Answer 9: He creates an awareness of God in the person.
I remember sitting down with Bill and asking him, “Tell me about your journey with God.” His wife had just shared that she was on a journey to faith in Jesus, but Bill had not engaged in that conversation at all and seemed a little distant when God came up in conversation. He was a hard, tough man. To my surprise, Bill opened up very deeply about his life and told me why God would not be interested in him.
As I began to interact with Bill about God, I could sense that the Holy Spirit was guiding my words as I shared with him that God was reaching out to him, that nothing would keep God from loving him. All along I was praying in my mind that God would would speak to Bill through me. To my amazement, big tough Bill started crying as I spoke with him!
God had broken through. In the middle of our conversation the Holy Spirit created in Bill an awareness that God was reaching out to him. That changed everything. Within a few days he had turned to Christ in faith.
Remember the Bible’s account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus? Here was a man who was not at all open to Jesus. He was persecuting Christians, dragging them out of their homes and having them put to death. No doubt seeing those Christians (like Stephen in Acts 7) honouring God as they died was having an impact on Saul, but he was rejecting any possibility that they had a relationship with God. He headed to Damascus to persecute Christians there also. Here is what it says (Acts 9:3-5), “Now as Saul went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”” In that moment Saul’s heart changed. He realised that God had been reaching out to him. He was born again.
This is one of the reasons that you must begin praying by name for the people in your life who don’t know Christ yet. God wants to reveal himself to those people through you. As you pray for them and talk with them about Jesus, the Holy Spirit will create in them an awareness that God is reaching out to them. You can’t create that awareness. Only God can. So call on him to do it!
No responses yet