Your 3 People

Identify and commit to praying for three people in your life who need Jesus.

I recognize that I am not the person most people desire to sit next to on an airplane. If I am headed to a conference or another event, I relish the opportunity to sit in the middle seat because it means I have two opportunities for a conversation partner. Don't get me wrong, I won't force a conversation on someone who wants to sleep, read, or watch a movie, it's just that I've found most people, when asked questions, enjoy sharing their opinions. For this reason, I have a myriad of questions I like to ask my airplane seat mates:

Are you headed home or headed out? What do you do for a living? How did you end up in that field? Do you enjoy it? How do you manage disappointment and frustration?

At times the conversation begins with a book they're holding or they may drive the conversation into categories I never would have foreseen. Either way, as someone who likes to get up and move, throughout the flight I feel like the Apostle Paul under house arrest, chained to a Roman soldier to keep him from fleeing. I actually do not enjoy flying, but it seems to be that Paul did not enjoy house arrest and yet used his house arrest as an opportunity for the gospel to go forward (Phil. 1:12-14), he even used a court trial to proclaim the good news of Jesus (Acts 26). 2-3 hours on a plane watching a crummy movie I likely won't finish does not seem to compare to the opportunities on either side of me.

But if you're like me, most days we are not on airplanes. We are passing our neighbors in the hallway or on the street, placing a coffee order with the barista, sitting next to a co-worker in a meeting, or standing with another parent on the side line of a game or at the playground. We interact with all sorts of people on a regular basis, some of whom we don't even know their names. The 3 in 1-2-3 is 3 People. Who are 3 people who don't know Jesus who you can commit to praying for and building a deeper relationship with. It could be your neighbor, co-worker, or chiropractor. Write down their names. Pray for them. Ask the Lord how he might use you to make Jesus known to them. Once you have those 3 people, you can begin to direct your 2 percent in their direction, and measure your 1 degree based on your heart for them and others. You might have ten people who are on your prayer list that you are seeking to share the gospel with, that's great! But be sure to have at least 3, and if you don't know who those three would be, make that the focus of your prayer.

Pray

Lord, direct my mind toward 3 people in my day-to-day life who do not know you. Help me to see them as you see them, and long for their salvation as you do. Guide me in knowing what steps you would desire for me to take in sharing the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection with them.