Friday, 5 July 2013
Speaking to train commuters about the power and love and grace of Eternal Life.
God has challenged me recently into a type of preaching which I can maintain for long periods of time on a train and really sense the presence of the Holy Spirit very strongly whilst doing it. It involves beginning to pray out loud but reasonably softly until I can sense God's presence and anointing all around me. I then often sense the presence of the Lord focusing my attention on one or two individuals within the carriage and, without necessarily making eye contact, keep praying and praising God with them in mind. I will begin to pray and praise God using such language is as simple as possible and as easy as possible for anyone to understand and I use phrases such as referencing the love and blessings of heaven, taking a sinner from a state of sin into being a saint, converting a sinner from doing wrong to serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, being our best friend, being Christ who died for our sins to make a way of escape from Hell to Heaven, how God desires that every single person will love Him and praise Him and choose to receive Everlasting Life etc. I continue in this manner indefinitely growing in volume and boldness till people in the carriage can plainly hear what I am saying. I've got some music headphones on and I'm not deliberately trying to make eye contact although obviously as I grow in confidence I can do that too, speaking about the power of God to reach into a heart and a life and convert them from sin to holiness etc. People genuinely cannot believe what they are hearing on a train but if I do it in a sober-minded, rational way without putting too much emotion into my voice people tend to let me continue as I wish and they don't disturb me or start shouting back abusive language at me. Sometimes even as a cover I will get a book and be praying out loud and declaring how God can convert a sinner and grant them everlasting eternal life and save them from hell to heaven, and people are just listening and glancing over but because I have my headphones on and am not trying to push 'in their face' the onus then is on them to speak up and in general no one does. I can continue for many minutes even when the train stops at stations and the noise level drops to near zero so you can hear a pin prick and every word of my sermonette also. I really don't hold back but use language that I hope people will use to bring themselves to conversion, including praying part or all of the sinners prayer in order to clarify what a person must do to receive Christ. I also talk about a person trusting in Christ and putting off cynicism and embracing the love of the cross. I do cover aspects as the immoral person putting off the ways of uncleanness and embracing the ways of holiness, the adulterous person putting on the ways of faithfulness and fidelity, the man who blasphemes to becoming one who has a holy mouth, a liar to become honest etc. I really am aiming to give people something to think about and hope that they too can have enough knowledge from what I have said to put into motion something in their lives that they would accept Christ. My aim is to speak into a sinner's life who has no or little interest in Christ and convince them to bring their heart into the presence of God through faith. I really tell them what to do and use language of heaven which inspires people to go there but I do mention sin and hell also, contrasting the two often. The key is to do this 'in the Lord' and have the presence of the Lord strong on my life as I do it, giving me a peace which sinners cannot really understand nor speak against. I have had business men and women stare me out whilst I am preaching, listening to every word as if they cannot believe their ears. But they listen and drink in what I am saying and I am praying that an immoral person will truly find Christ and become moral etc and so they know that I am praying for them in a blessed way and I am not some sort of fanatic (all though I am) or lunatic. It takes boldness to do what I do and I think they are amazed I would have the boldness to do what I do, which earns a certain kind of respect even though they might completely be surprised at the message and have never heard the likes in all their lives. I also occasionally sit down with someone in mind so when I get going that person near me gets to hear a full sermon whether they like it or not. Some people have headphones but obviously I have no control over that and don't seek to. It's a blessing to rejoice in the God of my salvation and I just desire to press in, praying more and more and declaring the works of heaven without compromise to as many people as possible. I also pray that in time my message will become so strong and powerful that it really will impact people on the train and I will have conversions right there and then. Right how that is going to work I just don't know but when it happens I will be ready and ready to confound the wisdom of the wise with a foolishness from above using a child-like faith in Christ. A friend once told me she likewise had a desire to reach out and speak to so many people; I am just putting it into practice.
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