An Audience Of One

Romans 6:23
......But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This week has been a week of change here at Rapha....
New directions for the program....
New schedule for me....So I have spent these first days getting adjusted.
Wednesday rolled around and I was to teach a Bible study that night....6 p.m till 8 p.m.
According to state mandates, we cannot require anyone to attend my Bible study, it has to be on a voluntary basis. This means that you never know who or how many will show up. 

I was in the classroom praying over the room and asking God to be a real presence in the teaching. I'd be less than honest if I said that I wasn't battling some old voices that seem to rise up from time to time. Voices that whisper...."You're not relevant anymore. Why do you even bother coming out here, no one is going to come to your stupid Bible study." Of course, realizing whose voice it was, and where it was coming from, I kicked up my prayers a notch.

Six o'clock came...
No one was there...
I determined to teach anyway, even if it was just to myself. Maybe I missed something in the preparation that God intended me to hear and understand.
The door opened and a voice said, "Y'all still having that Bible thing?" I assured him that we were and that he was more than welcome to join me.
He found a place at a table and sat down.

I asked him to relax and just close his eyes, as I started the worship music. I began to pray over him. Prayers for healing....prayers for peace.....prayers that God would become real to him tonight. As I was praying, I knew that what I had prepared was not what God wanted to teach. Tonight was God speaking to an audience of one.  As the prayers ended, I grabbed my Bible and sat down across from him. We talked...."how's your day?"......"How long will you be here at Rapha?"....

I asked him about his history...
Where he was born.....
Any brothers or sisters.....
Found out that he is divorced and has two sons....ages 13 and 8.
He got to see them last Saturday during visitation, and as he talked, you could see how proud he was of his boys. 
Life had taken a wrong turn in 2008 and because of a divorce, it sent him down the path that ultimately got him here.
Bad choices were quickly followed by bad consequences...
Typical story you hear in recovery.

I asked him about his belief's...
He firmly stated that he believed in God...
But not much more.
He was fully aware that events in his life had transpired in which he should have died...
Car wrecks....
Fights....
But he chalked it up to fate, luck and karma.
I put the notion out to him that maybe it had been God who had saved.
"You mean God would do that for me? Why?"
That brought in the whole "love of God" thing that really shook him up.

Romans 3:23....
Was followed by Romans 6:23.....
He acknowledged that he was a mess....he was a sinner who had lived his life outside the love and will of God.
Romans 10:9-10 laid out the answer that could open a door to a new way of living....
I asked him...."Do you want to make things right tonight between you and God? You know...a fresh start on life?"
Eyes filled with tears....
Head hung down to his chest....
"Yes...I'm tired of living like this."
Prayers....
Really good prayers....
The kind that rise up from the heart and by pass the mind....
"Save me Lord."

I asked him how he felt after we finished praying...
"Lighter...I feel like a weight has been taken off me."
I hugged him and gave him a Bible...
"Start reading in the book of John", turning to the book, marking it for him to find.
He thanked me and made his way back out to the compound.

I sat for a moment taking in what had just happened.
"It really is about the one, isn't it Lord?"
In the quirky way my mind works, I thought to myself, "You know I just had a Bible study where 100% of those who attended got saved."
Be in prayer for this man.......
It was a good evening.

God on you...
mb