Monthly Archives: September 2013

Have you ever stopped in the middle of the things you were doing and realized that you were stuck on autopilot?

You know what I mean. The alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. You stumble to the coffee pot, get dressed, get the kids ready for school, make and eat breakfast, fight the morning traffic, work all day in your cubicle, see your co-workers, go home, make dinner, watch TV, go to bed—and the next day you hit the repeat button. Sure, some things may differ a bit from day to day, but by and large you could probably traverse your daily routine without even thinking about what you’re doing.

People often say that they want change in their lives, but for all our alleged desire for change, what happens when something messes up our routine? What happens when things don’t go exactly the way we expect or want them to?

I recently had such an experience. It had been a long day, and I had gone to a restaurant with my friends. I just wanted to get my food and relax. The restaurant, however, was packed. Once we were seated, our waitress had so many patrons that she could barely keep up with them all. When my order didn’t arrive exactly as I had placed it, I got a bit upset that she hadn’t been paying more attention to me and my selfish “needs.”

At this point one of my friends noticed that our waitress needed prayer for healing. He asked her if she wanted prayer, and she responded, “I can always use prayer.” So my friend said, “Riley, why don’t you pray for her?”

Now I was having a temper tantrum in the restaurant that day. I didn’t want to pray for our waitress. But I did it anyway. I grabbed the woman’s hand and prayed that the Lord would remove any sickness in her body.

Not only was our waitress healed, but she prayed then and there to rededicate her life to the Lord. I had almost missed the opportunity to be a blessing to our waitress that day!

I truly believe that most Christians want to see the lost saved and the sick healed. But at times we get so busy with our own lives that it’s as if we’re stuck on autopilot. We pray for God to give us opportunities to reach out to others around us, but we fail to see the opportunities He gives us because all we see is ourselves.

My prayer for you is that God would give you eyes to see the lost and the hurting on a daily basis. Join me in this prayer: “Lord, give me eyes to see beyond my wants and my needs, and use me to reach the lost and hurting around me. Amen.”

I was at a church one weekend leading evangelism training sessions, and after the Saturday morning meeting, we went out into the city for the day to minister to people about Jesus. That evening, as we continued walking the streets, I started hearing in my spirit the letters “VFW” over and over again. The impression persisted, so I asked one of the ladies who lived in the city if they had a VFW there. She told me that they did.

I told the group that I felt like we should go to the VFW, so off we went. As we walked into the building, we saw people playing pool. Others were standing at the bar, and there was a big group sitting at a table.

I walked up to the people at the table and began ministering to the whole group. At first they all listened, but when I started quoting Scripture, half of them started talking among themselves. But there was one woman standing near me who was listening intently. This woman was holding a beer mug and a lit cigarette, both in one hand, and she kept right on smoking and drinking as I talked. I was astonished that she could do all that with one hand!

But this lady heard the gospel message, and when I finished talking, she prayed to receive Jesus! I knew that God’s word would not return void and that it would prosper in her life.

Several months later I saw the pastors from the church where I had taught, and they told me that they had seen the lady from the VFW. She told the pastors that at the time we had seen her, she had been going to church and also going to the bars. She had been riding the fence with her faith. When we came into the VFW that night, this woman said she knew it was a sign from God. She rededicated her life to Jesus that night, quit going to the bars and has been in church ever since. Glory to God! I believe the Lord sent us there for that one lady!

Being led by God’s Spirit is the most adventurous and rewarding life! Open your heart to hear what the Spirit is saying to you today!