Learning to listen

A few stories…mostly Costas related!!

Recently since hearing some amazing street encounter stories from a friend of mine I have been trying to be more intentional about asking the Holy Spirit what he is doing when I have been talking to people I meet. Sometimes I don’t hear anything but…

A few weeks ago after being in a prayer meeting where as staff we were praying for the lost in our City, I’d brought a contribution about having an expectation for God to use us and the ways we can recognise the Holy Spirit’s activity…things Wendy taught us on TSM… like when we feel drawn to speak to someone or when someone approaches us or when we bump into the same person several times in a short space of time…

After the prayer meeting Julie, Carol and I headed into Hove to get a coffee. On the way Carol bumped into a builder she knew. She was surprised to see him wearing a Muslim prayer cap. She started chatting to see what he was up to and discovered he was preparing to go to Syria the very next day to help in an orphanage. He told us that he’d been watching the news and felt deeply impacted by the plight of children there and in response was going to offer to help.

I think we all sensed this was an opportunity God was opening up. As we listened to his story I felt the Holy Spirit say to tell him that the compassion he was moved by for the children of Syria came from God who is full of compassion and that this God loved him and had a plan for his life, Julie felt something similar which she shared with him. He nodded and carried on telling us more about his plans. I asked the Holy Spirit what we should do or say next and felt him say we should ask if he had a need we could pray for, either sickness or something practical. At first he said he couldn’t think of anything and then suddenly remembered he had a lump on his shoulder that the hospital had told him was actually quite a serious health risk! Carol told him we’d love to pray for him to which he replied, thanks and started to move away. Carol said “No, can we pray for you now?” He hesitantly agreed. Then courageous Carol said, “We will pray, the Holy Spirit will come on you and the lump will disappear”! So there in the alleyway with people walking past we laid hands on his shoulder and commanded the lump to go in Jesus name. We actually forgot to ask him how it was and he was in a hurry to move on but said he’d get in touch with Carol when he got back. We’re hoping this story will be continued!!

We then went into Costas, had our coffee and Julie and Carol both had to go. I got on with preparing a talk on my computer about ‘Knowing the Father’. I looked up and at the table opposite I noticed a dad with the cutest little boy. He was kissing him, holding him in the air and was quite besotted with him so much so it was drawing people’s attention. I felt the Holy Spirit say I want you to go and tell him that the way he loves his little boy is how I love him but even more. It was such a clear picture of what I was writing about! I waited for his friend to go to the loo and then went and sat at the man’s table. At first he looked a bit surprised, understandably! I told him I was a Christian and that sometimes God speaks to me and shared the word with him. He nodded and smiled and I ask him if he knew God. He told me he was a Muslim and that he believed in the one God. I told him again that God knew him and loved him. His friend came back and the conversation came to an end.

This last week I was in Costas and was looking out of the window and musing about the risk adventures we had been encouraged to take on TSM…remember those!!!! I was remembering the very first time I had stepped out and prayed for a lady here at this same table by the window. I’d prayed for her hand to be healed following a Carpal Tunnel operation but then been so scared I had not asked her if it was better but had changed the subject and nervously carried on talking!

So…this week as I was musing, someone came to my table and asked if she could join me because of the comfy chairs! I knew this was a Kingdom opportunity especially as there were lots of empty tables in the café! We started chatting about this and that. Remembering to try and keep listening to the Holy Spirit she began to tell me that she was a marketing consultant who had been disappointed with the corporate world and how it wasn’t all about the money. She said she had values, which immediately got my attention. I felt to ask her about her values and she told me she was wanting to start a company that helped people. I was able to encourage her and commend her and how her heart to do this came from God’s heart at which point she began to well up. I told her I shared her values and that as a church in Brighton we were trying to help people and told her about the vision we have for social enterprise amongst the poor. I could see I had really got her attention. She told me she was a Buddhist but had heard of our church through some colleagues she had worked with. As she was on her lunch break she had to go but before she left she told me she hadn’t planned to come to Costas at all…funny that!