Pray with expectation – believing God will answer, lead, guide and direct.
The book of Acts has some amazing teachings.
One teaching I see (not only in Acts but all throughout the Bible) is the teaching or idea that God prepares people to meet prepared people.
God prepares people (you and me) through experiences, gifts and calling to meet prepared people (people that He is reaching out to or that are reaching out to Him based upon their experiences in life).
In the 8th chapter of Acts, a Ethiopian Eunuch is reading a scroll from Isaiah 53. He is not understanding it. He needs someone to explain it to him. God speaks to one of the disciples, Phillip, and sends him to this Ethiopian leader, who is being prepared in his heart to receive God’s word. Phillip arrives, shares, and the Ethiopian receives Christ as his Savior, is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit. God uses prepared people to meet prepared people.
In Acts 9, a man named Saul is persecuting Christians. The Lord Jesus reveals himself to Saul and Saul receives Christ as his Savior. At the same time there is a disciple in Damascus named Ananias whom the Lord speaks to. Ananias received this word from the Lord, and brought Saul to Damascus where he laid hands on Saul (who had been blinded) and Saul received back his sight and was baptized.
In Acts 10 a Roman army official named Cornelius, had great respect for God, helped to provide resources to the poor and prayed regularly. I believe while praying, he received a vision and word from the Lord to send for Simon Peter.
At the same time, in Joppa, Simon Peter is praying and through that prayer, the Lord speaks through a vision and shares with Peter that Peter needs to go and share Christ with Cornelius. Cornelius is a Gentile and would be considered unclean by Jews; however God, through the vision, let’s Peter know that which was previously unclean is now clean... i.e. it’s ok to go to Cornelius.
Peter goes to Cornelius, shares Christ, Cornelius receives Christ as Savior, receives the Holy Spirit and is baptized.
God uses prepared people to meet prepared people.
I believe that there are people God is preparing right now for me or you to reach... and He wants to do this through the gifts, experiences and calling He has given to us. There are people in my church who can reach others that I cannot because of specific gifts, experiences and calling that God has for them.
It all begins with prayer. Praying and being open to let God use us (as He has prepared us) to reach those whom He has prepared for that moment.
Therefore, as we continue in 21 Days of Prayer, may we be people who pray with their eyes wide open, hearts to heaven, and are looking for others whom we can reach, whom God has quite possibly prepared for us.
