The Man with Yellow Pants

Recently, as I was preparing for a teaching on how to hear from the Lord, He interrupted my time. I was preparing a talk on how to hear words of knowledge and minister to people. Suddenly, I felt the Lord impress upon me that I should go to the Wal-Mart down the street at 11:00am and pray for someone who would be wearing yellow as they walked in. It was 9:40am.

I sensed this was from the Lord, but still felt like it was crazy to hear this. I started to pray for this time and wondered what would really happen. I finished my outline and it was about 10:55am when I headed out the door.

I will be real honest. While I had a little faith that there would be someone there with yellow, I was also expecting that I would have to stand around and wait for a while. I was already planning my back-up plan for what I would do if I did not see someone with yellow. I was preparing the response in my mind - maybe God didn't really speak to me, maybe He was just testing me to be obedient even if the person in yellow does not show up.  

So I drove the short distance with all of those doubts in my mind. I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot and I was shocked to see a man walking in with yellow pants. He walked into Wal-Mart quickly. It was exactly 11:00am like the Lord said.

Wow! I took a deep breath and couldn't believe it. I said to myself, “Really, Lord? Are you serious?”

I walked into Wal-Mart and looked for the young man.  At first I didn't see him but then he was suddenly walking towards me. I stopped him and explained what I felt the Lord had told me. I said to him, “I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like the Lord wants to say something to you.  He brought you to my attention because He cares for you.”  I asked him if he needed prayer for anything.

He told me that there is something big in his life that he does need prayer for.  He shared his situation with me and we talked through that. I asked him if he had ever given his life to the Lord. He responded by saying that he had but he wasn't fully surrendered right now and was living a double life. But he acknowledged that he has a godly mom and grandma.

I prayed for him and when we were finished, he looked at me and said, “You know Matt, I am not even here to buy anything. When I woke up, I just felt like I was supposed to come to Wal-Mart.”  

Clearly, the Lord had orchestrated this whole thing.  

I invited him to church and he said he would consider going with me sometime. It confirmed to me that the Lord does speak to us about people we might not otherwise notice. I learned that I always need to be in a position to hear His still, small voice and then to respond in obedience, even if I feel crazy and don't know what the outcome may be.