The Best Advice

"Continue to let the Spirit lead in this..."

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Last week, I asked on the blog for wisdom on how to help Frank, a homeless guy whom I feel God has placed before me to build a relationship with (THANKS to the 3 of you who actually responded ;).  Not knowing how to help with a monetary need Frank had told me of (or even if I should), I emailed my campus pastor Daniel, and he connected me to a couple other guys in the church, David & Phil, who work with guys like Frank quite often.  I won't say exactly how they helped, because I feel like that may be something that should be kept private to Frank.  But I was very grateful to be a part of a church that is actively serving the community and gets excited about helping one another do so.

After talking with Frank Thursday night, telling him how the Summit Church wanted to help, Frank told me "I would like to come to church and pray before the Lord with you."  Of course, I got very excited at this, because I want Frank more than anything to know the love of Jesus.  At the same time, however, I got scared--scared of being taken advantage of like I have been in the past, scared that Frank was simply telling me what I wanted to hear.  I knew I needed discernment.  I emailed David again to let him know the latest, telling him of my concern, and he responded, "Continue to let the Spirit lead..."

My temptation is to take things into my own hands.  My worry is that I have no idea what I'm doing.  My fear is of being hurt.  My other temptation is that I'll keep "helping" just to make myself look good before others.  And then there's the temptation to just stop here, to do nothing more, to be apathetic and quit under the pressure.

If I rely on myself, those things will happen.  The truth is that I don't know what I'm doing, I may very well be hurt in some way, and I do care FAR TOO MUCH about what people think.  But God knows all, promises that He will send comfort when I need it, and truly loves others.  What does it mean to let the Holy Spirit lead? There's no straight answer to that, and that's the point.  I'm not in control.  God is, and I need to yield to Him, get out of His way, and follow Him in the wonders He wants to work.  And that's the best word.