Halfway into my wife’s pregnancy, we had an emergency with the baby in the form of unexplained bleeding and headed straight to the emergency room.  Needless to say, it was stressful, challenging and I did my best to focus on the Lord and His promises.

Once checked into a room, the first nurse came along and tried to find a heartbeat.  No dice.  She tried for maybe 10 minutes.  I could see her regular expression become more concerned with each effort.  After failing to find a heartbeat, she asked us to wait and went off to find a more senior nurse.

This new nurse came in and tried again to find a heartbeat, to no avail.  At this point,  you can almost begin to detect a sense of grief and my wife is naturally distraught.  They decide to get a more powerful ultrasound machine to find the heartbeat and after another quarter hour, they were still unsuccessful.

I think to myself the scriptures, “no disaster shall come near your tent”  and “none shall miscarry and or be barren in the land” and quietly attempt to reassure my wife.  The nurses have already begun to tell her, “It’s not your fault” and “you did nothing wrong” as they prepared for what they thought now would be bad news.

So I decide to take some action.  Notice how it can be difficult to pray for your own flesh and blood sometimes?  When it’s that close to home, as I often say, it’s often time to get the Rolodex.

I left the room for a few minutes and I called  a pastor friend of mine.  Not one of our typical “may the Lord’s will be done, he works in mysterious ways” folks that populate our churches, but a man of true Biblical faith and power.

You have to know who to call.  And before you say you have no friends who walk in power, I have called perfect strangers before for prayer – pastors I knew who walked in faith, power and healing gifts.

The woman with the issue of blood didn’t know Jesus or the disciples personally, she just pressed in.  Blind Bartimaeus didn’t either, but he shouted until he was heard.

I once called a minister’s office in Texas at least 10 times before they put me through to him – all because I persisted.  Didn’t know the guy at all, but I persisted.  I’m glad he wasn’t a popular “TV pastor”, just a pastor who operated in gifts of healing.

So back to the ER.  I call my friend and spell it out for him.  He tells me to set my heart at rest and prays for our baby.  I agree with his prayer and am strengthened in my faith.

When two agree, God does stuff.  But let’s be precise here, it was all about God answering his prayer, not a prayer of agreement.  Why is it important to be precise?  So we can understand and minister more effectively – not mistaking one thing for another.  How do I know?  Well, ministry for two decades helps you discern.

So I go back to the room and meet the two nurses telling my wife “not to blame herself“.   I quietly tell her where I’ve been and urge her to trust God.   Just as I finish, in comes a doctor and with a lowly fetoscope and in his second attempt, finds a strong heartbeat.

I’d like to say that I gave a cocky grin and said “that’s just what God does“, but that would be a lie.  I wept like a baby, right there in front of the nurses and doctors – it was a build up of emotions.  As I said, we can be less effective when it’s our own flesh and blood.

In any case, our baby Zoe is a delight and a testimony to the Grace and Mercy of God.

There are those who might say: “well the nurses just missed the heartbeat“.  Good for you.  Next time you’re in a pickle, go ahead and depend on the arm of flesh.

In my experience, maternal department nurses are equally capable as doctors in finding a baby’s heartbeat.  They do it many times a day. It was interesting to see the shock and relief in their eyes when the doctor found the heartbeat so easily.

So we are grateful to the Lord – the story of the birth is an equal testimony – but I’ll keep that one private.  Just remember, keep your Rolodex of strong believers, particular those who walk in gifts of healing.

In addition, dedicate yourself to Christian healing by studying scripture, ministering and eagerly seeking the greater gifts, so that you are the one on the Rolodexes.  Blessings.

I love that quote, but I love the whole teaching. Bill Johnson is such a gift to the Body of Christ. He’ll lift your spirit if you are hungry for more of God. He’ll make you mad if you have a lot of contemporary church teaching hammered into you.

Listen and enjoy as I did!

Jesus wants you to come to Him as a child would, with absolute trust

It certainly has been a while since I posted here, but that’s what having a toddler will do.  A true blessing from God who I’m doing my best to raise in the nurture and admonition of the Word.

I can’t help comparing his trust of his daddy as an representation of the trust we must have in God.  When he wakes up at night as he does sometimes, wanting comfort, his expression when I walk into the room is priceless.

