I see you

 

Kady was a devout Muslim named after one of Mohamad’s wives.  She relished the annual Hajj when two million faithful people would descend on her home city of Mecca to take the anti-clockwise walk around the Kaaba stone.  Then she started to have dreams in which Jesus appeared to her.  So, she prayed one night, ‘Jesus, if you’re who you say you are … meet me at the Kaaba stone during the hajj.’

During that hajj as she paraded with the great crowd around the Kaaba stone she found herself among a whole group of people who had a vision of Jesus at the same time.  They saw Jesus standing on top of the Kaaba stone with an astonishing, magnetic smile on his face.  A short while later she gave her life to Jesus.

When she told her friend Amina about this Amina felt chills all over.  ‘I’m an accountant, and I don’t have the emotional nature you do.  But what you just old me,’ Amina said to Kady, ‘it warmed my heart.  Do you think that Jesus would ever come to me in a dream?’

That night Jesus did come to Amina in a dream.  He said, ‘Amina, I love you, I am El Roi, the God who sees you.  That is my name.  That who I am.  I hear your cries.  I hear you, and I see you, Amina.’

The next day Amina told Kady about her dream.  That evening there went to a secret church together.  One of the young men there pulled out his phone and explained that the Holy Spirit had strongly put on his heart a reading that they should share together.  It was Genesis 16.  In that passage the angel of the Lord comes to Hagar, the angel of the Lord is Jesus, and Hagar gives God the name El Roi.

Amina leaned against Kady in the secret church meeting and began to cry.  ‘I’m overwhelmed to be here!  First, I had the dream about Jesus, and now I am here with all these people who love one another like family.  My heart has never been so full, Kady …  Because I am a Muslim, I am a daughter of Hagar.  Not only did Jesus come to her; he came to me.  We both wondered if God was seeing us.  And He does see us, Kady.  We’re women, yet He sees us … and He loves us.  In the Qur’an, Allah doesn’t even say Hagar’s name, but in the Bible, Hagar is honoured and loved and even privileged to give God one of His names.  Can you believe it?  My mind just can’t comprehend all of this.  I’m so relieved!  How wonderful that Jesus loves us!

Morning encouragement

 

This morning I woke up a little blue.  I told God about it and he sent me the following story.  As I was getting mum up I read from John White's book on Nehemiah:

'Years ago in a daily prayer meeting missionary prayer-letter files were passed around.  One morning my file contained a letter from a missionary in the Philippians.  In it she described her hospitalisation in Manila for spinal tuberculosis.  Her condition was serious and at that time called for a prolonged period in a sanitorium in a body cast.  Unexpectedly (for the woman was a stranger to me) I was not only profoundly shaken but found myself virtually insisting the God heal her right away.

My prayer was remarkable in that I did not believe such healing was possible, and so I was both astounded by the content of the prayer and the urgency of my own prayer.  I suppose you could say that the Holy Spirit was allowing me to "see" two realities--the need of the young missionary, and God's power to do something my theology and medical experience told me was impossible.  To the astonishment of her physician, this woman in the Philippians was miraculously healed that same day and soon after became my wife.'    

A voice in the shower

 In 'God's Love Compels Us', Mack Stiles tells the story of Nastaran:

Nastaran is a good friend and colleague in ministry.  She's an Iranian who grew up in Tehran.  At seventeen, she was a good Muslim girl: she had never seen a Bible, never sung a hymn, and never been inside a church.  But one day, as she was taking a shower, she heard a voice say, "I am going to wash away your sin."

She didn't know who that was, so she went to the mosque and asked her Iman about the voice.  Her Iman said, "that was Jesus, he is the only prophet who talks that way.  Nastaran said, "Thank you,", and went home.  Not long after this, a woman came to Nastaran with the message of the gospel.  Nastaran was ready to hear, and received it with joy.  So started an amazing journey of faith and ministry, along with her husband, Yuna.'   

  

'And the deaf will hear' (Isaiah 35:5)

One day, Chrissie Chapman, who was caring for children during the war in Burundi (2006-2015), received a phone call from a hospital, asking if she would take a five-day-old baby into her care.  

The baby had been found by a nurse down a toilet in the hospital.  She was just a mere 2 kg and was about three to four weeks premature.  This little baby still had her umbilical cord attached and was very cold.  She had been kept in an incubator for five days to warm her up.  

