“And He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?’” Luke 8:25 (NASB)
We had been planning our big monthly outdoor evangelistic event in Houston. Loads of prayer went up. Preparations were made. The word was out. But, just as we were preparing to set up for the event the heavens opened and it rained in buckets.
We were devastated. There was no way we could go with the weather as it was. Equipment would be ruined. No one would come! Then somebody got the bright idea, “Let’s just have God stop the rain.”
So we prayed and we went. Still it rained. When we got there the rain stopped. While we were having our meeting there was a circle of clear weather above our heads. You could look up and see the stars, but in any other direction the skies were black. So, we stayed out there witnessing and forgot all about it. We had our meeting and it was a powerful time. When we got home and the last person walked into the house it started to pour again.
We just expected God to do it. “We’re working for You, so you need to do this. We’re doing our share. You do Your share. That was kind of our whole approach to life. We expected God to move. It wasn’t that we thought He was our servant. On the contrary. We were HIS. Totally. But, as we worked to do His will there were things that we could not do. It was those things that we expected Him to do. He didn’t always do it the way we expected, but then again many times He did!
When we prayed for people we expected the Holy Spirit to make them miserable. We used to pray things like, “I pray that the conviction of the Holy Spirit would be so strong on you that you don’t sleep tonight.” Then we would give them our phone number and say. “You call me. If you get so uncomfortable that you can’t stand it and want to hear more, you call me any time.”
And they did. They called us all the time. That wasn’t cruel. People won’t change unless they see their need for God. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to bring conviction and to bring people to himself. We can say the words, but only the Holy Spirit can draw them. Only the Holy Spirit can drive those words home.
We met people on the streets who were drunk or stoned. We knew we might never have a chance to speak to that person about his soul again, so we would pray. “Lord, I can’t talk to him like this. He can’t listen or understand. So I pray that you sober him up so he can hear the gospel.” So many times it happened just as we prayed. We expected God to move and He did.
When we stop expecting, we stop asking. When we don’t ask, we don’t receive. But God is so faithful, if you set your heart to do His will, accomplish His purposes, do His work. He will do things that constantly amaze you - even when you are the one who’s asked Him to do it.
Anne Duran