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Lord, I lift up my pastor to You. Thank You for his servant’s heart. Keep him from losing heart when ministry gets tough. Help him prove faithful with the things you have entrusted to him. Teach him Your ways so that he knows You and finds favor with You as He leads us. Keep him open and honest before You and help him to represent the truth plainly. (2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Cor. 4:1-3 Ex. 33:13) 
 
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David Bryant and the Holy Spirit nudge

We were planning the fourth issue of Pray! magazine (J/F ‘98).  The topic was revival, and we had invited David Bryant (then president of Concerts of Prayer International) to meet with the Pray! staff as we sought God’s direction for the issue. David began to give us a vision of what revival means—what it looks like, what it accomplishes—and my spirit began to burn within me.  The more he talked about the manifest presence of the Lord, the more I felt like I needed to be face down on the floor!  At one point I shared with the group: “I want our articles to inspire readers to feel what I’m feeling—I feel like I need to go off and pray right now!"

David Bryant looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Maybe you should.”
But I didn’t.  I wanted to savor every exciting word of what he was saying.  Surely more information would fuel the “burn” for even more extraordinary prayer when the time was right. But the time had been right at that moment and I missed it.  The Holy Spirit was ready right then to bear witness with my spirit on an issue of monumental importance, and I let the occasion slip through my fingers.  And the burn went away.

That was 1997, and I have always regretted that missed opportunity.  Who knows what would have been birthed in prayer in that moment if I had cooperated with that “Holy Spirit nudge”?

It is grace—a true gift from God—when He extends a heart-addressed invitation to be His partner at the dance. No one else in the room that day felt that extraordinary “pull” that I felt.  He had chosen me (for some unexplainable reason), and I brushed it aside.

In the years since, I’ve been graced with many other invitations to partner with Him in something He wants to bring to pass.  But that lost bit of destiny stands as a reminder to flow with the Spirit when He says it’s time—not just when it’s convenient for me.

So from one closet pray-er to another . . . when the grace comes, go with it!  Don’t miss the nudges!

Keep the incense rising,
Sandra Higley, Editor
 
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