His big hug around my neck when I pick him up signifies such love and trust..  ”Daddy’s here, Daddy’s here…it’s OK now….”

We ought to trust God the same way, no, even more.  When we call to Him, He hears and comes to us when we cry out to Him, He reaches out to us by His Holy Spirit who lives in us.

He picks us up, comforts us and reassures us that we’ll be OK despite the nightmare we’re having.  We must learn to trust in Him.

Psalm 17:6 says;
I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

He answers when we call. This is a learned thing though, spiritually. We call and then too often, either despair or instantly begin to look for human solutions to our issues.

I had such an event months ago. On a trip to California, I was walking to the parking lot of the hotel I was staying in to get something from the car. There was a badly designed step down that I failed to see and jerked back my head as I stepped down unexpectedly.

I wouldn’t advise this for anyone.

Of course, I suffered whiplash as my neck was jerked back and for the next few weeks I had severe pain around my neck and shoulders. I have a theory about why our minds almost always go to the worst a situation could be when we feel a pain or ache, but that’s for another post.

Low-grade torment is what I call it. Not enough for daily painkillers, but seemingly never ending. I had one doctor’s appointment, but no joy. Painkillers were suggested, but I passed on that.

Lest you think I didn’t pray, I had prayed immediately this happened, but no results were forthcoming, hence the doctor’s visit. After the visit to the doctor, I decided I wasn’t going to live with pain any more. Especially since Jesus paid the price for it.

Here’s the thing, many of us just haven’t decided we’re going to take a determined God-stand against illness. My old friend from Uganda told me about a paraplegic high school friend of his who decided one day to ask his buddies to take him deep into the bush and leave him there, under no circumstances to return.

“If God heals me, I’ll walk out and if He doesn’t, I’ll die,” was his statement.

With fearful hearts, they did what he said, left him and waited. A couple nerve-wracking days later, he walked out of the bush. Praise God.

Alright, my decision was not that dramatic, but I do recall taking a stand, praying and reminding God of his promises. And…the big one … fully expecting healing.

You know, there wasn’t one ‘aha!’ moment or angels or visions, but a few days later, I noticed the pain was gone, never to return. What a big God we serve.

Oh yeah, there’s always those who will say “It was going to resolve anyway, it was just coincidence!”

To them them I quote Sir William Temple (1628 – 1699), English statesman and essayist, who said:

“When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.“

So, take a stand. What have you got to lose, except troubles, sickness, and anguish?  God wants to answer our prayers more than we want Him to.  Especially if they concern things He has promised.  Like my son, I can hold my hands wide open and say “Thank you, Daddy“, fully confident He is for me, He hears me and will answer my prayers.

Many are difficult to convince, regardless of proof

Last Sunday a lovely woman stood on the blue carpeting of our church stage. Nervous, her hands slightly shaky as she clutched her notes against her chest, she waited for the senior pastor to finish introducing her to the congregation. She didn’t need much of an introduction as most of us have known Sharon for years.

Her nervousness obvious, Sharon began to share how doctors had found a lump in her thyroid months earlier. Suspicious of cancer, the doctors ordered a battery of tests, and Sharon had received the news that the lump was suspicious enough to warrant a biopsy. Sharon, knowing that Jesus is the greatest of physicians, asked for and received prayer ministry from our healings teams.

Now, standing in front of the entire congregation, her soft voice gained strength as she read from a doctor’s report. Right before the biopsy was to take place, they had re-checked the location of the lump, only to find that it was completely missing! The Lord had healed her. The audience rose and clapped, thankful for His goodness and mercy.

Not the first testimony of healing shared at our church, the audience readily accepted and believed that Sharon had been touched by the Lord. Not so her doctor. He said that the original test must have been “wrong,” that she never had a lump in the first place. “These things happen,” he said. Sharon tried to explain that it was not a mistake but a testimony. The doctor didn’t want to hear it.

For those of us who love Jesus and know He is the healer, the doctor’s response feels annoying, blind, an intentional disregard for the miraculous. Unfortunately, I’ve found that response to be all too common among medical professionals, non-believers, and even some Christians.

