When an unknown number calls you, do you answer or ignore? Nobody enjoys a call from a telemarketer or surveyor. My phone tends to buzz with unknown numbers. What began as an annoyance has turned into opportunity. Now, nine times out of ten, I answer.
My phone would ring. It would be an Asheville number so, naturally, being from the area, I answered. Someone would be on the other end asking for people I did not know. I would politely tell them they had the wrong number. Until one day, they repeated the number back to me. It was not the correct number. Two digits had been swapped. But it wasn’t so much the number as it was the location they were attempting to call.
“Is this the hospital?”
No! I’m not the hospital but I’m glad you called! I well up with excitement knowing they reached a man filled with the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. Now when I receive these phone calls, I tell them they did not reach the correct number but that I would love to pray with them for the person they were trying to reach. I don’t ask for a lot of information. Perhaps a first name and what ails them. I have never had a caller turn me down. When a loved one is burdened with sickness, it tends to burden their family, friends, and loved ones of the individual. Jesus’ burden is light. When I hang up, I want the person to know that their loved one in the hospital is loved by the Healer, Jesus Christ, and that his will for their lives is sozo (salvation that includes being saved, healed, and delivered).
I never hear the outcome. Faith sees it before it happens. I see people miraculously recovering. I see people healed. I see people rise from their bed, defying their death sentence by the power of the name of Jesus.
Look for opportunities to boldly bring hope into desperation, even when it doesn’t seem convenient or arrive at an opportune time. Give pause for someone and communicate Christ’s unconditional love.
-Jonathan Fawcett