No Greater Love

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." (1 John 3:16)

One of my closest friends—a true friend who sticks closer than a brother—shared with me how he has been kind of down lately. He said since he just moved, again, that he hasn't been serving God, and it has been the cause of some depression.

My friend and I always seem to call each other at just the right time. Either he needs some prayer and encouragement, or I do. But these phone calls always come in our greatest times of need.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Throughout our conversation on this particular day, among other things, my friend asked for prayer that God would give him an opportunity to serve Him—to be utilized.

He needed a divine appointment.

Well, I wish I could say that I was the faithful friend who prayed right then, without waiting. But I had to go in and see my next client, and was planning to pray for my friend while I was walking across the huge parking lot and into the store. I didn't really pray much, but had intentions to do so, once I got back to the car.

When I was finished with my appointment, I came back out to the car and my friend had called me back because his number showed up, as a 'missed call' on my cell phone.

Yep, it was just a pocket dial.

Upon calling my friend back, he excitedly shared with me how, immediately following our phone conversation, that God had already answered his prayer, because he 'just happened' to meet a man who worked in the workout room facility in his apartment complex. My friend said hello and asked the man how he was doing.

He apparently wasn't doing too well. His wife, who had cancer a few years ago, had just learned that her cancer had returned.

The man and his wife were both devastated.

My friend, who loves people, asked the man, "Can I pray for you?"

The hurting man readily accepted.

Turns out the man goes to a Church of Scientology. And now my friend has this incredible opportunity to share Christ with someone who is lost and hurting, and who desperately needs the truth and love of Jesus.

I'm not sure who was more blessed by this chance meeting.

My friend—or the man he prayed for.

Suffice it to say, that my friend no longer felt "down." His depression was turned into joy—all because he loved this guy enough to step out of his comfort zone, and ask the man if he could pray for him.

It was a divine appointment.

How many times are we in a situation where we meet someone, and even say "hi" to that person, but we stay in our comfort zone and we don't do as my friend did, and extend the love of Christ?

Loving people as Jesus did is rarely, if ever, convenient.

This kind of inconvenient love is one of the ways that we can "lay down our lives for the brethren."

Not just for fellow Christian brothers—but for all those who need the same love that Christ has loved us with—such as the hurting man that my friend just happened to meet.

Just as my friend experienced, we don't have to go searching high and low for someone to minister to. God has already appointed people for us to share His love with—we just need to make ourselves available to share, as my friend did.

The Bible says God has "ordered out steps."

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way." (Psalm 37:23)

My friend running across this hurting man whose wife's cancer had just returned was no coincidence. This was a divine setup. My friend's steps had been ordered—foreordained by God—to be in the right place, at the right time, to minister to this man, and pray for him and his wife.

God wants to use you in the same way. He has ordered, or foreordained your steps.

And as my friend experienced, all you have to do is ask the Lord for a divine appointment, and He will show you that He already has an appointment scheduled for you.

All you have to do is show up for the appointment.

My friend is a good man.  He really has a heart to serve others, which is one of the things that I admire most about him. His steps have been ordered by the Lord. And he experienced the truth of the words that Jesus spoke:

"It is far better to give than to receive."

Who has God placed in your life today who needs to receive the truth and love of Jesus?

—Only one way to find out.