The one that got away...

2 nights ago I attended a Words of Knowledge e-course. Jon and I were surrounded by our friends as we studied this spiritual gift. It was a night of encouragement but also training. There were many times where Shawn Bolz (the creator of the course & and words of knowledge boss) would pray commissioning prayers, like "Lord let each one watching not be able to let a day pass without talking to someone about you." I was all for these prayers and in fact excited to take everything I was trained on and practice in the world around me. Heck I even testified about previous experiences I've had about telling people things I believe God is saying. 

A frequent prayer that comes out of my mouth is, "God let the supernatural be a normal part of our day.." I believe that if you are Christian pursuing Jesus first in your life, you should be seeing the supernatural power of God on the regular. Jesus did. I feel a strong "calling" to the "every day" people around me... the grocery store employee, the waiter, the mom-friend... anyone. I goal to live each day with my ears open to the voice of God. I absolutely love the times I am out and about and God highlights someone, and God uses me to tell them about Him. It's always fun because God will use those moments to bring encouragement and change to those peoples lives, while simultaneously encouraging me 

Yesterday was a full and a bit of a nutty day. There was a lot to cross off the list of to-do's and I came close to getting it all done. My last stop of the day was CVS. Over the last year and a half I've gotten to know most of the employees at the local CVS. Last night, as I was involved in one of my many transactions, this tall and husky man walked up to the register next to mine. The sweet manager ringing him up proceeded to ask him how he was doing and he immediately said, "i'm in pain." When he said the word pain, I knew he needed prayer. He was consumed by the pain. He was buying some over the counter pain medicine along with some sweet tea (as a proper Texan would). He then told my manager friend, "I forgot to take these meds this morning and now I am in so much pain." His dependance on these meds were obvious. As soon as he started talking and I heard the word "pain", the e-course flashed in my mind quickly, specifically the part where Shawn Bolz prayed that God would open up opportunities for us to give words of knowledge, and that we wouldn't let a single person that God highlights miss an encounter with him. Then I got the feeling in the pit of my stomach that I always get when I know God wants to use me to talk to someone about what He is saying. Usually I get past my nervous feelings and obey, and it always ends well. I love breaking out of the awkward and talking to perfect strangers about what God is saying. If we don't bring the presence of God into someone's world then who will?

Well, I must sound like an apostle/prophetess at this point....As I think about last night and that man standing next to me my heart is just filled with sadness for him because this time I ignored it. When I heard him say "pain" and felt that gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit I ignored it, didn't look at him and tried my best to focus in on what I was buying. Just all consumed with myself. All the while I knew that I could pray that his pain would vanish that instant. UGHHHH when I think about that moment now I literally want to kick myself. I could just hear that poor guys words ringing in my ear... He was so dependent on those pills, and when he didn't have them he was miserable enough to drink an entire gallon of sweet tea. ha. Maybe that gallon wasn't all for him, but he definitely was very open about his dependency on those pills. How many of us know someone like that? They are in a bad place and depend on other things to help them to barely get through the day. If you just stop for a minute and think about them, it should move our hearts with compassion. The body of Christ shouldn't be okay with seeing this. 

I just wanted to take a moment and remind myself and anyone reading this... it's mine and your responsibility to show people how awesome Jesus is. He heals. That man could have had a life changing experience right there in that CVS. I do feel bad about that, but I don't feel condemned or angry... just propelled to action. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit draws people to God (John 16:8) and it's His perfect love that draws people to repentance. We just have to love, and speak up. So last night as I was driving home just feeling like this guy got away, and I didn't speak up, I knew that i needed to write, to process and to make sense of what we all should be doing. We shouldn't be okay with hearing and seeing people sick, in pain, depressed, totally dependent on meds... whatever it is... if you believe in Jesus Christ you have the answer. 

Galatians 3:13 says, "But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon Himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." It's our job as believers to open up our mouth and curse sickness, poverty, depression...anything that opposes what Christ came to give because Jesus already came and became the curse for us so we don't have to be cursed with anything. If you're reading this, whether you didn't even know that in Jesus Christ we can be completely healthy and whole or this little piece of writing serves as a reminder that you are more than enough. God wants to use you to represent Him to so many that just need to know there is a hope outside of medicine. Speak up, you have authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). As my incredible husband says, the risk of humiliation in going up to a stranger is such a small price to pay in the grand scheme of eternity.