157. Power of Now!

Do you understand the power of now? The power in the fact that this present moment, is the only one we have. Seconds turn into minutes, turn into hours, turn into days. We can make plans for the future, but all we really have is this moment right now. 

Are you ok with being rejected for the Lord? Will you put yourself out there no matter what happens, no matter how you look or feel, for the sake of someone else’s salvation? 

These two questions might not seem like they relate but I’ll tie them together for you real quick. As I was leaving Walmart today I saw an older man pushing his cart. I was loaded up in the car with Nash buckled and we had already pulled out to leave. As I drove away I felt this gut punch from the Holy Spirit to go talk to him. My flesh didn’t wanna. So like many of us selfish Christians do, I began to pray for him. “Lord please be with that man, show him your love…” right then I was interrupted by the Lord with a stern “that’s what you’re there for, Ash.” I looked a mess, it wasn’t my intent to talk to anyone today. I wanted to run in, grab what I needed and run out. The Lord had other plans. 

As I turned the car around, the Lord put on my heart that man’s salvation. He was up there in age, and the thought crossed my mind, what if no one has ever told him Jesus loves him? What if me driving home is the difference between Heaven and hell for that man’s Spirit? What if it all hangs by the thread of me opening my big mouth? What if his salvation depends on me fighting through the discomfort of my flesh? Is his soul worth that? Is his eternity worth my momentary inconvenience? 

We walk past people who are going straight to hell every single day of our lives. Why don’t we open our mouths? What are we afraid of?

I turned back into Walmart and he was in the next isle over. I saw a lady helping him with his keys. She went in the other direction and I parked next to where he was standing and got out. I walked over to him asking if he needed help. He had forgotten where he parked and that other lady was helping him by taking his keys up and down the isles clicking the buttons, helping him locate his car. I let him know that I felt a strong pull from the Lord to stop and talk to him and I told him Jesus loves him. His countenance changed and he said gruffly “I’m glad somebody does” and looked away. I offered to pray for him and he said he was fine and that he had help and he shooed me away. He wasn’t interested in what I had to say but he needed the help that other woman was providing. 

Yes I shared the love of Jesus, but had I listened to the timing of the Lord and immediately parked, I’d have been the one to help, I’d have had more of an opportunity to speak with him, more time and my help could have broken the ice to share more of the gospel with that man. 

It’s not only listening to the Lord and hearing from the Holy Spirit. It’s about taking the appropriate action when the Lord calls you to step out.  I’m not saying it was a total failure, a lesson in being shunned for the Lord is always a fun death to the flesh experience. What I am saying is that the timing is just as important as the message we preach. 

Be open to the way the Lord guides you. You’re where you are for a reason. You’re at that store, that gas station, that job, that church, you missed that exit, you’re in that family for a divine reason bigger than you could ever imagine! It’s all connected. 

Step out, strike out, and keep trying! You never know who’s eternity is hanging in the balance. 

Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Mark 16:15 - And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Isaiah 6:8 - Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Acts 1:8 - But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

2 Timothy 4:5 - But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Matthew 24:14 - And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Psalms 96:3 - Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

Galatians 6:9 - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

John 12:48 - He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Romans 10:13-14 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lordwill be saved.”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Acts 28:31 - Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

Ephesians 3:12 - In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Proverbs 28:1 - The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Acts 4:31 - And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:13 - Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.