Truth is, many would rather find a ‘logical’ explanation for the miraculous than question their preconceptions. Engaging with a Truth greater than their sense of reality is too uncomfortable. Jesus faced the same level of skepticism, and He walked the earth doing miracles that the vast majority of us have only dreamed of.  Paul writes about this phenomenon in 1^st Corinthians 1:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

–1^st Corinthians 1:18-19 (NIV)

The cross, and what Jesus paid for on it, appear as foolishness to those perishing. The doctor looking at the place where Sharon’s lump used to exist viewed her faith as foolishness. He believed she was simply a statistical aberration, the one-in-a-thousand testing error.

Frustratingly, all the proof in the world will be insufficient for those who choose skepticism over faith. Even armed with doctors reports demonstrating a ‘before and after,’ the doctor (and certainly many others) will choose to believe that nothing out of the ordinary took place.

I love apologetics, and love shocking folks with stories of God’s love and power. However, changing hearts and expanding faith happen when the Holy Spirit stirs the heart, not when we provide a sufficient burden of proof. No amount of proof will satisfy those who choose not to believe, and by engaging in an argument, we simply help them build their wall of defense higher. The best response to skepticism isn’t proof but prayer. Pray that the person would have the capacity to believe, that their heart would be softened, and that the Holy Spirit would speak to the deep places inside of them so that they might learn the foolishness of skepticism and the saving power of the cross.

Nathan is a pastor at Greater Chicago Church in Oak Park, IL. He is deeply passionate about seeing Jesus’ love made manifest, especially through physical and emotional healing. Pastor Nathan also blogs at  www.nmbeauchamp.com.

Partial healings frequently occur

Continued from Part 1 –>

We earlier looked at the account of Jesus’ healing in Mark 8;

22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

What we learn here is that partial healings can occur. Why? Perhaps because we are complex and fragile beings who cannot handle the whole healing at once. Perhaps we must deal with some heart issues like forgiveness that get in the way of receiving.

The “why” is not important, What is important is that it shows us partial healing can and does occur. When it does, what should our approach be? Keep getting after it.

Again I say, be encouraged and continue to get after it. Some have been healed after many sessions of prayer. In Hebrews 6:12, we read;

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

In today’s church, we often have faith but lack patience. If we don’t receive right away, we say God has stopped healing for all time.  We inherit the promises through faith and patience (some translations say ‘perseverance’). We should have faith, but also persevere.

In Luke 11 and Luke 18, Jesus conveyed to us the importance of steadfastness, urging us to “pray and never give up“. We can be too quick to give up, too quick to surrender. He wouldn’t tell us not to give up if everything was going to be easy.

I have prayed up to a year for healing. Nothing happening was followed by nothing happening. But healing finally came. Why so long? Brothers, I honestly don’t know. I have no clue other than we are opposed by the enemy of our souls.

I just knew to be dogged and to persevere. Do the same and the same God who, under no duress, filled His Book, the Bible, with promises of healing, will be there to heal.

Get after it.

Partial healings frequently occur

Partial healing can be a stumbling block for many in the healing ministry. It is a complex subject for many reasons. Some ask, “If God is healing and He has all power, why doesn’t He do it completely?”

Others get discouraged when they see those they pray for receive only partial relief, and in some cases, lose even that which they received.

Now, as usual there are many facets to this. Let’s be clear though, when I talk about partial healing, I mean that which is verifiable in the cold light of day.

There are preachers who ride in for the weekend, pray for the masses and ask for a show of hands for those who have received their healing. They then ask for a show of hands for those who have received partial healing.

Much of the second category and some of the first are just exercises in emotion, exercises in adrenalin. Jesus did not go about with microphone and speakers whipping his flock into a frenzy – His healings were verifiable when the dust has settled and the preacher has left town.

Pity the hopefuls who come expecting healing and don’t want to disappoint the preacher who asks them if they have “partial relief” from their symptoms. Especially when a microphone is poked in their faces.

Ninety nine percent of the time, the answer is; “Yes, the pain is less” or “Yes, I feel a little better”. While in some cases this is true, in most cases, they just want to save the pastor embarassment or avoid “negative confession”.

How do I know? Over two decades spent in healing ministry, many being a follow-up minister after the “big guns” left town.

