to share some things about Jesus Christ. My two boys and I have shared the Lord with others there before. Even so, I didn’t realize the potential of that mission field.
The young man I talked with, Brandon, looked me in the eye and became serious when we talked about the Lord. He said he’d been out of church for quite some time.
The cares of this life had overtaken him. He had some decisions to make.
After talking with him, I realized there are people everywhere who need to hear from God. In other words, the fields are white already to harvest.
The seeds need to be sown, as well. It’s that time of year for planting.
I Corinthians 3:6-9 reads, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
That term husbandry “implies the attentive use and thrifty management of land and other natural resources – water, terrain, weather, and tasks such as pruning, tilling – to successfully bring forth the very necessary products of agriculture, field, pastures, vineyards, and orchards are the workshops where the sciences and management-techniques of husbandry are applied.”
Sam Kaufman pastors The Church of God at 405 13th Ave. N in Alex City. Contact him at 432 266-0154.