Don’t Ignore the Nudge

By Sandra Higley

I was a part of the staff of Pray! magazine several years ago when we were planning an issue on revival. We had invited David Bryant (then president of Concerts of Prayer International) to meet with us as we sought God’s direction for that issue of the magazine. 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. 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 wanted 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 when the grace comes, go with it! Don’t miss the nudge!

–SANDRA HIGLEY is a mentor of intercessors and the author of our Bible Study section.