WATCH TODAY’S EPISODE ON YOUTUBE.
CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NIV
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
CONSIDER THIS . . .
Welcome to Holy Spirit Story Saturdays! Every Saturday, through the summer, I will join you for our meeting with Jesus on the Wake-Up Call to share stories of what God is doing among us in Sower Nation! Be encouraged, and as you read, listen, or watch each of these stories, ask the Lord how he might want to move through you to show his love to the person in front of you today.
Today’s story comes to us from Katharine Guerrero, who is part of our faithful Farm Team at Seedbed. It is one of my favorite coffee shop stories. I especially love the moment she pauses because she’s wrestling with what she senses the Lord is inviting her to do with him. This is following Jesus into the unknown, but led by the Spirit! Enjoy the faith, hope, and love all wrapped up in our Holy Spirit story today.
__________________________________________________
A bit ago I was sitting at a coffee shop having a cappuccino. I was journaling and reading my Bible when a woman sat at the table next to me. I immediately sensed I was to ask her about her son and pray for her.
When the Spirit Is Speaking
I knew it was the Holy Spirit and wrestled with him for a minute because I thought: What if she doesn’t even have a son? Am I hearing you correctly? What if she doesn’t want me to pray?
I waited a few minutes. When I get a prompting from the Holy Spirit, there’s usually a moment where I wrestle with my flesh and the fear of man. On that particular day, I wanted to stay in my little bubble. I was tired and didn’t want to be bothered. I finally mustered up the courage and sensed from the Holy Spirit to first ask her if she had a son, and then proceed from there.
Taking a Risk
I said hello, introduced myself, and asked her if she had a son. She said yes. Before I could ask anything else, she started to share that her son was not doing well. He was getting a divorce. He also had a son (her grandson) and a lot was up in the air regarding what would happen through the divorce. She got tears in her eyes as she spoke, and I could tell she was almost waiting for someone to ask her about it.
May I Pray for You?
Then I saw the moment was right and I asked her if I could pray for her. She said yes. I told her I pray to Jesus and wanted to make sure that was okay with her. She said yes.
I then prayed a very simple prayer. I sensed I was to keep it short. The Holy Spirit guided me. I prayed a blessing over her and told her that God sees her and her son, and loves them so much. God wanted her to know that her son is going to be okay, and God has a beautiful plan for his life that is unfolding.
Planting a Seed
As I finished, she was in tears and was so grateful for the prayer. After I prayed for her, I found out that she was Muslim and did believe in God. It opened the door for me to share more about Jesus and who he was to me. She didn’t accept him as her Lord and savior that day, but I do believe it was a seed planted on her journey to fully know him.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, we are never far from you, because you live in us and have made your home in us. Today I want to have enough faith to step beyond my comfort zone to love someone right in front of me. I want to see what you are doing, Father, and partner with you in it. Give me joy as I do! In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
Have you ever had a moment where you felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit, and knew that Jesus was up to something in a person’s life? What did you do with that prompting?
SING
Today let’s sing our Saturday song, “Sanctuary.” We are opening our hearts to the Holy Spirit, welcoming Jesus to do his ministry through us. Let’s worship!
P.S. Holy Spirit Stories Welcome
I would love if you would send a story of faith from your life we might use on a Saturday or another time in the future. We will be glad to attach your name or a pseudonym, or for it to be anonymous—it’s up to you. It can be a story of coming to faith, a story of transformation, a story of healing, deliverance, suffering and sufficient grace, family reconciliation, prodigal returns, answered prayer, and so on. We especially want to hear stories of Jesus doing his “all the things” ministry through everyday people like you and me. A word count of 300–500 words works well. We can’t guarantee publication, but we assure you of our prayerful discernment. You can submit your story here.
For the Awakening,
Dan Wilt
Dan Wilt is an author, communicator, pastor, and practitioner. With roots in the Vineyard stream of churches, Dan has served the development of followers of Jesus internationally and is part of the Seedbed Farm Team.