By Chantelle Gillespie
I remember the day when I was sitting on my bed thinking about all of my issues; everything that I needed and hoped for seemed to be out of my reach. Then out of nowhere, I heard a small voice telling me to write it all down. I followed these instructions; but, I must admit, I was sceptical because most of the things on the list seemed to fall into the category of Things that would never happen to someone like me.
While I was reflecting on what I had written, I received a text message inviting me to an all-night prayer meeting starting at 9pm that same evening. I wrestled with the idea of going at first, but I was intrigued; for some reason I felt excited. I had heard about all of the amazing things that happen at these gatherings; however, at that point in time, hearing wasn’t enough, I needed to see it with my own eyes. I wanted to know if what I heard was true for myself.
A few hours later I arrived at the church feeling extremely anxious because I didn’t know what to expect. As I walked into the building, I felt the freedom in the atmosphere; it was not the typical Sunday morning service; people were dancing, prophesying, healing, delivering, worshipping and singing. Even in the midst of this amazing environment, I still felt confused. I had questions that needed answering. I remember saying “Lord, why am I even here? Please speak to me and show me who you are.”
As the night drew on, the people continued to flow with the Spirit of God. They seemed to operate naturally in their spiritual gifts, but I didn’t know how to flow; I just felt like a spectator from the outside looking in. I was too busy worrying about how I would feel if I had to leave this awesome setting without experiencing God and even worse, leaving with my unanswered questions still going around in my mind.
It was now just after midnight and a call for the final closing prayer was made. I felt deflated; right at that moment, I accepted what I thought was my fate. As far as I was concerned, God had blatantly rejected me. I was getting ready to walk away when one of the women in the room called out my name; she took me by the hand and the Lord revealed to her what I had written down earlier. She spent time sharing what God was saying concerning my issues. The Lord used her gifts mightily to answer my questions. After hearing this, I was in awe of God; I couldn’t contain my excitement and joy. My questions that no one else could answer were answered by God. From that night on, I made the choice to pursue God with a passion.
Likewise, the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon was not an impulsive or ill-considered one. The Queen was also determined to get answers; she had a motive and needed to see if the hearsay was true. The Queen travelled over 1200 miles and arrived boldly in all of her splendour, loaded with questions for the King. But this did not unnerve Solomon, he just confidently flowed in his spiritual gift of wisdom that the Lord had blessed him with.
Solomon’s house was set up in an extraordinary way; there was divine order. Each person was in their rightful place, whether they were an official or a servant. They all had a role to play in demonstrating the blessings of God. The typical regal surroundings, rituals and protocol were not enough to impress the Queen of Sheba, because this was nothing new to her; remember, she was already an established Queen. However, on this occasion, what she heard and saw left her breathless. This experience exceeded her expectations by far. What she witnessed was not business as usual, the supernatural order had created a channel for her to believe the truth.
I often wonder what would have happened if King Solomon had approached her with uncertainty by doubting his gift of wisdom. What if there was no supernatural order? Would she still have been amazed by what she saw and heard? I doubt very much that God could be revealed to her under these circumstances. Similarly, imagine if I had left the prayer meeting without my questions being answered because the people did not follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and failed to operate with confidence in their gifts. If we don’t understand what our purpose is, we can’t value how important our positioning is. Being out of position will cause us to run the risk of negatively impacting others who are seeking for God. People are coming to the Body of Christ looking for answers and the truth. We, as ambassadors of Jesus, need to be standing confidently at our posts, prepared for their arrival. Are we currently working as a fully functioning body as Solomon’s house were? Do we all flow confidently in our gifts or are we at the stage where we feel uncertain and are fumbling around because of our lack of faith and boldness?
Just like the Queen of Sheba, the people of the world will approach us with a great deal of questions; they may even be perceived as brash, but this is only because the world has fed them with so many lies. The days when we could pacify them with answers such as, “I don’t know why the church does this, it’s the way we have always done it here.” will not be tolerated anymore. The Queen was already familiar with the imperial rules and regulations and so are the people of the world aware of religious traditions and protocol. They are looking to satisfy their hunger on the undeniable, life changing truth rather than being bombarded with doctrine and customs. I really believe that it wasn’t just Solomon’s gift of wisdom that opened the door to the Queen’s heart to God, but it was the whole of his household coming together and functioning in unison as they should. In a church setting, the onus shouldn’t be just on the Pastor, but on all of the family of God.
At times, we can be reluctant to speak to others who, in our eyes, seem to be content with their lives. We lose sight of the spiritual needs because their worldly needs look as if they have been met in abundance.Their homes, finances, families and impressive jobs create an invisible barrier that prevents us from reaching out to them. I used to think that Christians who preached in radical places such as outside nightclubs were doing a pointless job. After all, why would anyone waste their time preaching to people who people who are having the time of their lives? It wasn’t until recently that the Lord showed me that the people attending these places still need to hear the truth and they must know that there is hope. Just because the Queen of Sheba seemed to have it all, it by no means meant that she was satisfied with her life.
Recognise that the Queen arrived with a vast amount of worldly good and this gave us the impression that she wanted for nothing, yet what she heard and witnessed compelled her to realise that she was missing something essential in her life.
She was a pagan, but subsequent to meeting King Solomon, there was a showdown between paganism and the revelation of the truth in her mind. Paganism was defeated by a fatal blow by the hand of the undeniable truth as the words, “Praise the Lord your God” streamed from the Queen’s heart to out of her mouth.
There is hope for the world, when the Body of Christ is standing valiantly in position as the mighty army that we are called to be. If we want a great revival to start, we have to ask God to start it in ourselves first. Are you ready for a visit from the Queen?
(The story of the Queen of Sheba’s visit can be found in 1st Kings 10.)