Motives behind the supernatural

I remember the first time I was in Wal-mart and wanted to pray for someone. I walked in pumped and ready to go, I told God the first sick person that walks by me I am going to pray for. I happened to walk by a rough looking seasoned (nice term for old) lady. She had an Oxygen Mask on and was not looking very good. I wish I could tell you that faith welled up inside of me and I went for it but that is not the case. I actually walked right past her saying, "God not that one, choose someone else." As I kept walking God spoke to me and said, "I choose that one."

After some self-motivation I went back to her. I walked up and said,"excuse me, I have seen deaf ears open, backs healed, broken bones healed..." before I could finish my spill she bolted. Not going to lie she was pretty quick with that Oxygen tank. I thought well she isn't going to get healed, she missed out. Then God spoke gently, don't you still think I can heal her if you pray. In another blog I may talk about tactics but it was my first time.

There have been more times than not that my fear of what the people would think of me has kept me from expressing the love of God to someone. One time in particular I wanted to pray for a lady who was getting her blood pressure checked at Wal-Mart but she had a little girl with her. I walked away thinking what would the little girl think of me. I felt like Peter denying Christ to a little girl. Little girls can be very intimidating.
What I have begun to see is that the motive of the supernatural is love. Why? Because you have to lay down yourself, whether it is fear of rejection or religious pride (Thinking we are too good, like the Priest and Levite in the story of the good Samaritan.) When you prefer others over youself and love them enough to go out of your comfort zone without religious pride or fear we see God move, whether in the physical realm or behind the scenes in someone's life.

For most of us religious pride isn't our biggest struggle it is the fear of what others will think about us, so in that we are thinking more about ourselves than others. To walk in the supernatural it takes your time, your resources, your energy, and your reputation. This is where the preferring others over ourselves come in. Can we lay down our time, our resources, our energy and even our reputations to allow someone to experience the love of God.

See the motive of the supernatural isn't for people to worship me because cool things happen when I pray for them, it is for people to see that God loves them enough to step into their world and touch their lives.

My challenge for us today is where do we need to prefer someone else in order to step out in the supernatural. Is it a call to someone you've

been thinking about a lot lately. I actually did this one time and that phone call ended up keeping someone from committing suicide. Is it to pray for a co-worker. I work at a church and it is still scary to do this. If you are in school what if you prayed for a teacher. This week let's start the journey of a supernatural life together.

I would love to hear stories of you preferring others.

Stay tuned for my next blog, "Does God still heal?"