GET OUT OF YOUR TENT!

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

Does it sometimes seem like you’re just having a really boring week? A week where it seems mundane and dull? I think we can all feel like that sometimes. However, as Christians, I think that we may not be living how Jesus wants us to live if we are always bored and feel like we are just living out our “normal” routine.

Did you know that there is actually a man in the Bible who felt like we do sometimes? His name is Abram (later known as Abraham), and God had to teach him a very important lesson that still applies to us today.

Genesis 15:5-6 says, “He (God) took him (Abram) outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Did you catch what the beginning of that verse said? It said that God took Abram outside. Why? Why did it matter if he was inside or outside of the tent?

God knew that He needed to get Abram out of his normal daily routine. God knew that Abram was not going to see the big picture if he was comfortable where he was at. Because what God had planned for him was going to require him to be uncomfortable and step out of his normal day to day kind of thing.

However, God required Abram’s time. What a lot of Christians don’t get today is that God requires OUR time as well. It frustrates me deeply when people say that they are too busy to come to Church, or Bible Study, or just to serve Jesus in general. It frustrates me because people would rather do their other stuff instead of serve Jesus and give Him everything they’ve got.

Well aren’t you glad Jesus isn’t too busy for you? Are you grateful that Jesus wouldn’t rather do something else instead of spending time with you and helping you?

It’s about time that Christians start thinking that way.

A.W. Tozer once said, “The man who would truly know God must give time to Him.”

If we really want to know God and get serious about Him, one of the biggest things we can do is to give Him our time.

We have to start getting out of our tent! Most of the time it’s a tent that we have created ourselves. We make it cozy and comfortable just the way we like it, and then we wonder why God isn’t using us.

However, we must understand that God does the big stuff outside of the tent!

I’m going to share with you a personal story of when God took me out of my tent and then what happened…

I was out on an outreach team in Dayton, Ohio praying for people and sharing the gospel with them. We weren’t having a very successful morning. Not many people were out that we could talk to and a lot of the businesses had not opened yet.

So, we ended up at a Kroger grocery store, and we walked around a little bit, but nothing really happened. When we walked outside Kroger there was this young lady leaning against the wall, and she happened to be an employee. As soon as I saw her, I knew God wanted me to go over and ask her how I could pray for her. However, I didn’t want to! I was scared and uncomfortable.

No joke, my heart was racing, but I knew I just needed to do it.

I walked up to her and introduced myself, told her that I knew it is crazy, but I wondered how I could pray for her. As soon as I asked her how I could pray for her, she started to bawl. Almost ugly cry if you know what I mean.

She told me that she had just had a miscarriage the day before, but she didn’t know that she was pregnant prior to the miscarriage. She said that she had come to work because she wanted to keep her mind off of it, but her boss was sending her home to rest, and she was waiting on someone to pick her up.

After she explained all of this, we stood there, and I prayed over her. When we got done praying, she let me walk her through the gospel, and we just stood there and talked.

It’s crazy that God could use me in such an incredible way outside of my comfort zone! I didn’t want to walk up to her and ask how I could pray, but because God prompted me to, this girl heard the gospel and was prayed over.

See what I mean?

God uses the mundane and ordinary people to further His kingdom! You don’t need to be a pastor or write books to be seen and used by God. You just have to give Him your time and be willing to get outside of your tent!

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

~ Do you feel like you have allowed yourself to stay in the tent where it’s comfortable? Why or why not?

~ What are your thoughts after reading this post? Do you think that it could help you and your everyday life?

~ Would you share the gospel with someone if God wanted you to?