Divine Appointments

‘Divine Appointments’

Throughout our days of service to the Lord, He desires for us to comprehend and be aware of His ‘Divine Appointments’. If we are led by His Spirit and prepare our hearts to recognize His working in the events He has predestined to occur in our lives, we truly can see with the eye of the Spirit His setting up of ‘Divine Appointments’ in order for us to be effective in witnessing for Him and giving Him the glory through it all.

My wife and I made a trip to the seashore of South Carolina to do some ‘salt water’ pier fishing. During our stay we knew ahead of time that we would be involved in an interview of sorts when a salesperson would try to sell us some property. So, we began praying on the way down for this person and as a result of our prayer God set up a ‘Divine Appointment’, and here is how it went.

We began with the salesman, a young man named Sebastian from Paris, France, giving us about a half an hour of his presentation when the Lord interrupted and I spoke to him about the Gospel Message. I shared my testimony with him and he had already spotted my New Testament in my back pocket and was aware of my Bible ‘leanings’.

Well, it just so happens that the Lord had gone before us and prepared the way! He, the salesmen, then told us of another ‘Baptist preacher’ that had witnessed to him a few months earlier and he had gotten to know him quite well, having had dinner with him etc.

As soon as I heard that I turned up the heat as it were, and told him of God’s working as we prayed in bringing us to him and that the Lord was dealing with him in an unusual way, and eventually telling him of his need to receive Christ, for today could be the day that He might be suddenly taken from this life to face eternity without a Savior!

Now, I would like to say I led him to the Lord right then and there, but that did not happen. What did happen was he hurriedly left us go our way, and was visibly shaken due to these events which he himself recognized was a ‘Divine Appointment’!

My wife caught a few fish during the next few days of our stay and we headed home, but the Lord kept impressing me about His desire to set up more ‘Divine Appointments’ and I had already been witnessing to a number of folks back home, but there was one man that I had given my testimony tract to and never could find him alone so that I could follow-up.

Well, when we got home I prayed about this guy and asked the Lord to set up an appointment with him, and the Lord said, ‘Get going, now is the time!’ so, I went down to the local ‘watering hole’ where the men of the area sit around and sip coffee and ‘chew the rag’ as my Great-Grandma Wolfe use to say, and wouldn’t you know it, when I got there he was there too, but someone was sitting with him at the table.

So, I got my coffee, knowing that the Lord had sent me, I went over to the table and just as I arrived, the other man got up and left us there all alone and…you know the rest! Yes, God had gone before me, and this 65 year old ‘60’s throwback’ with a Harley shirt and pony-tail down to the middle of his back listened intently and then told me that a friend of his in Mississippi was sending him preaching tapes and written messages every week, and once again the Lord demonstrated to me, and my lost friend, that He had gone before and prepared the way!

The next appointment the Lord gave me was another local Harley type whose name is ‘Hippie’, yes, that’s all he is known by there at the watering hole, but, once again I knew the Lord was setting up a situation where I would have the opportunity to be alone with him and give him the Gospel. He had some motorcycle parts I was interested in and so I went to his house-trailer one Saturday morning, and just before I got there two other bikers went in before me.

I knocked on the door and there was quite a scene, 11:00 in the morning and they are drinking beer, Hippie, his wife, and the two bikers, but they all seemed to know me and called me Wolfman and Hippie said we could go and look at the parts, however, they were at another location.

Hmmm…we went alone, to the garage he spoke of, and on the way back I shared my testimony including the Gospel and told him that the Lord had sent me, so he turned to me and said ‘Can I ask you a question?’ And I responded, ‘Sure’ and he said ‘Do you have to go to church to be a Christian?’