Chrissie called her Grace.

Baby Grace often seemed faraway and was slow to smile.  After a few months Chrissie took her to the doctor to try to discover what was wrong with this child.  It turned out that she was profoundly deaf in both ears.  This deafness seemed to have been the result of large dozes of a particular antibiotic that she had received (which had been administered to her because of the unsanitary conditions that she had been found in).  

One afternoon the pastor from Chrissie's church came to visit and pray with the children. Grace was eight months by now.  Pastor Edmund asked if he could pray with Grace.  He prayed earnestly and anointed her with a drop of oil in each ear.  

A few days passed and Chrissie could not understand why Grace was now so restless and agitated.  One afternoon when Grace was sleeping, another child came into the room and banged the door behind him.  Grace almost jumped in the air with shock.. Chrissie then realized why Grace was so restless: she could hear.  After months of solitude she was adjusting to noise.

Grace went on to study in University in the United States.  

One of the things about miracles is that God gives them, often in response to prayer, as he chooses.  Sometimes he knows that the best answer for his people is 'no' or 'not yet' (1 Cor. 12:8-9).  I am totally deaf in my right ear (I hear mono rather than stereo).  I have had this prayed for, but God has chosen not to answer that prayer. (In reality my hearing issue is not such a big deal).  

('The Night the Angels Came, pp.86 and 98-99). 

Miracles of provision

The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).  Those who want to get rich fall into many temptations (1 Timothy 6:9).  Some see 'godliness' as a means of financial gain (1 Timothy (6:5).  This is why the 'prosperity-gospel' (which encourages people to use God as a means of getting rich) is such a distortion of Christianity, and gives television evangelists such a terrible name.

But our generous God provides for his people (Philippians 4:19).  Indeed sometimes that provision comes miraculously.  One person who experienced that provision on many occasions was George Muller of Bristol, who ran orphanages in the nineteenth century.

I read an example of such miraculous provision in the book, 'The Night the Angels Came'.  Chrissie Chapman was serving in Burundi.  It was the 1990s.  It was a time of great turmoil.

One day she was walking past a row of large houses, when a lady came out to greet them.  Chrissie recognized this woman from the English-speaking church.  The woman told her that they were leaving and that the house would be coming available to rent.  The woman mentioned that they were paying $1,200 a month.  Chrissie was renting for $250 a month at the time.

When Chrissie went into the house she felt a sense of peace that God was going to make a way for her to have it.  She asked her friends to pray, but she mentioned nothing about costs.  She approached the landlord and explained that she could only afford $400 a month (and she didn't even know how she could afford $400).  Amazingly, the landlord agreed to it.  He drew up a one-year contract.  

When she rang her friends to tell them that she had got the house one friend told her that her boss agreed to help.  This friend worked with an aid agency that helped with vulnerable children.  Her boss realized that Chrissie was doing a work that complimented theirs, and so offered to cover Chrissie's rent for one year at $400 a month.  Chrissie was amazed that God had provided the exact amount.

We should not demand signs (1 Corinthians 1:22) nor put God to the test (Luke 4:12), but we are told to ask God for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).  We are also act believing that our God has the ability to provide (Matthew 21;22)., and be confident that he knows how to give good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11).  

  

  

Angels (but not in my hair)

When we were first looking for houses in Limerick we noticed something that we thought was telling.  In an older house there was a feature built into the kitchen wall that was designed for holding holy water.  That represented the passing religion of Ireland.  In another house we saw a picture referring to angels.  That represented a very modern religion in Ireland.  

One day in a local café I noticed an advertisement for a  meeting with a famous 'angel expert'.  My waiter friend told me that these events are packed out.  There is at least one angel shop in the city.  When I look through the book sections in charity shops I regularly come across the best-seller 'Angels in my Hair'.

In Ireland we have thrown off a religion we associated with control and fear, and bought into one that seems affirming but lacking in substance.  People are attracted to angels because we are created with a sense of the divine.  They are also attracted to a modern form of angel-adoration because these angels apparently demand nothing of us, but assure us that we are special.

Angels are very real, but in a very different manner than is portrayed in our culture.  They are awesome, and they bring a message.  They point not to themselves, but to the God of the universe.  Those who see them are filled with reverence.  They ministered to Jesus while he walked among us (Mark 1:13), and yes, amazingly, they minister to those who put their trust in Jesus (Hebrews 1:14).  

