An 11-year-old girl came forward in the church. She knelt to pray, weeping. No one joined her, so I knelt beside her. I soon realized that she was praying for a lost friend. God had touched her heart and had encouraged her with a deep burden for her friend. As I listened, I soon began to pray with her. I thanked God that He had heard her cry and had given His Holy Spirit to help the girl speak boldly to her friend.
That Sunday evening, while I gave the invitation, the girl came to the front again--but this time holding the hand of her friend. Both were weeping. Her friend had become a Christian that night. Can an 11-year-old lead her friend to Christ? Yes!
She could because she had what it takes:
Genuine love cannot keep silent. Paul said it was Christ's love that "compelled him" (2 Corinthians 5:14, NIV). The Amplified Bible phrases it this way: "controls and urges and compels." God Himself forms and shapes us to be exactly the people He needs to share with the specific people He would save through us.
When God shapes us, that fit is specifically matched to His unique purposes to save others through us. Just as He shaped the heart and life of an 11-year-old girl, He shapes college students, businessmen, homemakers, senior adults and grandparents--and gives each a gentle presence in the midst of the people He would save through them. He then gives them a special compassion, and He adds an inner assurance and confidence to share and leave the results to Him.
He then saves through those who will lovingly obey His urging to share His good news with others.
With God, each Christian fits specifically into His plan and purpose to save. Jonah was exactly the person God wanted to share with Nineveh. When he finally did, God brought salvation to the people of Nineveh. When Moses responded to God's invitation to join Him, God set His people free from the bondage of Egypt. When Peter allowed Christ, his Lord, to shape his life, Peter saw God touch and uniquely save thousands of people who were lost and needed a Savior. Paul encountered the Living Christ, who assured him that he had been chosen from birth and shaped by God's hand to uniquely preach to the gentiles. Then God worked so thoroughly through him that the whole Roman Empire was "turned upside down" (Acts 17:6, KJV).
Today thousands are responding to the activity of God, Who is shaping and calling and assuring them of their unique places in witness to the lost. Business executives are responding, sports figures are responding, those in public office are responding and high school students are responding--where God has placed them. Thousands are responding to God's great salvation!
Is God working in your life? Respond immediately and confidently to Him, and He will use you mightily.
The author of Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby is special assistant to the president, for Prayer and Spiritual Awakening, North American Mission Board.