The plague, Cromwell and the way God leads us

It was a special day for a woman like me who loves to learn. One of my themes here is learning to stay in God's presence. My friend Rosemarie always says that peace is a substance and that you can feel it when you leave the space of peace. Or that you can also feel it when you are at peace. Christ is peace in person.

I wanted to try to stay at peace throughout the day. In the morning I took a lot of time to listen to gentle worship music and to remember and realise that Christ is in me and I am in him. That simply did me deep good.

At lunchtime I wanted to drive to Chester to read the Gospel of Mark in a café in the city centre and see if Jesus still has something for me to do - some person he wants to meet through me or whatever. Sua wanted to go into town at the same time and as the buses weren't running due to a public holiday, we walked along the canal, she told me about her family history and together we prayed for the father of a friend of mine who had just been put into an induced coma after organ failure. Later that evening I learnt that the fever had gone down and the life-threatening high blood pressure had dropped from 180 to 110. Thank you, Jesus!

I actually wanted to go to a café in the city centre, but felt that God was directing me to a particular restaurant on the canal. How exactly does he speak? Sometimes through an inner attraction.

I went in and sat down in the only comfortable seat near a window. I started reading Mark 1, but didn't get far because a Spanish woman next to me was giving her two English friends a brief summary of English history that she had learnt for the naturalisation test „In the Middle Ages, the plague killed off a third of the population, but that was good because then there weren't enough workers and the people who wanted workers had to treat them better than before. Later there was a king, Charles. He didn't baptise that much, so there was a civil war and Oliver Cromwell deposed him. Then there was a republic for 12 years. But when Cromwell died, they were at a loss and brought back Charles“ son, but he was no better than his father... "

We got talking, including of course about what I do here. A long, open conversation about what faith is. After a while, I asked if I could pray for her. The Spanish woman was so touched by God's spirit that she said „I'm about to cry!“ One of the women didn't have a special request, just asked for a blessing. As I prayed for her, the word „house“ came to my mind. And I asked her if she had any challenges to do with a house. „Oh yes, I forgot about that when you asked me: I'm trying to sell my house and my parents“ house right now." I explained to her that Jesus had told me that to let her know that he wanted to take care of the things that were close to her heart.

Just as I was about to leave, Sua came in to see if I was still there. She told the women a part of her life story and encounter with Jesus and also addressed a personal problem of one of the women. We prayed again for the two remaining women. For one of them, it was a big question as to what she should do with her life. I encouraged her to ask the Creator to show her. In the two hours we spent together, a lot of warmth grew and it was really hard for us all to say goodbye.

Sua and I walked back. Passed three guys sitting in the grass smoking something that wasn't just pure tobacco. One of them had a T-shirt on - with a ball that said £500 on it. We'd already walked 20 metres, but the thought „That young man is longing to do something weighty“ wouldn't leave me. So I went back. I told him that I had noticed his T-shirt and that I sometimes experience God speaking to me. I said that I felt that he was longing to do something important in the world. „Yes, that's right!“ And I recommended that he get in touch with God to let Him show him what. I asked if I could pray for him and put my hand on his shoulder. That was ok. I then simply asked the Holy Spirit to touch him and show him that he was real. After the prayer, I asked him if he had felt anything. He said: „Your hand is no longer on my shoulder, but I can still feel it just the same! That's amazing!“

His name was Andy, we told him about the disciple of Jesus. And his friends were called Paul and Luke, so we told them about the men they were named after. At some points during the storytelling, I felt I should emphasise certain aspects and transfer them to them. „Luke was someone who told stories about Jesus. And he was someone who was a doctor. I think you have a big heart for people who are not doing so well and you look after them.“ „Yes, that's absolutely right, that's what he does!“ confirmed his two friends.

With Paul, I had the feeling that I should emphasise that he - like Paul - was quite clever and didn't so much tell stories as work out the principles. „Absolutely right!“ the friends confirmed again. When praying for the boys, one of them gave me the impression that he was quite afraid of the dark and of things like curtains that move etc. I didn't want to show him to his friends. Of course, I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his friends, so I said to him: „Did you ever feel uncomfortable when a curtain was blowing?“ Vigorous head nodding. „You can ask Jesus for help with something like that!“

Sua asked whether they wanted to experience God if he was real. A clear nod of the head. So we prayed that God would continue to show himself to them. Shaking his head as we left, Andy said: „I don't think I've ever sat in a circle and prayed...“

500 metres further on, a young man came towards us with an open face. Without giving it much thought, I said to him: „You have a glow on your face!“ I am increasingly realising that many of the things I notice about people could be nudges from the Holy Spirit.

The conversation revealed that he knows Jesus and follows him. It's nice that you can see that, or at least sense it. We prayed for him, and as we prayed I had the feeling that Jesus wanted to tell him that he was looking after his sisters. Fortunately, he had some! One of them had become pregnant as a teenager and had to drop out of school, which threw her off track. She is only now slowly coming to terms with her life again.

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that when Jesus supernaturally reveals something about a person, it is not primarily to demonstrate his power and omniscience: I am better than the NSA, I know everything about you. But rather to show: I care about the things that concern you: Your house sale, your fear of the dark, your sisters. What a wonderful, caring God.

I wanted to buy some groceries, Sua went straight back. I saw another man at a bus stop who was eating something and felt I should speak to him. „Lovely weather to eat something. Enjoy your meal!“ „Yes, really good, thank you. Have a nice day!“ Erm. Then I didn't know what to do.

I spoke to Jesus about it on the way home and asked him how best to conduct such conversations. Then I remembered one of the conversations Jesus had with a complete stranger. As I had my Bible with me, I read it on a park bench in the Gospel of John chapter 4. Jesus picked up on something everyday „Give me a drink!“ and then steered the conversation onto spiritual topics „I could give you water that would fill you deeply!“ She doesn't realise at first that he's talking about something spiritual and asks him how he's going to do it without a jug. He then explains to her quite directly that he is the Messiah.

When she is still a little sceptical, he tells her that she has had five affairs with men and that the one she is with now is not her husband either.“ The Bible doesn't say in what tone of voice he said this. I'm sure he said it with deep love, because he is love personified.

I realised: I do it almost exactly like Jesus - so far without the result that they immediately bring the whole town here. But in conversations I have usually followed the pattern of starting a conversation with something very obvious and then, when it suited, moving on to a spiritual topic. And occasionally Jesus would then reveal something during the conversation or prayer that showed how much he had the person in mind.

I had - perhaps through some „power stories“ I had heard from others. thought that God gives supernatural knowledge as a conversation starter. You know something about a person, you tell them, they fall to their knees and recognise God.

Real life - including that of Jesus - is quite a bit less dramatic. I want to read the Gospel of John, which contains many „word miracles“, in more depth, but the stories that come to mind from memory - from Nicodemus to the woman at Jacob's well and the reinstatement of Peter in John 21 - show that the supernaturally right words Jesus had for people flowed in the normal context of an encounter.

Like a few minutes later on the golf course, when I saw a man looking for his golf ball under the bushes. When our paths crossed later, I simply shared my observation with him. „I saw them looking hard for their ball. When I saw that, I thought: God is looking for you, just as intensely as you were looking for your ball. He wants to be their friend!“ „Oh, that's good. You can use all the help you can get in life!“ „Yes, and God wants to go through life with you!“ „Yes, thank you and take good care of yourself!“