Here’s the classic account in Mark 8;

22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

Jesus ministered to the blind man in verse 22 and asked him whether he saw anything. He said he saw people, but they looked like trees. In other words, there was an improvement, but he still did not have normal eyesight.

In our day, the one ministered too might have declared “I’m healed, in Jesus Name!!”. Well, obviously, he would not be. Ministry would then be over and you might see moving trees for the rest of your life. We can become so overspiritual, we stop making sense.

After praying for a person, I ask them to tell me exactly what they experienced. If nothing, I tell them to recheck after awhile and if healing still doesn’t show up in a reasonable amount of time, we can have another ministry session.

I tell them to tell me exactly how and what they feel and experience, not what they think I want to hear.

This is one of the reasons I am such a fan of smaller healing settings like Healing Rooms, where you can come back and receive continuing ministry.

continued–>

I watched this yesterday. While I haven’t researched it completely, it appears very compelling. Very compelling indeed.

While this account is consistent with many I have heard and seen of visiting heaven and/or hell after death (and subsequent resuscitation), I’m not in 100% agreement with everything on the Mickey’s website.

However, insofar as he believes in God, the Trinity, man’s sin, the need for repentance, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, and salvation through his blood shed for us – God bless him and thank God for His mercy.

God’s mercy is always astounding. There are accounts of the unsaved who die and then have an encounter with Jesus, repent, and are able to come back saved. Why does that happen? God only knows. Most unsaved folks don’t receive that opportunity and shouldn’t bet on it.

Well, I hope you enjoy the account as much as I did.

Unprovoked kindness brought about a child for an older couple

Continued from part 2 –>

Picking up on the story of the Shunammite woman and the principle of unprovoked kindness, we last saw from 2 Kings 4, vv. 18-20 that the boy had died. His mother didn’t tell the father, just placed him in the room she kept for the prophet and headed to see him.

Starting from verse 22:

22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

The Shunammite had an urgency about her as she set out to see the prophet. Her mindset was that once she could get the matter into God’s hands, it would be sorted out.

The prophet actually saw her coming from a distance and sent his servant, Gehazi to meet her and ask her what the matter was. He didn’t know what her problem was, but with her coming out to meet him, he knew there was a problem.

I once asked a person I was about to minister healing to what the matter was. “I want God to tell you” was her response.

“Why should He when you’re right here?” was my answer.

Sometimes the Lord will reveal things a minister doesn’t know, many times He won’t. If you can open your mouth to tell the prophet, you may have to. Don’t be afraid to not have everything be in the supernatural realm. God created your mouth also.

Let’s go on..

25 … When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.

Remember how the Shunammite had learned not to waste her time updating people with no ability to help her? Rather than wasting time and effort telling her story to soon-to-be-proven-corrupt Gehazi, she told him, “no problem”.

She didn’t set out to tell her story to Gehazi. Gehazi didn’t prophesy for her to have a son. She set out to see the Elisha – the prophet who promised her the son who had just died.

I remember once I traveled from the United States to England to be ministered to by one man – Colin Dye of Kensington Temple in Notting Hill, London. After his Sunday service, I cornered him and he was gracious enough to take time for me.  He prayed and I was healed and returned home.

One of his ministers earlier asked me if he could pray for me. I declined. I didn’t fly several thousand miles to see that minister. I traveled that far to be prayed for by Pastor Dye. If you have someone in mind for prayer, get it done. Find that person.

Another time, I wanted to get another minister to pray for me all the way in Texas.  He was really busy and I must have called 10 or more times until they put me through to him. I explained my need for prayer and he prayed.

Interesting… I wasn’t healed then, but I appreciated his prayer as it helped my faith. I was later healed from the”entirely hopeless” (quoting a top orthopedic surgeon) situation months later through God’s mercy.

So this is how the Shunammite woman’s account concluded…

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

So many lessens from this passage. Where do we begin? There’ll have to be a Part 4, I guess…

Concluded in part 4 –>

Unprovoked kindness brought about a child for an older couple

Continued from part 1 –>

The last post covered the Shunammite woman whose unprovoked kindness led to the prophet Elisha declaring she would have a son, even at an advanced age.

The woman had no ulterior motives or even an expectation of reciprocity from Elisha, but her kindness led to her miracle child.

