Be a person of prayer...
Those of us committed to a lifestyle of loving the world need to learn
to pray, to be sensitive to the Lord's nudges, to regularly spend time
at the throne.
A missionary on furlough told this true story
while visiting his home church in Michigan...
While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.
Upon arrival In the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time witnessed to him of Lord Jesus Christ. I then travel two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city,
I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that
he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some
friends and I followed you into the jungle,
knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take
your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your
camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26
armed guards."
At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that
jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said
"No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards.
My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because
of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone."
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped
to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell
him the exact day that this happened. The missionary told
the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:
"On the night of your incident in Africa, it was
morning here and I was preparing to go play
golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for
you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so
strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary
to pray for you. Would all of those men who met
with me on that day stand up?"
The men who had met together that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were -- he was to busy counting how many men he saw.
There were 26.
**This story is an incredible example of how the spirit of the Lord moves in mysterious ways. If you ever hear such prodding, go along with it. Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell.**