By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  08/25/20

“I looked up at the driver and felt the need to share Christ with him,” says Jordan, a Leading The Way partner. While traveling for business, Jordan sensed God was giving him an opportunity to strike up a conversation with his taxi driver, a Muslim from Syria. It would have been much easier, and much more comfortable, for Jordan to disregard these promptings. But God was up to something.

“I asked him what he thought of Christ,” Jordan says, “and then it happened. A total traffic jam. The city had been crushed with rain and there were flash floods everywhere.” Only 10 minutes away from his destination, Jordan would remain stuck in traffic for another hour, in which time he and his taxi driver would engage in a powerful conversation about the Gospel.

It’s easy to get caught up in the busyness of everyday life and miss the opportunities God is giving us to be His messengers. But, if we ask Him and purpose to see the world with an eternal perspective, God will bring people and situations to our awareness, opening doors for the ministry of the Gospel and for obedience to His plan.

Throughout the Bible, we encounter faithful individuals who recognized and seized the divine appointments God was placing before them. In Acts 8, we read an account of God leading His disciple Philip on a journey to share the Gospel with an Ethiopian man.

Philip didn’t seem to have plans to take the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza that day. The journey was probably inconvenient. But step by step, the Lord guided Philip. When he finally came across the Ethiopian on the path, the man was puzzling over a passage of Scripture that spoke of the Messiah. “How can I [understand it], . . . unless someone explains it to me?” the Ethiopian asked (Acts 8:31). Prepared for this moment, Philip shared the Good News of Jesus.

Today, Jesus presents open doors of opportunity for His faithful saints to walk through. No matter how tired, weak, or overwhelmed we may be, we must walk through them. Just like Jordan’s taxi driver, and just like the Ethiopian man, God has strategically placed people in your path who are hungry to know the Truth. He has already prepared the way. Will you be a willing Jordan or a faithful Philip? Will you follow God’s leading, whatever the cost to your time and comfort?

Prayer: Lord, help me to be alert to the promptings of Your Spirit to share the Gospel—the hope that every soul needs. May I step out of my comfort zone and trust in Your faithfulness to draw people to You as I humble myself and obey Your leading. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14).