Strange Love & Random Prayer By Nathalie Martin Pauline walked out of the meat shop, walked to her car and got in. She didn’t know the butcher, but she could tell that he was not someone who knew the Lord, if you know what I mean. As she sat in her car, she had a pressing desire to pray for him. So she did, out of what seemed to be genuine love for a stranger.
Has God ever placed someone you didn’t know on your heart? Given you a glimpse of his love for a complete stranger? Immense, heartfelt, divine love for them?
Well, that is just the kind of love that Jesus had when He walked on this earth. Remember the story of rich young man who asked Jesus what he needed to inherit eternal life. The bible tells us that in the middle of their conversation “Jesus, looking at him, loved (agapao) him ...” (Mark 10:21).
Instant love like that, love that spurs up in the middle of a discussion, a love not based on earthly things, can only come from one place: God who is love Himself.
Pauline did “agape-love” the butcher enough to pray for him, and you know what, twelve years later, Pauline saw him again. This time it was at a neighbouring church where this man was now following and serving the Lord. God had answered her prayer, and then for this special time, for the building up of her faith in Him, He made sure she knew about it.
So I say, let the love of God flow freely from us. May our hearts beat as His. May we love everyone around us, strangers too, at the mall or driving by, since these strangers, when we think about it, are in fact no strangers to Him.