In his book on angles, Billy Graham tells a story from the life of .he Reverend John G. Paton, who was a pioneer missionary working in the New Hebrides Islands.  One night hostile natives surrounded the mission headquarters intent on burning his family out and killing them.  John and his wife prayed all during that terrifying night that God would deliver them.  When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left.  They thanked God for delivering them.

A year later the chief of the tribe became a Christian.  Rev. Patton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house that night and killing them.  The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men you had with you there?”
The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.”
The chief argued that they had seen men standing guard—hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands.  They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack.  Only then did Paton realise that God had sent his angels to protect them.  The chief agreed there was no other explanation.

I her book, 'The Night the Angels Came', Chrissie Chapman tells of an experience involving angels.  A friend laid his hands on her eyes and prayed that God would open her eyes to see what he was seeing.  'As I opened my eyes, I saw dozens of angels standing shoulder to shoulder on top of the six-foot high wall that surrounded the perimeter of her healing centre ... They looked so huge and strong.  I was filled with so much awe that every bit of fear drained out of my body and could no longer touch me.

From that moment, and for the next twelve years during which the war [in Burundi] continued, I never felt fear for my life.  That experience and that sense of awe have remained with me over twenty years now ...'  

Psalm 91:11 reads, ‘For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all his ways.

     

The lame will leap like a dear (Is. 35:6)

 

During his first year of college Craig Keener was helping at a Bible study in a nursing home in Ohio.  There an older woman, called Barbara, would lament every week, "I wish I could walk!  I wish I could walk!"

One week, the middle-aged Bible study leader had had enough of this.  He strode towards Barbara and said, 'I am sick of this'.  Then grabbing her hand he said, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to rise up and walk.'

He then walked her around the room, to the utter astonishment of everyone there.  From that day forward, Barbara came to the Bible studies each week, the first time holding on to a walker for security, but soon proudly abandoning it as she saw that now she really could walk completely by herself.  From then on she would declare, 'I love this Bible study!  I love this Bible study!' (from Miracles Today, pp. xi-xii). 

I hesitate to tell this story because I have a friend who has MS, and who has prayed for healing to no avail.  The truth is that God does not always say yes to our prayers of faith (see 1 Cor. 12:8).  When we pray for healing we do not presume upon God, but are willing to accept His will.

Nevertheless, God does still answer prayers today.  In fact we are commanded to pray for the sick (James 5:14-15)..  When God does heal, we realise that these healings are the first-fruits of a harvest that is to come.  For a day is coming a day when Jesus is going to return and those who trust in Him will receive bodies that imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42) and sickness will become just a memory (Revelation 21:4).

Miracles Today

I have an interest in miracles, but I try to ensure that any miracle I talk about is credible.  I am currently enjoying reading through Craig Keener's book, 'Miracles Today.'

If your heart is hard towards the gospel, then miracle accounts will not persuade you of God's truth (see Luke 16:31), however, miracles can have a part to play in strengthening the faith who of those who are open to God's truth (see John 14:11).

I share the following miracle from Keener's book.

Marlene Klepees was born with cerebral palsy.  She became a Christian when she was eleven at a Youth for Christ meeting.  She had been an orphan from the age of two, and so she loved thinking about God as her Father.

As her condition worsened, Marlene lost much of her eyesight and became effectively paralysed from the neck down.  She never stopped shaking and was bent to one side.  

When she was seventeen she was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.  

While in the hospital, Marlene had a vision of being healed, in a church building and this happening on a certain date: 29th March.  Her faith was strengthened when she received a gift of the very tee-shirt that she had seen herself wearing in the vision.  She found it very difficult to communicate, and none of the staff believed her when she told them that she was going to be healed.

On March 28th things did not look hopeful.  There was no one to take her to church the next day.  She had no contacts with any local church.  But, as she poured out her heart to God, she felt Him speak, assuring her that He would direct her to the right church.

The next morning, the 29th March, Marlene managed to mouth to the nurse that she wanted a Yellow Pages.  When the nurse opened it at the church page she felt led to the Open Bible Church.  The nurse dialled the number and put the receiver to Marlene's mouth.  The pastor, Scott Emerson, answered, and when Marlene managed to ask if they believed that God still healed, he said that they do.

