A Christian couple we were staying with in England allowed us to hold a two-day seminar in their home. Their pastor kindly allowed us to use chairs from the church and attended one day of the event. He was a conservative man, more Charismatic than Pentecostal, and whether for that reason or maybe no reason at all had not invited me to minister in the church he led.
About 30 or so people attended. Some amazing things happened during the meetings, and the presence of the Spirit of God was strong in power. We were blessed to see the changes the Lord made in people — some dramatic!
The following Sunday I was not booked to preach anywhere, so we went with our friends to their church. It so happened that the pastor — the one who had attended our seminar — was called at short notice to preach elsewhere, so his assistant pastor preached.
Surprisingly, he spoke on the Holy Spirit for about 15 minutes, and then invited members of the church to exercise their spiritual gifts. “Let’s just see what the Lord wants,” he said. Eight people did so, and to my great joy seven of them had participated in our seminar! Some testified and others prophesied. The meeting was one we would long remember!
A man whom I had not met approached me and shook my hand vigorously. He said: “I am now running a children’s orphanage in [he named an overseas country] but I served as a captain in the Royal Marines. If you ever get into any trouble — anywhere in the world — let me know and I will come and help you!” His statement was impromptu and passionate!
He was an impressive man: tall, well-built man, and looked very much the part of an officer. Having been touched by the power of the Spirit of God in the meeting, he wanted more!
The thing was that during the week I had simply done my job teaching and demonstrating the gifts of the Spirit and so was then able to sit back and watch as those I had taught exercised them as prompted by the Lord! I’d had no inkling that they would and so was pretty chuffed and praised the Lord for working through them!
I know that I am a teacher because I get more satisfaction from seeing believers whom I’ve taught flowing in the gifts than doing so myself! I can recall other incidents, but this one makes a good point, which is that we just have to do what we can with what we’ve been given, to see the Lord Jesus glorified in our meetings.
Thirty people in a home on chairs borrowed from a nearby church ended up in a powerful move of the Spirit of God in the church that had loaned them. I could supply more examples of this scriptural principle, but I’m sure that you get my point. More importantly, you can recall your own experience of God’s blessing on your giving and receiving.