Engaging the World

I wrote about coming home from the first ministry event of the 2022 speaking season here. But, I have a lot more to say about our stay at Orange Beach and what Father God is teaching me about engaging the world with the love of Christ. I share it with hopes that it can help you share your faith in the One true God, too!   

My friend Dr. Joneal Kirby of Heartfelt Ministries traveled with me. You can read more about Joneal’s ministry here.  She’s a lot of fun. Here’s an example of what we called our “senior pictures” on the beach. Get it? 

 

One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is meeting Jesus on the beach for early morning prayer before the sun breaks the horizon. Is it tempting to sleep in sometimes? Absolutely! Often! But, once the effort is made, I never ever regret stumbling down to the water with my coffee for scenes like this one.  Not a filter needed. Just awe-inspiring beauty. 

 

 

For the most part, I was able to beat everybody but God and this guy to the beach during the last trip. 

 

 

I’d have an hour or so to talk to Jesus before the beach began filling up with people and the opportunities to engage them would begin. I want to tell you what that looks like because it’s something the Lord has been teaching me for a number of years now. I believe it is in response to my ongoing request to learn how to live as His witness, yielded to His purposes.  

For the longest time in my life I wanted to start conversations with people about Jesus, but I didn’t know how to proceed. As a result of my ineptness, the target audience for most of my outreaches was limited to people checking my items out at store counters. Bless ’em.  The poor checkers couldn’t get away. Laugh if you must, I’m just being honest. I wanted to talk to more people, but the walls we all put up in public were intimidating, until the Good Lord Himself showed me how to get past them.

The thing is, people are understandably wary of a complete stranger opening any kind of faith conversation if it seems like the person that initiates it is intent on holding them captive, (like those poor checkers!) I get it. There are more than enough crazies to go around. Amen?

What I’ve learned, however, is that as I’m passing someone who is moving in the opposite direction, they will stop briefly if I smile, greet them, and ask a question like this, “Excuse me. I love to pray for people as I’m walking. Do you have a prayer request I could take with me?” The key is making sure the person knows I’m not asking them to stop and have a church service with me on the spot, although I’m wide open for further dialogue if and when someone invites it! LOL. That doesn’t happen every time, or even most of the time, but I’ll tell you what does. Prayer requests.

Almost every single person will say something because he or she understands I’m going to keep walking.

“You can pray for my daughter. She’s struggling.”

“Well, you can pray for our trip home. We’re leaving today to travel back to Missouri.”

“Yes! Please! My sister is in the hospital. I didn’t cancel this trip because she was doing well, but now, she’s had a serious setback. They say she may not make it.”

“My son is in rehab. He’s doing better, but…”

On and on the requests are given, varied personal requests. And even if someone initially says, “No, I’m good”, nine times out of then that person will have a change of mind and whisper a request before parting. I make it a habit to politely ask for a first name of the person I’m asked to pray for, and because I have the notepad on my iPhone open, and they can see where I’ve noted other requests, I’ve never had anyone refuse. On the other hand, many many many times, because they see those requests and the sincerity of the intention to pray, they will begin to elaborate and give me more details. Or, on the return trip to the condo, we’ll see each other again, and they’ll fill in the story.

The following prayer sessions as I walk on are some of the sweetest times of my life. Sometimes, I can sense more about what the person really needs, requests that weren’t spoken aloud, but the God who created them knows full well. He’ll bring a Scripture verse to my mind and I’ll pray it over them.

See, I’ve come to realize I’m a tiny piece of whatever the Lord is doing in these lives. I don’t have to fix anything. I can’t. I don’t have to convict or convince them of anything. I can’t. If God doesn’t draw them to Himself through the atoning finished work of Christ Jesus, they can’t come. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:44. What I can do is understand that I am a small part of what our great big God is doing and I can yield myself so that others can spend a moment in the sanctuary that I share with Him. You can, too. I hope this helps you do just that. Blessings, friend.

Hugs,

Shellie  

P.S. Click here for a video that accompanies this message.

Please subscribe to my Youtube channel while you’re there and share it with your friends and family. The more the merrier! And it’s one more way you can engage the world with the blessed gospel.