Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately,” (Acts 10:30-33)
An amazing reality confronts Peter when he arrives at Cornelius‘ house. As Cornelius tells the story of God‘s intervention in his prayer time, Peter sees clearly that God had been working in preparation of Peter‘s visit. It was obvious to Peter that God was there ahead of him.
We should be comforted by the fact that this is how God functions. He is already preparing the soil into which you will be planting the gospel in the future.
We can be confident that the situations of passionate engagement that we find ourselves in have been prepared by God well in advance. Further, we can pray that God would be working in the lives of those on whom we desire to have a spiritual influence.
Jesus tells us that God is “always working.“ It is not our responsibility to create spiritual momentum from a dead stop. Instead we must be open to sense where God is already moving and then join in with His work.
Passionate engagement is a product of sensitivity to the leading of God. He is unceasingly pursuing those who are lost and we are privileged to be invited to join in His work.
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