Today and yesterday were days in which I give thanks to Holy Spirit. It all started with seeing a few people from church yesterday. I asked them how church was and the preaching also. They told me there was no preaching that day and that it was a service in which worship was the service yesterday. Of course part of me wanted to be there since I am a worshiper. My ministry yesterday was at work, indeed it was that very day. This is what happened...I love to strike up conversations with people and I did that yesterday.
A brother and sister were given some money to spend. I searched for items in which it would be in their price range. That was fun. Let me share with you that this was prior to the knowledge that was shared with me later on. I then saw a relative of theirs looking at something in another part of the store and we struck up a conversation and they thanked me for assisting the children. I am not going to go into details but a story was shared with me. The person thanked me for praying. You see, I did not pray with this person but this was my response to the comment, "Would you like me to pray for you?" The answer was affirmative and I prayed right then and there with this person. You see, Holy Spirit sets up circumstances and do we respond or not? I accepted the opportunity presented to me to pray for this family that was in need.These are the Holy Spirit connections that really touch my heart.
If you let people share their story with you, you then have the opportunity to listen and respond as Holy Spirit leads. You see, you are reaching out to others and it always amazes me how I end up getting blessed in the midst of this. When I finish praying people usually thank me or tell me the words were beautiful or something to that effect. I tell them it is not me and to thank Holy Spirit because those are the words that flow forth, they are from Him.
I then felt led to find the church members and share with them that this is truly marketplace ministry. I shared briefly and I was given another piece of the puzzle. I am most thankful for this because the piece of the puzzle or golden nugget (as I like to refer to it as) was used today and I had an added dimension to the prayer. See, if there is anything at all you learn from me sharing with you, it is to step out in faith and let Holy Spirit guide you. First nudge, share with the church members how this job is marketplace ministry and it has been for several years now. I also shared with them sometime during the day that when Holy Spirit says the time is up and it is now time to go back to Sunday church services I will obey that also, but until then it is here where I am on Sunday mornings. Step 2 nudge help the children find something they wanted to buy within their budget amount. Step 3 nudge strike up a conversation which then led to an opportunity to pray. Step 4 nudge seek out the church members and share the testimony. Step 5 nudge pray again today with Holy Spirit guidance again.
I was up very early today and got a lot of things accomplished. First being prayer. Then I hemmed a dress and sleeves on a blazer of mine needed to be altered too. I used that little instrument that takes fuzzy pieces off of sweaters and did that on a few sweaters. Washed the sweaters and I did a decorative project also. The day is still young and I already accomplished a good deal of things on my list of things to do along with adding a creative project tucked in their.
Yesterday I was blessed by watching live streaming of a church service in the afternoon. Praise and worship are superb, preaching is the same superb. What touches my heart the most is an altar call. How many churches today miss the most important opportunity in the church service, an altar call? I was always taught that anytime there is an opportunity of people gathering in church that an invitation should be offered to the people in attendance. You and I really do not know the hearts and status of a person's life/heart condition and that is why you should not miss an opportunity to extend the love of Jesus. You may think that because a person attends church on a regular basis that they are ok with Jesus. You do not know the things going on in their lives and the hidden secrets that may be there to torment them. Jesus is all about love and forgiveness and a church service should extend this to those in attendance.
What if even a preacher had bad thoughts, ideas or stumbled during the week? Should they not also receive an opportunity to receive forgiveness and start fresh again with a renewed heart with Jesus. Of course they should. There may be ministers or preachers or worship leaders, etc. get the point that are visiting your church and maybe Holy Spirit led them there to respond to an altar call. You know it may be easier for them to respond to an altar call at a church that is not their church congregation. Please churches out there I implore you to have altar calls at either the close of a church service or even interrupt a church service if Holy Spirit is nudging you to do so. A person could be there that very day and if you did not respond with an altar call and they left the church and for some reason it was their last day on earth, then the invite was not extended to them. Does that make sense?
This was not my intent on writing in this direction today. I actually started this blog yesterday but put it on pause. So I had to go and change words like today to yesterday. Holy Spirit sees and knows what is going on in churches out there and this is what He is putting upon my heart today.
If I was conducting the writing of this blog entry I would have just shared how the online live streaming altar call touched my heart. Are you glad Holy Spirit intercepts and you follow His lead? I am and I am blessed with His gentle yet firm way of sharing. Ok now it is time to fix breakfast, poached egg sound yummy for today.
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