In Romans 10:14-15 it says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
When God sends you to preach the gospel to someone who has not heard, therefore they have not believed and called on Him, it is a powerful thing to be a part of that salvation process. We carry the Kingdom of God inside of us and the hope of Christ in us to bring to those who are without hope the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why it is so important to always be ready to preach the Word in season and out of season. When we are trusting and believing God, He will open up doors of opportunity to do just that!
Back in February (2022), God opened up a door to send me and a friend to visit a mutual friend of ours who lives in Hawaii. We all met back in 2016 in our 2nd year at Charis Bible College. When my friend and I knew in our spirits that this was God ordained, I knew that there would be ministry opportunities and we started believing for that. In fact, I believed that this was what this trip was mainly about, and I kept thanking the Lord for preparing this to take place!!!
In Hawaii, we were able to pray with people and see a leg grow out, a wrist be healed that had been broken, prayed for a person with dementia to be healed, I prayed for my friend who had not slept at all one night because of pain in her hip and spasms going on and she could barely walk that next morning. When I prayed and commanded the devil to turn her body loose, she was instantly healed by the power of God. We also spent over 2 hours with a group of mighty women and prayed for this nation, among other things. We had some really good fellowship with many people we met through our friend that lives there.
But the one thing I want to share in this post is what I believe was a crucial and divine appointment right at the onset of our trip on the plane when we first left Denver Airport to San Francisco (for an hour layover).
Towards the end of this flight, about an hour before landing in San Francisco, something incredible happened. There was a young guy from India, named Jimmy, sitting next to me. Both my friend and I were on aisle seats across from one another and Jimmy was next to me in the middle seat. He slept most of the time on the plane but had woken up and shortly after that asked me where I was going and I told him that my friend and I were going to Hawaii.
Not long after that, the man next to him on the window seat needed to get up and go to the restroom. So Jimmy and I got out of our seats and let him out. While we were standing in the aisle, Jimmy asked me what we did. I immediately said, “We are ministers of the gospel.” Well, that opened the floodgates and he started spilling out his heart saying he had a drinking addiction and wanted to know how to fix it. The honesty of his heart was incredible. I told him Jesus was the answer. He told us someone at the gym had just recently told him he needed Jesus as well.
So we were in the aisle talking until the man came back from the restroom. People were starting to turn their heads and listen, although we weren’t talking loud but they could hear, I’m sure, what we were saying. Jimmy ended up asking my friend some things about what we were sharing with him, and as we got back in our seats, she started writing some things out like the pen of a ready writer. It was just pouring out of her as she was writing things down about salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc. Then as Jimmy and I were back in our seats, I started telling Jimmy how much God loved him and He was the One who could deliver him from his drinking addiction. He told me at this point he had many addictions!! I told him Jesus was the answer for all of them. I shared Romans 10:8-10 with him and about being born again – receiving Jesus into his life. After sharing some other things, I asked him if he would like to pray and receive the Lord. He said yes, so I prayed and had him repeat it. It was like the scripture in Romans 10:14-15 that was taking place right before my eyes!!
I then broke the power of those addictions over his life and commanded the devil to turn him loose in the name of Jesus. I shared several more things with him. I prayed for God to immediately start bringing Godly people into his life that could disciple him and fellowship with him, as well as for God to send someone who could tell him of a bible believing church that demonstrates the power of God. I knew without a doubt that God would do this. I knew that God had not set this divine appointment up to leave Jimmy without someone to come alongside him to mentor and disciple him.
I also had mentioned to him about John 10:10 how the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus came that we might have life and life more abundantly. He seemed to understand this because I was sharing how he needed to get new friends and not hang out with his old friends who were doing the same thing because the enemy would use them to bring him down. He shook his head in agreement.
We had brought several brochures with us about Salvation, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Water Baptism and Healing so we gave those to him and told him to read them carefully because they would explain even more.
About that time, the flight had landed and I knew that we had to entrust Jimmy to the Lord, knowing He would provide all Jimmy would need in the hours and days ahead. God had set this flight up and had me sit right next to him because He had a plan for Jimmy that day!!
Just being willing and ready to share the power of God in any given situation at any time is what we need to be expecting every day. God will have people there, and we just need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and watch God go to work.
This is an adventurous life walking in the Spirit and nothing compares to it and nothing is too hard for Him! Praise the Lord!