Rachel is helping to launch MyFriends Training in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Rachel was intentionally praying for her friend Elisa before being promoted by the Holy Spirit to invite her to do an Alpha course at her church. Elisa became a follower of Jesus and has experienced a significant transformation in her life. She seeks to obey Jesus in her life and relationships but initially wasn’t sure how to share her faith with others. Rachel decided to help Elisa develop a MyFriends lifestyle.
“The MyFriends lifestyle has helped me to be intentional with the people that God has placed in my life. I have been loving, praying, and caring for people. For example, I have been intentionally praying that a group of my friends will come to know Jesus,” Elisa shared.
That continual prayer has resulted in an opportunity for Elisa to host a weekly Discovery Bible Study with her friends.
Elisa explains, “Before we formed the Discovery Bible Study group, some of my friends didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. But through doing the Discovery Bible Study, they are getting very close to making a decision to follow Him.”
Looking back on this experience, Rachel reflected, “I think the biggest thing I have learned from the MyFriends experience is recognising the role that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. We need to fully depend on Him. For example, asking Elisa to come to Alpha wasn’t something I thought she was ready for, but I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to extend that invitation to her.”
Elisa has also learnt how to depend on the Holy Spirit. “One of the biggest things I learnt was that it can be really challenging to step out in faith. But what I have learned is the Holy Spirit will open up opportunities for you. And when He opens up those opportunities, amazing things can happen.”
Elisa now finds that sharing Jesus is not difficult and wants to encourage others to develop a lifestyle that helps their friends and family experience Jesus. “All that God asks of us is to make ourselves available and to love others and wonderful opportunities are going to open up,” she said.
While the MyFriends Lifestyle Training focuses on helping “everyday” Christians share Jesus with their friends and family, we also encourage people to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading whenever He may prompt. Ryan Sherring serves on my team with Power to Change. He shared this story last week:
I was having a coffee with a friend when I saw a young delivery guy walk past. He touched his cheek and I had a thought “he has a tooth ache”. I said, “Holy Spirit, bring him back if you want me to pray for him.”
When he came back I said “Hi” and asked how he was. Then asked, “Do you have a toothache on this side of your mouth?” He did. I told him, “Jesus loves you, and wants me to pray for it to go away.” So we prayed for healing. The pain didn’t go straight away, but I said by the end of day it should be gone. On his final round past us, he shook our hands because he felt loved, and then I was able to share Jesus with him using ‘The Four’ gospel band.
It was encouraging to realize my ‘fleeting’ thought was actually the voice of the Spirit. Glad I caught this one instead of ignoring it with logic or circumstance!
