One thing I was just thinking about right now is that I feel like there is so much kingdom-work to be done, even in what God is calling me to do personally. There are an infinite number of things that need to be taken care of, and millions if not billions of people that still need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus said that “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37), that really struck a chord with me, because there are so many opportunities out there to glorify God by serving and loving others that Christians fail to take advantage of. People waste too much time and are too preoccupied with silly things like the holiday design of Starbuck’s cups, rather than focusing their attention on actually doing something that will draw people closer to God. There are so many “Christians” out there, but not enough of us are listening to God’s voice, living out our lives as disciples, or tapping into the power of His Spirit. If we all were, this world would look very different.

But I don’t want to focus on the negative, so I’ll share a nice story I heard recently from someone at church. There is a young lady at my church who is very in tune with the Holy Spirit. One day God kept putting “India” in her mind over and over. She didn’t get the feeling that she was supposed to jump on a plane to India all of a sudden, so instead she went to a popular Indian restaurant in downtown Dallas that came to her mind.

I didn’t catch the entire story, but basically what ended up happening is that there was a family there that she ended up sharing the Gospel with. For whatever reason, the parents didn’t stop her at all, and the child at the table ended up accepting Jesus right on the spot, with the parents in plain view! Who knows what domino effect that one interaction will have as the child grows as a follower of Christ! Since it was obviously a divine appointment, I have no doubt that it will have a tremendous impact down the line.

That’s just one example of someone who is so focused on her relationship with the Lord, that she is not only able to clearly discern His voice, but is also willing to step out of her comfort zone to share the Gospel.

There are so many people out there, so many things to be done, and our lives are not that long in the grand scheme of things. Do you feel like today you are acting as the Lord’s hands and feet here on earth? Are you more consumed with yourself and the things you need to get done, or are you willingly asking the Lord how He can use you?

I know many of us have families and young children, but if you are willing, God will make a way for you to serve exactly where you are, and what will work for you without neglecting your obligations as a husband, a wife, or a parent. But you have to be open to getting a bit uncomfortable and inconvenienced in that life of yours. He may want you to be focusing more of your time on your family right now vs. church ministry for instance, but that doesn’t mean only caring for their physical or emotional needs. Their spiritual needs are even more important. Remember what Jesus said when Satan was tempting Him with food in the wilderness?

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

Don’t just focus on those types of basic needs. If you’re not actively ministering to other people or serving elsewhere outside of your household, then make sure you are at least discipling the people within your household to walk in the ways of the Lord. If that is your current mission field, then serve wholeheartedly, so that as your spouse or children or roommates or whomever you live with go out into the world, they can be part of the domino effect.

I’d like to encourage each of you to truly ask the Lord what He wants you to be doing and focusing on right now, in whatever phase of life and whatever stage of your spiritual walk you’re in. If you’re thinking, “Well, I’ve never heard God speak or give me a word because He never talks to me like that,” then all you have to do is get into the Bible.

He will absolutely talk to you straight from the pages of Scripture if you’re willing to listen. And God DOES speak to His people today even outside of the pages of His text, but we can only recognize His often small, still voice if we are in tune with His Holy Spirit. And we can’t get in tune with His Spirit without devoting ourselves to continuous prayer, reading of His Word, and desiring of His presence in our lives.

As Christians, let’s do a better job of being in tune with the Holy Spirit who is living INSIDE OF US. If you think about it from a proximity perspective, He should literally be the closest voice to us and we shouldn’t have such a hard time hearing Him!

Look at the world and people around you, and ask that God would use YOU to be the first domino to fall, triggering a line of infinite testimonies of God’s power and glory, to follow!

[From December 4, 2015]