Scott arranged to visit, but while Marlene had given him her room number, she had omitted to tell him which of the two main hospitals she was in, or even her name.  When he arrived four hours later , he was taken aback by her how severe her condition was.  Marlene's speech was so laboured that they had to rely on a nurse who had learned to understand her.  Marlene believed that Scott looked like the pastor in her vision, and he was able to confirm that the church building matched what she described.

That evening there were only about seven people at the church for the service.  They gathered around Marlene and prayed for her healing.  Scott then asked Marlene if she wanted to walk.  'Suddenly'; she explains, 'my feet hit the floor flat, and for the first time I could feel the floor under my shoes!  I took a few steps, with others holding on to me.  Then, they let go of me.'  

Her feet, that had pointed inward, began to straighten with each step.  With every lap that she took around the room she grew stronger and stronger.  Now her yes began to feel warm, and she heard her heavenly Father telling her to take her glasses off.  Her vision was completely restored.

To celebrate, the group went out for ice-cream.  As they were leaving, they ran into a worker from the Mayo Clinic.  He had seen Marlene's wheelchair in the back of Scot's car and feared that she mush have died.  Instead, he asked, stunned, 'Marlene--is that you?'

Scott brought Marlene back to the Mayo Clinic. When the nurse in charge saw her walking in she dropped the phone she was holding.

That healing took place in 1981, and Marlene remains well four decades later.  She bicycles and runs a flower shop called Heaven's Scents Flowers.  She has also witnessed how God has used her in His healing of others.

God faithfully delivers, even when heaven seems silent (Acts 12:1-24).

In Acts 12 we have a case of one apostle dying for his faith and another being miraculously delivered.

King Herod arrested some of the church, and has James, the brother of John, killed.  He saw that this pleased the Jews so he Peter seized.  But an angel leads Peter out of prison.

We have to realise that God is faithful when he delivers us and faithful when he lets us pass through the storm.  He was equally faithful to James and Peter.

We have to also realise that we may not understand for the moment what God's plan in a trial are.  When Stephen was martyred it led to the church spreading out from Jerusalem, but we have no explanation for James death.

Our challenge in any difficulty is to be faithful.  Ajith Fernando says that people responded to the troubles in Sri Lanka in one of five ways.  Firstly, there were those who delighted in deliverances, like when a bomb landed on someone's house and did not go off, or an angry mob turned back from attacking the home of a Christian.  Then there those who suffered great loss, but remained faithful to God.  Sadly, there were those who belonged to the church who experienced pain and became bitter, turning away from God.  There were those who compromised their faith, like lying to visa officers to get out of the country.  Finally, there were those who had no interest in God during the good times as they pursued wealth, but when all was stripped away they turned instead to God.   

This passage also reminds us of the ministry of angels.  I want to mention two stories of the roles of angels - one in a situation where God allowed his people die and the other in a situation of miraculous rescue.

In 1956, five missionaries to the Auca Indians were killed in the jungles of Ecuador by those they were trying to reach with the gospel.  It was later discovered that those missionaries had guns.  They could have shot their assailants but refused to do so.  They did shot in the air to frighten them, but the missionaries were determined to hurt no one.  Their unwillingness to compromise cost them their lives.  The Auca Indians were struck by this, and this contributed to their later conversion to Jesus.  It was also later reported by the Aucas that at the time of these killings they saw a multitude of angels in the sky and heard them singing.

John G. Paton was a Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific.  One night the local tribesmen surrounded his mission headquarters, intent on burning it and killing Patton and his wife.  The two of them prayed all through that terrifying night, asking God to deliver them.  When daylight came they were surprised to see their attackers leave.  A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ, and Paton had the opportunity to ask him what had kept them from burning the house and killing them.  The chief replied, 'who were all those men with you?'

Paton replied, 'there were no men there, only my wife and I.'  But the chief said that they had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands.  They seemed to circle the mission station, so that the tribesmen were afraid to attack.  Patton realised that God had sent his angels to protect them.

But Patton did not always experience such miraculous deliverance.  His first wife died as a result of problems during childbirth.  Seventeen days later the baby also died.  This happened early in his missionary career, and he had no one to comfort him.  He even had to dig the graves for his wife and child.  Yet he writes about that time, 'I was never altogether forsaken.  The ever merciful God sustained me to lay the precious dust of my loved ones in the same quiet grave.  But for Jesus, and the fellowship he vouchsafed me there, I must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave.'    

