At this point in my life, I believe the world's best Christians may be at most 'kindergarten' level when it comes to the things of God. Sometimes I get these amazing revelations and when I step back and look at it, it really should be Christianity 101. What seems like amazing revelations when I have them, is really just entry level stuff from God’s perspective.
Therefore, I don't pretend to know it all. Because I don’t. But there are little bits and pieces of wisdom that I can share along The Way.
One of them is to be willing to look stupid for Jesus.
We don't get a word of knowledge for everybody that we pray for. Not everyone gets healed even when we minister with people with the gifts of healing. Often when we pray for people it seems like nothing happens at all. During these encounters, we share the love of Jesus the best we can, always being sensitive to the Spirit of God to lead us. Because on the surface it feels like nothing happened, we can be left feeling bad. We really want to see God move on people right when we minister.
These seemingly unfulfilling encounters actually provide some insight when we look back at them.
Sometimes we find out the prayer was answered later. Radical stuff like liver cancer being healed, or diabetes, or even someone coming off their deathbed. Maybe God didn't want us to watch the healing so we don’t fall into pride. I don’t really know why. Yet.
Like I said, We often pray for people and it looks like absolutely nothing has happened at all. But then there's that one person that gets so radically healed that they
run up and down the beach praising God and hugging homeless people. Then they turn right around and start praying for people. They have been activated in the kingdom. It is an amazing thing.
Because of this, I'm willing to go through the stretches of not seeing anything happen, for that one person that gets radically changed by Jesus Christ.
When I see a person now, I look at the potential of what my encounter with them could possibly turn into. I don't talk to everyone. I try to be led as much as possible by the spirit of God. I find that when God leads me to a person, then something usually amazing happens. But Jesus didn't really tell us to wait until we feel led. He told us to share the gospel and make disciples - I assume this means whether we feel led by the Spirit of not (more to come on this as I seek God about it).
I tell people that I have seen God heal, set free, and deliver so many people that it would be wrong for me not to pray for them. So we step up and pray the prayer of faith as best as we know how. This means we need to crucify our ego and let God do what He wants.
We learn from each encounter. Jesus teaches us as we work the field with Him.
Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Think of this. What would happen if we never prayed for anyone and never shared the love of Jesus with anyone? Nothing. The only way we see if harvest is if we actually work the field, not just talk about working the field.
Be willing to look stupid for the sake of the Gospel. Someone out there is depending on you to do what God has called you to do.
