Contacting the Right Person
“Forgetting to invite God is like forgetting to invite the surgeon when a kidney transplant has been scheduled. Nothing’s going to happen without Him.” (M.H. Puccini)
Reluctant to Serve
To get eternal results, we need the Holy Spirit to do His special work. Christians are most effective when we walk in step with Jesus.
When Jonah—reluctantly—started proclaiming God’s coming judgment on the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, he stomped through the city, shouting out just one message:
4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
(Jonah 3:4-5 NIV)
Historically, the Assyrians were known as cruel and ruthless conquerors. Their official artwork frequently showed the tortures inflicted on rulers who resisted them. This empire dominated all other nations for over 300 years because their military was so fierce.
Jonah’s Poor Heart Condition
Jonah didn’t rebel against God’s assignment because of fear. Instead, the prophet badly wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. He hoped Assyria’s sadistic rulers would reap some divine payback for all the suffering they’d caused.
Fire and sulfur raining down from Heaven onto Assyria’s capital city?
Give Jonah a front row seat and pass the popcorn.
The prophet’s words didn’t save these people. Jonah despised, hated and loathed the Assyrians.
But God did not.
The Lord spared the lives of 120,000 people, because when they heard the preaching of Jonah, Nineveh’s citizens truly repented and cried out to Israel’s God for mercy.
Who caused this miraculous heart-felt repentance among all the people? The Holy Spirit. He’s the only one who can soften the hard-hearted, causing them to cry out to God.
A Common Sense Suggestion
This is a good time in history to use our “prayer power,” and ask the Almighty to move. People around the globe desperately need what only He can do.
My suggestion? Maybe our first prayer each day should be,
“Lord Jesus, what’s on your heart? What do you want me to ask You for today?”