The book and the coincidence

William MacKay was brought up in the wilds of Scotland, and when he came to Edinburgh to train as a doctor, his mother gave him a Bible in which she had written his name and hers.  

It was not long before he rejected her faith.  In fact he came to despise Christianity.  However, he did take a liking to whiskey.  He soon ran out of money.  In order to get some cash, he pawned the Bible.

Despite his drink problem he became a successful surgeon.  He still hated the Christian faith.  

One day a man was brought into the hospital who had been crushed in an accident.  The proud surgeon loved such a challenge.  When he met the man he could not get over how peaceful this man was.  The patient told Mackey that he trusted Jesus, and he was not afraid to die.

He asked Mackey how serious things were.  The surgeon said that there was little he could do, he had at most three hours to live.

'Thank you, doctor.  In my pocket is a two-week pay packet: please could you make sure that my landlady gets that to pay for my lodgings?  And could you get her to send me the book?'  He explained that his landlady would know what book he meant.

Mackey hardly ever went back to the ward after he had finished with a patient, but he went back because he was intrigued about how peaceful the man had been.  The nurse informed Mackey that he had died a few minutes earlier.  Then Mackey asked if he had managed to get the book.  He asked what kind of book it was.  Was it a bank book perhaps?

The nurse told him that the book was under his pillow.  Mackey went to the pillow and saw a Bible that looked strangely familiar.  He opened it, and there on the flyleaf he was startled to read his own name and the name of his mother, together with the verse of Scripture she had given him all those years earlier.  This was the very Bible he had pawned for whiskey.  

He hid the Bible under his coat, ran to his office, fell on his knees and asked God into his life.  

Thing don't 'just happen'

In his autobiography ‘Out of the Black Shadows’, the Zimbabwean Bible teacher, Stephen Lungu, recounts the story of how he came from being a gang member to being a Christian.  He also tells the amazing account of how he met his wife.

One day when Stephen was praying he had what he describes as a sort of waking vision.  In this vision he saw a young woman seated before him, dressed in a loose blue outfit and holding a Bible.  The Bible happened to be upside down yet in the vision he could see what page it was opened at—Acts 26.  This was hugely significant for Stephen as the Lord had used Acts 26 previously in his life.  This vision came to him two more times over the following two years and he occasionally thought about it and wondered what it meant.        

When he was visiting another part of the country a friend mischievously suggested that he must meet a girl called Rachel. 

A few days later he was speaking at a youth meeting.  After he had preached he was talking to a man who was asking him questions about faith.  Stephen’s eye was caught by the person seated just behind the man—a girl in a loose blue outfit, holding a Bible, which happened to be upside-down and open at Acts 26.   The next day he decided to visit the man he had been talking with.  When he arrived the houseboy told him that he was out.  Seeing Stephen’s disappointment the houseboy invited him in and told him to wait a moment.  Then a young woman appeared.  Stephen could not believe his eyes.  It was the young woman from the vision again, the man’s sister, who happened to be the girl, Rachel, his friend had said he should meet.

Do you think that Stephen Lungu thinks those events were simply a strange set of coincidences?  That Rachel ‘just happened’ to be in that dress, that she ‘just happened’ to holding the Bible upside down at Acts 26, and that she ‘just happened’ to be the woman his friend suggested he meet and the sister of the man he was visiting?  God may be invisible but things don’t ‘just happen.’

What ever you are facing today, remember that the God who stands behind all things cares for you.

Amazing story from Brother Andrew

My first stop was Zagreb. I had been given the name of a Christian leader there, whom I shall call Jamil. The name had come from the Dutch Bible Society, which listed him as a man who occasionally ordered Bibles in quantity. However, they had not heard from him since Tito had become premier in 1945. I hardly dared hope that he would still be living at the same address, but with no other choice, I had written a carefully worded letter stating that towards the end of March a Dutchman might visit his country. And now I was driving into Zagreb, looking for this address. 

To underline the wonders of that first Christian contact in Yugoslavia, I shall have to tell what happened to my letter, even though of course I did not know the whole story until later. It had been delivered to the address all right, but Jamil had long since moved. The new tenant did not know his whereabouts and returned the letter to the post office. There it was held up for two weeks while a search was made for Jamil's new address. On the very day I entered Yugoslavia it was finally delivered. Jamil read it, puzzled. Who was this mysterious Dutchman? Was it safe to try contacting him? 