One more note here… remember how we have blamed people for their lack of faith that prevents them from receiving a miracle or healing? Take a look at the Shunammite woman. After Elisha promised her she would have a child, she said;

2 Kings 4:15 “No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

It is clear she had no faith to bring about the miracle. In fact, she asked Elisha to stop teasing her, or as we woould say in our modern church, “giving her false expectations”.

Her baby came about from God through Elisha’s faith. He carried it. Not her.

What’s my point? Have the mindset ready to “carry it” for the ones you pray for. Don’t be so quick to blame the sick person if healing is not manifest. Rather, blame yourself first.

It was the same with the paralyzed man Jesus healed at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Jesus told him to take his bed and walk and he did.

We follow the account…

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Do you notice he had no idea who healed him? Therefore he had no faith for his healing. Jesus carried it. I’ll say it again, Jesus healed him through His own faith.

Have this mindset and be ready to do the same. Frequently, there just isn’t time to get someone saved and teach them the basics of healing. Teach people, but be ready to carry it.

Back to the Shunammite…

Later on however, the child became sick… and then he died. Here’s the account;

18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”

His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

She didn’t even tell her husband what was going on. There’s a lesson for us all here. Don’t share information with people who cannot add to your situation and might even make it worse.

In the past, when I’ve had to trust for healing, I would share with only one or two people, people of faith, not the general population.

Personally, I would not share much with most of our “prayer chains“, I think that would be a worthless exercise. Why? How many realy believe God will take action? Maybe 1 out of 100. The other 99 would likely be of no help at all. It would just be gossip for them or they might begin to pray useless, unscriptural prayers.

“Lord, give him the patience to bear what he cannot change…” I once heard. Useless. I’d rather stand alone than with blessed folk who have no faith for healing. I’m also more militant in ministry – if I perceive anyone around in a healing session who subscribes to some of silly things we teach in church these days e.g., God gave you the sickness to teach you something… it is simple: either they go away or I will.

Continued in the next post…

Unprovoked kindness brought about a child for an older couple

The story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4 is powerful as it relates to healing. However, it began with the prophet Elisha taking a trip to Shunem.

2 Kings 4: 8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

So we see this woman, not really looking for healing or anything else for that matter, just having a desire to bless the prophet. She made up a room for Elisha and he began to stay there whenever he was in town.

One day he asked her what he could do for her. He had in mind to request for a favor from the king or the commander of the army, as he had the standing to make a request – for land or houses etc.

11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”

She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

She answered that she was fine, thank you very much, making it clear she wasn’t giving him a room for any recompense. Her reward would be from God.

Nevertheless, the prophet asked a few questions about her from his servant, Gehazi.

14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

Something then enters the heart and mind of the prophet. He pivots from favors from the king and army commander to something totally different.

15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

There are many lessons here. One is for us to exhibit unprovoked kindness to God’s people. The Shunammite’s unprovoked kindness to Elisha led to a child at an older age.

By ‘unprovoked kindness’, I’m not referring to church services where you are hounded into giving based on either ‘sowing and reaping principles’ or not ‘robbing God through tithes and offerings’.

I’m also not referring to the television evangelist whose video repeats on TV for 30 days saying the Lord told him 1000 people would respond ‘tonight’ with a certain amount of dollars. I’m never sure which night he meant. Tonight or the following 30 nights??

Sorry for my pet peeve getting in the way. Those are what I call provoked acts of giving.

What I mean instead is when you have a clear, unmistakable Word from God to bless one or more of His people. It is seldom in the church or church service.

I believe unprovoked kindness leads to special blessings, and can be a gateway to healing, deliverance and even salvation. Remember Cornelius in Acts 10?

Acts 10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

His prayers and gifts to the poor came up as a memorial offering before God. Wow! Do you know that they led to his family’s salvation and the acceptance of the Gentiles into what was until then, a Jewish-only church?

Unprovoked giving. Regular, unprovoked and secret prayer. Take something from this. You always have the poor with you. Bless the unfortunate, help the weak, be generous to God’s people.

Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and be a blessing to God’s people. Pray always and remember widows and orphans especially. God’s heart is for them. Your unprovoked kindness always has a reward from the Lord.

Continued in part 2 –>