I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen that the Spirit has clearly been at work in someone’s heart ahead of my meager efforts to show up and share with them about Jesus. The grace-clues that the Spirit concocted converged to ready Rahab for rescue remind me of Philip’s arrival at the precise moment the Ethiopian was charoting by, reading one of the Bible’s profoundest prophecies of Jesus’ crucifixion (Isaiah 53). That’s what I call a divine appointment!
God, in his passionate pursuit of people, is way out ahead of us. He’s always first on the scene. He’s on a friendship-making frenzy, instilling seeds of purpose in people’s hearts. There’s nowhere we can go that he hasn’t already been, preparing people’s hearts to take hold of his love. Over the years I’ve been taken by surprise by thousands of divine appointments with Rahab-like “closet pre-Christians” who secretly harbor a hope of Someone watching and caring.
Speak to the spark inside them, with which they were born. It’s the precursor to the flame that Jesus wants to ignite inside them. That spark consists of the same thing that is ablaze inside you. You’re acquainted with it, so speak to it, blow on it, and see what happens!
– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends
barney wiget 