Every week I take a Bible Study. Some weeks only a few people turn up and others we get a few more.
It is easy to think of that as a 'failure,' but when you add up the things that happen you realise sometimes God is more interested in individuals than the crowd.
One guy who does turn up regularly has a very simple ability to understand life and so we have to explain everything over and over. Some, I think, might say, why bother?
One week it was only me and him. That was the week he managed, finally, to pray. In all his life he had never managed to pray. He didn't and still doesn't have confidence to pray, but that week when it was just me and him and many might have said, "for Heavens sake give up, go home and put your feet up," he prayed.
He prayed the Sunday service would have more people and it did. He prayed my rent would get paid, and my car tax, and despite lots of financial difficulties, they did. All his prayers were not for himself, but for others. They weren't the polished prayers of the educated - they were the prayers of his child like nature. He has been amazed. God answered his prayers.
This guy still doesn't have the confidence to pray on his own. Last night there were 'too many people' there to feel he could pray. He says he will pray when it is him and me again. I will sit with him soon and get him to pray. God is going to answer his prayers. It is worth the time for those for whom the world has no time.
What gets me most is that there are others who could come to the study and they probably don't because there are people in it who are not 'like them,'
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