Recently my wife Kelley and I were sitting in the Living room and having a very deep spiritual discussion. In the course of that conversation, she shared something with me that made me know that she was hearing from God. Monday's are my usual day off, and Kelley said to me: "Hey, why don't you take Saturdays off, since we are usually all together either at the Ball park for our Daughter, or doing something together. Then you can make Monday's a day when you go out into the community and randomly minister to people?" The idea resonated with my heart, and we made plans that the coming Monday I would do just that!
When Monday came around, I dropped my Daughter off at school and headed for Panera Restaurant for a bagel, cup of coffee, and whatever the Lord had in store for me! My wife joined me until she had to go to work, and shortly after she left, a young couple came in and sat at the table next to me. Now, what is so interesting is the fact that I was sitting at THAT table! Because normally I set in the back of the restaurant, but someone had "MY" table, so I sat in a different one. Little did I know at that time that God had heard our plans to minister in His Name and for His glory, and had "ASSIGNED" that table for me! The couple next to me was talking to an older woman who obviously worked in ministry. Their discussion peaked my interest, and so............I LISTENED IN! After about 30 minutes, I knew this was my "ASSIGNMENT!" I shared with them who I was and the ministries we were involved in. It was so ironic to here them say that they had the same interest in ministry that we had, and were actually in the beginning stages! Much discussion followed and we knew that God had orchestrated this meeting! We have met a few more times, and have gotten to talk about what God was up to, and about mentoring this young ministerial couple. God, in a completely spontaneous way, had brought a "seasoned" Pastor and a younger ministerial couple together in His time!
We began referring to this spontaneous ministry as I.S.E. Which is an acronym for Intentional Spontaneous Evangelism! How it works is this: You pick time(s) to just randomly go to a restaurant, store, park, or even business. You begin by praying and making yourself available to the Lord to "USE" you in ministry. Being completely yielded to the Holy Spirit, you keep yourself "SENSITIVE" to His leading, and listening for His voice to speak to you about a person or people. Then you pray for His words and go introduce yourself to that person or people! You can begin by saying: "Excuse me, but I am a Follower of Jesus, and I believe He has laid you on my heart to pray! Then if you sense a particular need, you find out if that is INDEED a need, and offer to pray for them; speak into their life; or share Christ with them!" You can ask probing questions that help you identify their full needs. Allow me to illustrate with another example. My wife and I were involved in a Conference in Gatlinburg in the Mountains of East Tennessee. While having dinner one day, I noticed an older couple come in and the man pulled out the chair for his wife. My first thought was..........."How neat it is to see a man acting like a Gentleman!" then I sensed the Lord say to me that they were hurting and grieving over their son." so as we left, I walked up to their table and said: "It's really good to see a man act like a Gentleman and hold the chair for his wife!" They thanked me, and than I said, "Do you have any Children?" They said they had three. Two Daughters and a Son, their Son had just recently died!" I told them that I was a minister of God, and that the Lord had impressed upon me that they were hurting over their son, and that I was to pray for them, because God was going to touch them and help them! They were very thankful and appreciative! My wife and I went to the car and joined hands and prayed for God to heal their broken hearts!...........THAT'S I.S.E.
I challenge you to accept the commission to do I.S.E. Make yourself available to the Lord, ask Him to lead you to people, and then be sensitive to His leading! It may be at the grocery store, department store, work, restaurants, or a park. Wherever He leads you, simply be AVAILABLE and allow the Lord to minister through........YOU! And THAT my Brothers and Sisters is.........I.S.E.
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