How Can I Naturally Bring God Into a Conversation?

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

God is part of my everyday life and I share stories with people I meet. Those people aren’t hand-picked or prayed over before I start, they are people that come across my path as I go about my day. I’ll take you back to a moment where I realised this simple principle…

I’d like to tell you 2 stories, about 2 guys, that merge into one. I had moved to Perth where I was a full-time volunteer missionary. We had been challenged to pray and ask God what we could practically do in the area of hospitality. I felt I was to go and visit strangers in the local hospital. Fast forward a few days; I was walking with a friend to the hospital and I had this sudden realisation I didn’t have anything to give people. I was unprepared. At that moment I felt to pick up a stick from the ground and put it in my pocket.

On our approach to the hospital entrance, an irritated man had stopped us asking for a cigarette. “Sorry, I don’t smoke” was my reply. We continued to the hospital reception. It didn’t seem right to just walk around the hospital ward taking a punt at approaching people to say hello to, so I asked permission for me and my friend to visit people. “That’s a very kind and very unusual request” came the answer. Sadly we were denied, she suggested we register with the local chaplains; it was complicated. We left feeling a little sad.

Only moments outside of the main entrance, we were accosted once more by the irritated man. His level of irritation had increased and this time he was being nasty to my friend. I kindly and boldly stood up to his rudeness. His reply was “I wouldn’t be so angry if I had a light” (he had managed to get a cigarette while we had been indoors). “People don’t want to help someone who’s yelling at them” I replied. “Well if I even just had two sticks to rub together I’d be ok!”

Bam! That was it, my stick! I thrust my hand into my jeans pocket and brought the stick to his face. “Here’s a stick!” I said with even more boldness.

A huge smile cracked across his face, he started laughing and so did I.

My friend and I got comfortable and sat beside him to hear his story. Occasionally he allowed anger to arise, but as we worked through the different things that were causing him grief the situation calmed down. We ended up flagging down a taxi, telling him to behave and I promised I would visit him as soon as I got a car. His name was Kevin.

This is where the car story begins. Kevin lived 17kms away from me and not on a route where it was easy for me to get public transport. That night, as I walked away from the hospital, I asked God for a car so I could visit Kevin. I had no money to buy a car but I knew money was no obstacle for God. Now it was a matter of putting that faith into action.

The following day I was walking past the local secondhand car dealer. This time, for the first time, I put my feet inside the yard. I walked around the cars that took my interest. One stood out to me, I walked closer, then my excitement sunk as I saw rough paintwork down the side. As I was walking away, Michael the car dealer raised his voice across the yard, “that’s a good car that one”.

It was like his voice got to my ear and travelled to my heart.

“Would you like to take it for a test run?” I answered, “I don’t think I want it, but I guess a drive wouldn’t hurt”. I started sharing some thoughts as I drove the car with Michael sitting beside me. “I’m trusting God for a car, I don’t have the money to buy one but I’m looking for a car in faith that the money will come in”. I started sharing how I had met a guy down at the hospital and had promised to go and visit once I had wheels.

The test drive was finished, I thanked Michael and as I walked out of the car yard, I said to God “If that car is for me then please show me, provide the money, and keep it for me”. I had a strange excitement. I had this thought to fast and pray for 3 days.

During that time I took the car for a second drive. Michael was again beside me as I explained I was feeling a prompt from God to take another look and get one of my mechanic friends, also named Michael, to take a look. As the two Michael’s peered at the engine, it seemed significant two men with the same name were in agreement. The car was a winner in Michael’s eyes.

I explained to Michael my bank balance had been growing over the past days. I was just getting a further transfer from someone and I would have the money by Friday. I put a $50 deposit down and promised to be back in a few days.

Friday came, I made my way excitedly up to the car yard with a friend of mine. Michael greeted me, “I need to tell you something”, he looked solemn. “Over the past day, the air conditioning on the car has broken”. He apologised and told me I could back out of the sale if I wanted to. He showed me to the car to explain the situation and to show the fan still worked. I turned to my friend and then asked Michael for a few moments so I could pray and ask God what to do. “Buy the car ‘as-is’ for the same price” came the reply. I had peace, my friend had peace so I continued to go ahead and make the purchase.

“What is it you do down there?” Michael asked, referring to the missions organisation I was with. I shared a little, then invited him to the public meeting we had on that evening. He accepted.

When Michael arrived he looked nervous. He had a fresh crispy Bible with him and he grasped that nervously as we shimmied along into the row of seats. I guess looking back, I may have been more nervous than him in some ways. I was acutely aware that Michael had someone to the left of him and I was on his right. There were no seats free around us and we were jammed into a row surrounded by enthusiastic young people worshipping God. I wasn’t initially overly nervous when I turned to Michael during worship and asked if I could pray for him, but when the answer back was “no”, perhaps a small sweat broke out all over my body. “I’m not sure you understand,” I said, “I felt like God wanted me to pray these exact words for you”. I then shared the few words that I had been given. “Are you sure I couldn’t just say those words for you?” I think at that time (I’m going back 16 years here) I could have said this in a slightly less tactful state! Perhaps I could have said; “I don’t think you understand, I hear from God and I felt like God was saying I need to pray these words for you”.

Even writing that I cringe. It sounds like I’m trying to push an agenda. The thing was I had this massive urge, a ‘knowing’ that I had to insist. I’m not sure if it was a breaking of my own fear, that he needed to know that I was praying or that those words simply had to be spoken out loud — perhaps all three. All I know is that to my relief Michael said yes. As I opened my mouth it was full of so much more to pray. I immediately restrained myself. I prayed only the words I knew I had to say in obedience and nothing more. To do more would have broken confidence and that wouldn’t be ok. The boundary had already been pushed. Michael seemed relaxed, and I remember not feeling so tense any longer.

You go with the prompt, you embrace what you are sensing to do, you push back the fear, you remain kind and lean into what you believe to be obedient. Perhaps with trembling peace (perhaps an oxymoron, but it’s the best way to describe it), and God opens the floodgates.

Michael came back again and again and again. “She’s like an angel,” he said one night, as he and another guy were discussing how they had met me. They were both in agreement. I guess hearing that helps to give more peace that the gentle, moderately to high nerve-racking obedient boldness that I had outworked, changes lives. Phew!

Michael looked different the second week he came. His face was beaming. I enquired about the difference I saw and he replied, “I made a decision to follow Jesus”. I hadn’t even personally talked to him about what that might look like, but there you go! I do my small part and God does the rest. During my questions of how he came to that decision, one of his comments was “You didn’t stop talking about God”. So there you have it.

So what happened to Kevin? I went to see him as promised, many times. He gave his life to Jesus too. Here’s an excerpt out of a newsletter I wrote in June 2005.

Making God part of every day of your life is simply about not excluding Him from your conversation. Want to unpack that a little more, check out my blog; “How do I start a conversation about God?”