Discernment and Action for Christ

Many of us are in professions where we are called upon to facilitate healing, growth and change. People come to us for advice, wisdom, counsel or consultation and we wonder how best to open the door of conversation to the things of God. There are four different outcomes to saying or doing something supernatural.

As we listen to people in need there are many things that we could do. We could preach, pray, quote the Bible, aggressively move into spiritual warfare or tell the person to repent. Before we choose to do any of these or other interventions we need to discern where the person is in his/her readiness to accept and cooperate with the Holy Spirit and with us.

Timing is also critically important to our success as a Helper. The interaction of a Helper and a Seeker goes through several stages of development. A Seeker will not likely accept or act upon our ideas and prayers unless he/she trusts us. We could call a person to repent of his sin as soon as we meet them but that would probably not be a good thing to do so quickly. In fact, in Luke 10: Jesus tells His followers to go into the world and "Pray peace upon the people and houses" as a first step in evangelism.

With those two key points let us look at the four possibilities of influencing a person in need.

Possibility I. We can do the wrong thing at the wrong time. This is the worst outcome. Both the intervention and the timing are poorly chosen. The results will very likely be resistance to God's plan.

Possibility II. The wrong thing at the right time. Perhaps we have listened carefully and understood what the person needs and we are discerning that it is time to speak to the Seeker. However, what we say is off the wall or inappropriate to the situation or person. The outcome will be less than stellar.

Possibility III. The Right thing at the wrong time. When we meet a person who needs Christ and we launch into The Four Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road too soon we may miss God's plan for that person. We can be either too eager or too shy and miss the moment that is just right.

Possibility IV. The right thing at the right time. Here is where it all comes together. You have heard the Seeker out and discerned that the Holy Spirit is telling you to speak and what to say. Timing and content work together to bring God's best for the Seeker.

See my web sweetenlife.com for more materials and books. Our book, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty will give you specific hints to figure out when a Seeker is ready to change.