Telling Others: Letting the Spirit Guide You

This month’s devotional topic is telling others the Good News.  I remember the battle I fought within myself as a young Christian wanting to tell my friends about God.  I had always been shy and took a long time to make relationships.  By the time I reached the end of high school I finally had a tight knit group of friends.  I desperately wanted them to be saved and yet I was paralyzed with fear that they would reject me. 

When I left for college I promised myself that I was done being afraid.  I became the friendly, outgoing person that I had always wanted to be.  I found a bible study to attend and invited everyone I knew.  It was the first time in my life that I just sucked up my courage and asked.  And almost every one of those people said yes. 

Not only was the spirit leading me to people who would listen but it was leading the teachers around me too.  It was amazing to me how, no matter who I brought, it was as if the sermon, the class, or the bible study that day was exactly what that specific person needed to hear.  It was very little work for me.

Another thing that I had feared in high school was the questions that people would ask me.  But when questions did come I knew exactly what to say.  The spirit had prepared me.

I spent a lot of time praying for those friends.  And it wasn’t long before those prayers came to fruition.  The single best night of my life was when three of those friends were baptized, including my future husband.

As Christians we each have the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us on our path.  People may not always be as receptive as they are in college, but I firmly believe that if we trust the Spirit to guide us God will direct us to people who will listen.

Mark 4:26-29 (NIV)
 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain–first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”