A day that a silence was broken and fear was conquered.
A day that has probably catapulted me into my destiny. Not necessarily what I did but what it represents - a boldness discovered.
A day that I was completely reliant on the Holy Spirit.
A day that I chose to actually believe and take comfort in the word of God.
A day that I added works to my faith.
It was the 7th of March 2013.
It was the day God used me as an oracle.
It was the day...
Not so fast, let me give you the background story.
When God wants to change your life, He doesn't often give you much warning but you may notice a few strange circumstances. I don't believe in coincidence so I'm going to call these particular events God-instances.
Lately I've been troubled by my submission to fear and wanted to change - a desire that God put there Himself and was only to pleased to help me with. How do I know? First of all, the Bible clearly says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and sound mind. Secondly, the God-instances that have happened in the last month or so.
GOD INSTANCE #1 - My perception of myself challenged
He was hammering away at my doubt. He did do this on a Sunday, not during church surprisingly, but after church. He used a 'chance' meeting with an old University acquaintance to question me about my life, what my dreams are and why I'm not going for them.
On the same day, after deciding to spend more time with this girl, looking for an opportunity to invite her to church, I followed her to a make-up stall where she was served by a former primary school classmate. I hadn't seen this girl for at least a .decade yet we recognised each other immediately. She also decided to quiz me about my whole life and ambitions and the two girls ganged up on me and challenged me not to be afraid.
The humbling thing is that neither of them are Christians, and the one who served us at the counter used to bully me in school (verbally, of course) and had suddenly decided that I was her friend and hugged me several times. All these things perplexed me and got me thinking about a lot of things - mainly how I was going to use these new found friendships to bring these girls to Christ.
Anyway, I managed to get my friend and her Mum to come along to church that same night which gave me a lot of encouragement. Various sermons also reminded me that Jesus Christ is the only truth and everyone needs to know it whether you think they will want to hear it or not.
These things really started to stir up inside me, but only one thing was still missing - the courage to act on it.
GOD INSTANCE #2 - Men's meeting
This is where I met a guy who really challenged me to get deeper in my relationship with God, based on what I shared regarding struggling to engage with the Bible in the way I wanted to. He said these words to me that really stuck with me and changed the way I thought of the Bible:
'The Bible is our food'
Those of you who know me know how much I like my food. How could I hear something like that and not relate it to my love for natural, physical food? Impossible.
GOD INSTANCE #3 - Watching Joyce Meyer
She was speaking on the subject of fear and really challenged me to ask myself why I'm afraid to trust God and believe that He's with me. And the need to do things although I am afraid.
All these things and more led me to decide to ignore fear on that faithful morning , the 7th of March 2013. When I got to my destination I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 2-5. Reading verse 3 and knowing that Paul was as terrified as me gave me great comfort. I read it several times until I believed it and then closed my eyes as the moment was approaching - I didn't want the tension of the moment to build up and make me chicken out.
I also decided I'd have to do it as quickly as I could to give me no time to look at faces and cower.
Again, to prevent me from ducking, I threw myself into it by greeting my audience with a 'Good Morning' - this is all I knew I was going to say and I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the rest of the words. The message that left my mouth was greeted with utter silence but I know it resonated in the hearts of some of the people.
The only response I got at all was a man chuckling next to me. This didn't bother me one bit. I had conquered fear. I remained in the same position. I had preached on a train carriage full of people. Or should I say the Holy Spirit spoke through me.
That same Holy Spirit can speak through you. Ask Him to give you boldness.
Be encouraged!
On the same day, after deciding to spend more time with this girl, looking for an opportunity to invite her to church, I followed her to a make-up stall where she was served by a former primary school classmate. I hadn't seen this girl for at least a .decade yet we recognised each other immediately. She also decided to quiz me about my whole life and ambitions and the two girls ganged up on me and challenged me not to be afraid.
The humbling thing is that neither of them are Christians, and the one who served us at the counter used to bully me in school (verbally, of course) and had suddenly decided that I was her friend and hugged me several times. All these things perplexed me and got me thinking about a lot of things - mainly how I was going to use these new found friendships to bring these girls to Christ.
Anyway, I managed to get my friend and her Mum to come along to church that same night which gave me a lot of encouragement. Various sermons also reminded me that Jesus Christ is the only truth and everyone needs to know it whether you think they will want to hear it or not.
These things really started to stir up inside me, but only one thing was still missing - the courage to act on it.
GOD INSTANCE #2 - Men's meeting
This is where I met a guy who really challenged me to get deeper in my relationship with God, based on what I shared regarding struggling to engage with the Bible in the way I wanted to. He said these words to me that really stuck with me and changed the way I thought of the Bible:
'The Bible is our food'
Those of you who know me know how much I like my food. How could I hear something like that and not relate it to my love for natural, physical food? Impossible.
GOD INSTANCE #3 - Watching Joyce Meyer
She was speaking on the subject of fear and really challenged me to ask myself why I'm afraid to trust God and believe that He's with me. And the need to do things although I am afraid.
All these things and more led me to decide to ignore fear on that faithful morning , the 7th of March 2013. When I got to my destination I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 2-5. Reading verse 3 and knowing that Paul was as terrified as me gave me great comfort. I read it several times until I believed it and then closed my eyes as the moment was approaching - I didn't want the tension of the moment to build up and make me chicken out.
I also decided I'd have to do it as quickly as I could to give me no time to look at faces and cower.
Again, to prevent me from ducking, I threw myself into it by greeting my audience with a 'Good Morning' - this is all I knew I was going to say and I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the rest of the words. The message that left my mouth was greeted with utter silence but I know it resonated in the hearts of some of the people.
The only response I got at all was a man chuckling next to me. This didn't bother me one bit. I had conquered fear. I remained in the same position. I had preached on a train carriage full of people. Or should I say the Holy Spirit spoke through me.
That same Holy Spirit can speak through you. Ask Him to give you boldness.
Be encouraged!
