Sharing Your Faith and Prayer

This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. Today on Encouraging Prayer, we're going to talk about how prayer can really help you share your faith.

James? Robbie, sometimes we find it difficult to share our faith because having a spiritual conversation, I mean, let's face it, that's a personal thing. And it's not always easy to begin, especially if you don't know someone. But the beautiful thing is that people are often open to prayer. Oh yeah, people aren't threatened by prayer the way they sometimes are when it comes to talking about having a relationship with God, right? If you tell someone that you'll pray for them about a need they just shared, it seems like they're always regarded as a good thing, because it shows that you care about them.

That's right. Care and problems go hand in hand. You know, we need help with our problems, and we need others to care about what's going on in our lives. And prayer is one way of showing that you really do want to help, that you really do care. Right. And as you pray for others, God sometimes shows you other practical things you can do to help them as well. You know, so really, it's practical.

Yeah, it is. I mean, several episodes back, I mentioned how when I go out to eat, I like to talk to the person bringing our meal and find out how they're doing, you know, treat them like the human being that they are. And I might say something like, we always pray over meals.

And before I do, I wanted to know if there's anything we can pray for you about. And almost always, people respond positively to that. I've never had a negative response to it. Although sometimes, you know, someone might be a little dismissive and say something like, no, not really, you know, but usually it's positive.

That makes sense again, right? Who doesn't want to be prayed for? Yeah, I have a friend, a pastor named Marty, who likes to do the same thing when he's out to eat. And one day their server, a young guy looked at him and said, you do that? I don't think anyone's ever prayed for me before.

And then he actually sat down at the table with Marty and his wife and a couple of our kids. And they prayed right there. Oh, yeah, it's a beautiful thing. Absolutely.

Yeah, it is. I mean, usually you don't have that opportunity. You usually pray after someone's left the table and you want to be sensitive to all the things they have to do because they're at work after all, but you never know what God will open with someone. Oh, I know.

It's an important thing that you stay sensitive to him in the moment. I remember I was interviewing Debbie Ryan, which was a great Disney star, and all of a sudden God just said, ask her to pray. How would you pray for her? And she said exactly the same thing. Like, I can't believe I had the guts to say it to her, you know, but I did.

And she said, you know, Robbie, nobody has ever asked me that. And, oh, yes, please pray for me because Disney stars fall into so much temptation. So you're right. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Another friend, another pastor named Kevin was running on an indoor track one day. And get this, he senses that God wants him to tell a man ahead of him on the track that God wants him to know that he loves him and he shouldn't give up on his plans. So you've got to understand too, I mean, Kevin's a reserved evangelical Presbyterian minister, you know, so he gets this message from God for this guy.

Wow. So he actually received a message that he should share with a guy. That sounds like Philip in the book of Acts, right?

Go to that chariot and stay near to it. Yeah, exactly. And he wasn't sure about it at first. You know, he's thinking, is this just me, just a thought in my head? So he prays, Lord, if this is from you, let me see him at this point on the track. Then he comes up to that point on the track and the guy is literally just standing there almost like he's waiting for him. And this is a big guy, a lot taller than Kevin, you know, very athletic. And Kevin kind of gulps and goes up to him and says, this is going to sound a little unusual maybe, but God wants you to know that he loves you and that you shouldn't give up on your plans.

Wow. What happened next? Well, the guy looks down at him with this look of almost shock and says, have you been reading my mind while I'm out here on the track? And then he starts to tell Kevin how he was just passed over for a promotion at work and it wasn't right.

He felt maybe even his race may have been involved and he was thinking about quitting. So Kevin prayed with him right there and they kept talking and they became friends. And later Kevin shared his faith with the man and the man became a follower of Jesus. And God is doing a healing work in his marriage and he brought his wife and kids to Kevin's church. And again, it's another beautiful thing God is doing.

All right. All because Kevin was open and listening to God in that moment on the track. That's the thing that's so important about this.

Are we open? Are we trying to be aware of the Lord's presence with us in the moment and listening to what he wants us to do or say? And it usually doesn't happen that way with me, you know, like, like, like Kevin.

I mean, it's not that I usually get a message from Kevin's, you know, a down to earth guy who loves reading. He's pretty quiet, but again, you never know what God is going to do. And when you stay open, you can, you can see amazing things.

Oh, that's exactly right. It helps what really, when we realize that prayer isn't something we need to do, it's something we get to do. And the more we learn to live with God in the moment and, and let him in.

I mean, the more we'll see what only he can do. I know God used a moment like that when he led someone to stop and pray for me. Right.

It's absolutely changed my life and drew me closer. So, I mean, you know, just like when I talked about for, um, pastor little came and prayed for me when I had cancer. He, you know, it changed everything. Yeah. And he was just driving by.

Right. And he felt like somebody there in that car dealership needs prayer for healing. That's what happened, right? It's exactly what happened.

And, you know, I was covered in cancerous tumors, but then, you know, come Monday morning, I wasn't. And clearly, you know, he was sensitive to God in the moment, which seemed really strange at the time. Yeah. But again, look at how everything changed as a result.

And I mean, just to be part of something like that once, it's a thrilling thing. Let's conclude today by asking God to help us to do this, to just stay open, to love and serve others by praying for them. Could we do that now? Oh, please.

Yeah. Let the father, uh, help us to, to truly serve others, to truly humbly love them. Um, and by, by being open to you in the moment and, and sensing if you would have us pray for them, Lord, sometimes that's hard for us.

Sometimes it just seems like a risk. And, but whatever way you would, would lead us, help us to be bold and help us to openly share your goodness with others by praying for them. As you lead us, we pray that we will see people saved who will come to your love as a result of this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. You can hear more from pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org or by visiting peace church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.

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