A couple of weeks ago my husband bumped into an old 'school friend'. This guy had always been pretty much known as trouble. He was asking my husband how things were going, and knowing he was a Christian started asking questions about God.
My husband came away from the conversation knowing that he had to understand there were reasons behind people's behaviours. This guy opened up to him a little and shared some quite terrible things he experienced as a child, he was really feeling now an emptiness in his life, which he thought may mean he needed God.
Around the same time I met a lady who decided to come and find out what was going on at Church and came to our ladies that lunch meeting. I recognised her as being local and it was nice to get to know her, I was impressed by the courage shown to just arrive on your own, without being dragged along by a friend.
A few days later whilst in prayer for these two people, God showed me a picture of a bridge starting at one side of a stream. It was incomplete, piece by piece it was reaching across to the other side. I think I take it to mean we can reach out and pray for our unsaved friends and family on the other side of the stream, but we cannot complete the spiritual journey for them. We cannot build it all the way across or it would not be strong enough. It would collapse.
They also have to build their side of the bridge and come towards, what we through the Holy Spirit, are praying for them and teaching them. As we pray and they come, we reach the centre where God becomes the most important central piece, the 'keystone'.
We can pray all we like for the unsaved and it is a good thing to do, and they can reach out towards what they feel is missing from their lives, but without God as the central point our bridge will collapse, we will not save them and they will not find piece.
So, keep building your bridges towards the unsaved, but don't take it as a personal failure or rejection if they don't respond and build their side back towards you and find God.
This was an awesome post. I never thought of it that way. Thanks for giving me this to think about.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeff, God's pictures are amazing aren't they!
ReplyDeleteAs the old adage goes - 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make 'em drink'
ReplyDeleteIt can be heartbreaking when you witness to someone and it seems to have no affect on their life.
As you so eloquently put it,
"We can pray all we like for the unsaved and it is a good thing to do, and they can reach out towards what they feel is missing from their lives, but without God as the central point our bridge will collapse, we will not save them and they will not find piece."
Salvation is not ours to give. As you said, we can only build part of the bridge. We plant the seeds, but it is God who waters and grows that seed. The person also has to be willing in spirit to change.
Thanks for your thoughts
Visit http://www.thesignsdaily.com to study bible prophecy. No date setting or false predictions. Just a hunger for the Truth in the eminant return of our Lord Jesus.
Aaron
How interesting. Some time ago God gave me a picture of a bridge very similar to this. My soul adored it, and I knew it was symbolic. But I never pondered it much… until now. I still have my picture too, and now a reflection to go with it. ~ Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for you comments, and those that commented on other pages. I am always a little hesitant about sharing 'words and pictures' that I believe are from God, because I do realise we can invent and interperet our own images. But I do believe this one was from Him and I'm glad it could bless you!
ReplyDeleteThank you sharing the word picture the Lord gave you. It's good encouragement to keep extending ourselves to the lost!
ReplyDelete