During one of the Sunday service this month, Pastor Amos gave a contrasting example of being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading vs what our mind thinks logically, based on his own experiences.
Pseudo names have been given to facilitate the narration.
The first testimony involves a lady called Susan. During his early years of his career, Susan has first introduced Pastor Amos into the trading industry. Under her mentorship, she managed to help propel him to become a very successful trader in his later years as a trader. After he left his career to enter into the ministry, neither of them has contacted each other for several years.
Then one day Susan suddenly called him when he was in Thailand doing missionary work. She wanted to borrow some money from him. She needed S$2000. Due to his past working relationship with the lady, Pastor Amos felt indebted to her and thought that he should help her since the amount was manageable. After all Susan was a high flyer with a very impressive career background. Hence it should not be a problem for her to return the money at a later period.
However when he was about to say “Ok” to Susan, he immediately felt an uncomfortable tug in his heart which prevented him from agreeing to her request verbally at that point in time. He told her, “Give me some time; I will call you back with an answer.” Upon putting down his phone, he started praying and asking God if he should not lend her the money. His mind was telling him: Yes, he should give. There is no reason why he should not but his heart was telling him: No, do not give. After much struggling, Pastor Amos decided to call Susan to tell her he was not able to concede to her request. Then Susan started to scold and criticize him for not being grateful to her for the contributions she had made in his life. It was hard and he did not know why God did not give him the peace to borrow the money.
Several months later, he received news from his friends that Susan has actually lost a lot of money through stocks and that she had been going around borrowing money from her friends and not returning them.
Thank God, he did not lend his money to Susan previously. God knew about the situation and had protected him from losing his finances unnecessary.
The second testimony involves his childhood friend, Daniel. Daniel worked as a taxi driver. From what Pastor Amos knew about his friend, Daniel gambled a lot and had a history of borrowing money from loan sharks. For many years, they have not contacted each other.
Then one day, Daniel called Pastor Amos out of the blue. He wanted to borrow S$7000 from him. Pastor Amos wanted to say no but it seems as if there is peace in his heart to do so. This time, his mind was telling him: No, do not borrow. S$7000 is a huge sum and it is very likely you will not get back the money. However it seems as if there is peace in his heart to borrow him the money. He told Daniel to give him some time to consider before getting back to him. He started to pray in tongues and it seems like God is allowing him to agree with his request. Again his mind wrestled with the impression in his heart. In the end, He agreed to lend Daniel the money but he requested him to come to his house to get the money. Daniel said, “Ok. Thank you.” It was a tough decision to make. His reasoning was strongly against the idea. But finally he as prepared to lose the money forever. While Daniel was on his way, Pastor Amos decided to make sure he could share the gospel with Daniel. After all, the sum of money was huge and Daniel was an unbeliever. So this is one of the rare opportunities.
When they met, Pastor Amos said to Daniel, “Before I pass the money to you, I wanted to tell you ...” Daniel cut his sentence and answered, “I knew what you want to tell me. I am already a Christian. I gave my life to Jesus on the way to your house.” Pastor Amos was shocked. Later Daniel shared with him that he has approached every single one of his friends whom he knew but everyone was avoiding him. He was in heavy debt and was at his wits end. Daniel knew he had no one else to turn too now. Finally while he was alone and deep in his thoughts, he turned to God and said to Him, “If You are really God and You helped me this time, I will dedicate my life to You and become a Christian.” At that moment, his childhood friend, Pastor Amos, came into his mind and so he decided to call him. When Pastor Amos agreed, he knew in his heart that God answered his prayer; and hence he gave his life to Jesus. After knowing this, Pastor Amos was elated! Subsequently later part of that day, Pastor Amos went to Daniel’s home and managed to get his wife and child saved as well. Eventually, Daniel managed to get himself a job and returned the money in full to him. It was a win-win situation. 3 souls saved through Pastor Amos obedience. Amazingly, he also managed to get his money back. God is great!
From the above 2 testimonies, God knew what was going on in both situations. He protected Pastor Amos in the 1st testimony while He used him to bless others in the second one. The most prominent observation I made here is the antagonizing instructions he hear from his heart and from his mind. Nevertheless, due to his sensitiveness to the Holy Spirit and his obedience, He chose to obey God’s instruction (through his heart) despite the reasoning he had in his mind and flesh.
Hebrews 5:8, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”
In the first testimony, Pastor Amos “suffers” from being labeled as an ungrateful person. In the second testimony, he “suffers” from the possibility of losing S$7000. John Bevere said in his book: “The bait of satan”: “Physical growth is a function of time. Intellectual growth is a function of learning. Spiritual growth is neither a function of time or learning, but is a function of obedience.” We grow from faith to faith through these experiences. Praise God.
Steve
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