When I find myself praying throughout the week for someone in my life, I ask God to send someone to that person to show them his love or to speak the truth to them that they need to hear.
Obedience has become increasingly important to me lately because someone must be obedient for those prayers to receive answers. I’ve never thought about it before, but the number one way God answers our prayers is through people. The miracle someone is praying for could be hinging on your obedience. Many answers are being prolonged not because of God’s timing but because of the lack of an obedient vessel.
When you begin to think this way, it is easier to put off the flesh and put yourself in an awkward situation like laying hands on someone or speaking what God puts on your heart to say to another.
I have had several instances while in a church service where I knew I was supposed to lay hands on someone, but after hesitating, the person got up and went to the altar. By them going to the altar, it confirmed to me that they had a need, and God was telling me this before I knew it. Although I’m sure these people got touched at the altar, I missed an opportunity to be obedient.
Disobedience is Selfishness
Thankfully I caught on fast, and after walking in disobedience a few times, I decided I was tired of being selfish; because that is exactly what I was being.
Christians have become so focused-on self-preservation that we are not fully obeying God. We care too much about being embarrassed, looking dumb, being wrong, and being uncomfortable that we live our lives at ease while leaving others in lack. Lack of being encouraged, lack of being blessed, lack of being healed, and lack of hearing the truth of God’s word.
Romans 10:14 states, how then will they call on him they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Obedience is an important part of this verse because those who need to hear about Jesus will never hear unless someone preaches.
God Uses People
We could say the same for many other things, such as encouragement. How often have you prayed that God would encourage someone but didn’t try to encourage them yourself? Although God can bring a verse or memory to someone’s mind that will encourage them, I believe often he looks to use a person to accomplish this.
This means we need to get more comfortable reaching out to people and telling them that God placed them in our hearts this week. Simply telling someone that God put them on your heart can be incredibly encouraging to someone who is struggling. We all need reminders that God cares for us.
I will never forget a time when I was struggling; I was at work and was hurting deeply when a family friend walked in the door. When I saw him walk in, I immediately burst into tears. He then stepped outside with me and spoke words of encouragement to me.
Later I found out that he almost didn’t come by but had felt compelled. If he had been disobedient, I would’ve missed out on the encouragement I needed. I can also think of many other cases where God sent someone to me at just the right time. I bet you can as well. We can see the importance of someone acting in our lives, but are we conscious about acting in others’ lives?
The Hands and Feet
My point here is this; we are supposed to be the hands and feet of Christ, which means it’s time to get uncomfortable. Merely praying for others is not enough if we are unwilling to be part of the answer. We cannot pray for someone’s salvation but not be willing to share the gospel, ask God to comfort but not offer comfort ourselves, pray for healing but not lay hands on them as instructed, or pray for financial victory but not be willing to help them.
Being Jesus in this world means showing the love of the Father as Jesus did, and the love of the Father is action. Jesus healed, encouraged, accepted, and ministered to the hurting. Our role should look the same. Read through the New Testament and look at the life of Jesus; you will see the actions Christians should be taking. It’s time to embrace obedience, throw off discomfort, and show a hurting world (and church) the love of the Father. This week look for ways to put action behind your prayers, and you will see how God will begin to use you.