God gives us more than we ask for

So, when we were all on TSM we were on the streets regularly stepping out and praying for the sick or talking to people about Jesus both in Bedford and back home and then… when we finished we were encouraged to keep going for it, so we didn’t lose momentum.

So, how’s everyone doing now… nearly a year on?

I know I’ve plateaued in this area and hearing testimonies recently and remembering the freedom I used to move out in I began to ask God again to open up opportunities.

I’ve started asking God for words of knowledge and this morning I was quite specific. I asked God for two, one for the Staff Prayer meeting I was going into and one for out on the street.

In the Prayer meeting I delivered the word of knowledge God gave me for someone and towards the end of the meeting as people were praying for increase of kingdom opportunities I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me and I shared an equipping practical encouragement about recognizing the ways the Holy Spirit often attracts our attention. It seemed well received and particularly by our lead Pastor which is always encouraging!!!!

Then after the meeting… as Julie, Carol and I started to walk towards Costas God led us into an encounter!

Carol suddenly stopped to speak to a man she knew. A bit surprised to see him wearing a white crochet prayer cap and hearing he was now a Muslim, she asked what he was up to. He told us he was preparing to leave for Syria tomorrow because he had felt deeply moved by the plight of children there and he was going to help in an orphanage.

It was one of those moments where probably all three of us were knowing God had set this up and were feeling our way trying to hear what the Holy Spirit wanted us to say. There was the whole converting to Islam, the compassion he was expressing and his willingness to count the cost! What actually happened was we got to prophesy encouragement that the compassion he was feeling was God’s compassion and that God had a plan for his life. I felt the Holy Spirit say to ask if he had a need we could pray for either physical or practical. At first he said no and then he started to tell us about a lump he had in his shoulder, which sounded quite a serious health risk. Carol stepped up with great boldness and said, “We’d like to pray for you. The Holy Spirit will come on you and we will pray for God to remove the lump and heal you” Standing against the wall in this alleyway with people going past Carol prayed… in our excitement we forgot to get him to check it out but he certainly went on his way blessed and said he’d get in touch once he was back.

In Costas after a while, the girls had to go but I stayed on to carry on prepping a talk I am giving tomorrow, on the Father. As I looked up I noticed a man with the cutest little boy. As a dad I could see he loved his little boy so much and was paying him so much attention, kissing him and talking to him and it was drawing my attention.

I heard the Holy Spirit say I want you to tell him that in the same way he loves his little boy I love him… but even more! His friend had gone to the loo so I went and sat opposite him and said I’m a Christian and sometimes God speaks to me and told him what I’d felt the Holy Spirit say. He nodded and smiled and so I asked him if he knew God. He told me he was a Muslim and believed in the one God. His English was quite poor and his friend came back and the conversation ended there. When I sat back down I realized that God hadn’t spoken to me just twice today as I had asked but 5 times already!

And then…

A little while later one of the staff who has always seemed friendly and said hello asked me if I was writing an essay. I told him it was a talk I was giving to a group at my church and how it was the same church that one of the other Costas staff went to. I asked him if he knew of it. He said he did and that was when I found he was also a Christian and went to another great church in Brighton. I told him about the different people I had got to speak to about Jesus in Costas and what a special place it was.  I also told him we were planting into Hove this September and wanted to reach into the community and especially around that area. He then mentioned that in the past a church had asked to use Costas for an event and so if we were ever interested to use it we could speak to the manager!

If you’ve plateaued at all I hope you are encouraged to ask God. He loves to speak through us and gives us more than we ask for!