Reaching Out

How thrilling it is to see the hand of God at work !!  This past weekend as I was walking through Walmart, I saw the kid’s arcade that is in most of these stores today and being our granddaughter was with us, I decided to walk into the arcade for the first time and let her enjoy a ride.  As I ventured in, a young woman and her three children were having fun and as the mom took her little one off a ride I introduced myself and asked if it were fine for a one year old. From there we struck up a conversation and I found out she is new to the area and looking for a church !! She also had some interesting parallels with our own daughter and to make a long story short, she came to church on Sunday !!  I stood back and marveled at God’s answer of prayer for all of us !

Imagine how Paul must’ve felt as he journeyed from town to town on his missionary endeavors seeking folks who would eventually become his siblings in Christ and members of local churches throughout the vast Roman empire !  As he crossed into Europe for the first time with the gospel landing in the city of Philippi there was no local synagogue (the requisite 10 Jews could not be found there), he “happened” upon a group of women praying down by the river where he’d found prayer was customarily made on the Sabbath. It was there Lydia came to Christ after hearing Paul preach the gospel. She would’ve, like us today, asked the Lord to forgive her for being a sinner and asked Him to be her Savior.   Luke records of her, “whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there.’ ” (Acts 16:14-15).

The Lord opened this woman’s heart when she’d met His servant and it was reflective in that she changed spiritually and was willing to share what she had to minister to those who’d also enabled her to receive so much spiritually !  Lydia, we know, was a businesswoman and likely a fine one at that being a seller of royal fabrics.   If you are already saved, in what way can you reach out to others and be a blessing to them today?   Will you take the opportunities God may provide you today and share the gospel, invite someone to your church, help someone in need?   I find our world is getting more and more enclosed, people often do not even look at you let alone speak to someone who is unknown but the Great Commission infers we be different this way. And when we are, spiritual adventures await us, new friends and spiritual siblings can be made !  And above all God can be truly glorified by your simply reaching out to those around you !! How exciting indeed, go do some fishing for souls !!