Life's not a lottery...

Chaplaincy - Thursday 7th July 2011

We wanted to give people words of hope and life in a context where hope and purpose often comes from counterfeit sources other than God (visiting mediums, reading horoscopes, touching wood, a big night out, over-working etc)....

We bought some rice-paper 'lottery tickets' from Mr Simms sweet shop and spent time waiting on God with bibles. On each bit of paper, we wrote a word of life, a promise or a scripture, as prompted.

We wrapped them up in the fake lottery tickets and took them into town with us placed in a few baskets, so people could take them 'at random'.

We went into several places, offering these words, all anchored in truth. It was astounding how relevant each one was for each person who took one - I am still hearing now, stories of how God spoke to people that morning.

One man who had already given up alcohol and smoking and had just been one week clear of his addiction to pot/ hash chose the verse about temptation and God enabling you to bear it.

'Know God know peace... no God no peace' was chosen by a woman who is on the verge of making a Christian commitment. She was really freaked out that God might want to speak to her that she was convinced we had put her lottery ticket to the top of the pile! 'You put that there so I'd chose it!' she said. I explained how we'd asked God to speak to people and she had chosen the one He wanted to speak to her through, and she was amazed. She's not yet made a commitment to God, but is already telling her work colleagues about him!

'I have come that they might have life and have it to the full' was picked by a man who was just being prayed for. He was just confessing stuff he had been involved in and getting free! This Sunday for the first time, he is going to go to church!

One man picked up a word about the Father's love. Unbeknown to us, he was already a Christian, but it was just the message he needed to hear.

One lady commented 'that has really given me food for thought!'

A couple were chatting and the lady took a word... when she opened it she looked surprised and exclaimed 'we were just talking about exactly that!' God had just confirmed to her something she was puzzling over.

We were drawn to a man who was sitting with his head in his hands and looked in rather a miserable state. When we approached him to see if we could help, it was clear he was either quite drunk and probably struggling with his mental health. He didn't speak English. It was really upsetting, but all we could do was pray peace for him. We saw him half an hour later with the word of life we had given him in his pocket, and pray that although he can't read and understand it, that his personal promise of hope would nevertheless work its way powerfully in his life.

We of little faith were amazed, as the people who chose the words were, at the relevance and accuracy of them! It was sad that a few people refused to accept a free word of encouragement, one man saying 'I'm beyond hope'. One woman was quite proud, and although a Christian, was very reluctant to take part. But those who were hungry did receive their spiritual food. I would definitely do this again...it was a good way to gently introduce the prophetic into an outreach.