especially new people. We know that part of the call is reaching new people with the gospel and evangelizing and discipling them but we often don’t know who, when, where or how.
Let us today be reminded of the beautiful reality that God will bring into our lives those that He desires us to minister to.
It really is okay to trust that God will introduce us to the people He desires to connect us with. We need to give ourselves a break and stop being so hard on ourselves about our evangelistic and outreach efforts.
We need to pray and ask the Lord to help us notice the people already on our paths and that He will help us to truly shepherd the sheep he places right in front of us.
Here are just some of the ways we can care for and shepherd the people already on our path:
- Be fully present and available to them
- Don’t be in a hurry
- Listen to their story
- Look them in the eyes
- Express compassion to them in their struggle and pain
- Rejoice with them in their miracles and breakthroughs
- Feed them with the Word
- Pray with them on the spot
- Linger in their presence in fellowship
- Share life together
This is just a short list, but I hope that you walk away from this blog post with some insight and direction for shepherding your people.
Recognize that God will miraculously, in His way, in His timing, bring the right people into your life. You don’t have to force it, you don’t have to be brilliant or technologically savvy or super clever or socially extroverted.
You just have to pray and trust God and then take care of the ones you have. God will make sure the other connections happen.
Pastor Michael Johnson 