With nothing better than a vague feeling that he should do something, Jamil boarded a tram and went to his old apartment house. But then what? Jamil stood on the sidewalk wondering how to proceed. Had the Dutchman already arrived, and gone about asking for a certain Jamil? Did he dare go to the new tenant with the suspicious story that some day an unknown Dutchman might call asking for him? What on earth should he do? 

And it was at that moment that I pulled up to the curb and stopped my car. I stepped out not more than two feet away from Jamil, who of course recognised me at once from my licence plates. He seized my hands, and we put our stories together.

Jamil was overjoyed at having a foreign Christian in his country. He repeated the theme I had heard first in Poland, that my 'being there' meant everything. They felt so isolated, so alone.

Of course he would help me set up contacts with believers in his country. He knew just the man to translate for me. So a few days later, with a young engineering student named Nikola as my guide and interpreter, I set off in my blue Volkswagen to bring 'greetings' to the Yugoslavian Christians. 

Copyright © 1967, 2002 by Brother Andrew and John and Elizabeth Sherrill

The fog lifted

The following incident from the life of George Müller is related by Mr. Inglis, who heard the story from the captain of the ship with whom Müller prayed.

When I first came to America, thirty-one years ago. I crossed the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew, and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland be said to me:

"Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened which, has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Müller, of Bristol. I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by some one tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Müller:

"'Captain, he said, 'I have come to tell you that I must be In Quebec on Saturday afternoon.' This was Wednesday.

"'It is impossible,' I said.

"'Very well, if your ship can't take me, God will find some other means of locomotion to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty seven years.'

"’I would willingly help you. How can I? I am helpless.'

"'Let us go down to the chart-room and pray.'

"I looked at that man of God, and I thought to myself, what lunatic asylum could that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.

"'Mr. Müller,' I said, 'do you know how dense the fog is?'

"'No,' he replied, 'my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.'

"He got down on his knees and prayed one of the most simple prayers. I muttered to myself: 'That would suit a children's class where the children were not more than eight or nine years old.' The burden of his prayer was something like this: 'O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement you made for me in Quebec Saturday. I believe it is your will.'

"When he finished. I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. "First, you do not believe He will; and second. I believe He has. And there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.' I looked at him, and George Müller said..

"'Captain. I have known my Lord for forty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.' I got up, and the fog was gone!

"You tell that to some people of a scientific turn of mind, and they will say, 'That is not according to natural laws.' No, it is according to spiritual laws. The God with whom we have to do is omnipotent. Hold on to God's omnipotence. Ask believingly. On Saturday afternoon, I may add, George Müller was there on time."

Herald of gospel liberty, Volume 102, Issues 27-52

Answered prayer for bread and milk

George Mueller cared for orphans, in Bristol, in the 1800s.  His life was marked by amazing answers to prayer.  As can be seen in the following story.

One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, when Müller said, “Children, you know we must be in time for school.” Then lifting up his hands he prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.”

There was a knock at the door. The baker stood there, and said, “Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and have brought it.”

Mr. Müller thanked the baker, and no sooner had he left, when there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it. 

Angelic protection

A friend gave me a book about Robert Chapman (1803-1902) called 'The Apostle of Love.'  Spurgeon described Chapman as 'the saintliest man I ever knew'.  On one occasion a man became so angry at Chapman's preaching that he swore to himself that he would kill him.  He knew of Chapman's walking routine and waited along a quiet road with his gun.  However the man could not get a shot because there was always another man between him and Chapman.  But Chapman walked alone.

Amy's dream

Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) was an Irishwoman who served as a missionary in India for many years.  She rescued many children from difficult backgrounds and brought them up in an environment of love.  Sometimes she had dreams that she learned to pay special attention to.


In one of her dreams she saw Muttammal (a girl who had been associated with her home and was residing in China) being married to Arul Dasan (a helper at her refuge).  The wedding was taking place in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).  The dream was very vivid and filled with little details, like the fact that it took place in the Galle Face Church in Colombo and that neither Amy nor the Clifts (Muttammai's carers in China) were there.


Amy finally shared the dream with a senior helper Arulai.  He had been praying, for over a year, that the couple would marry.  So Amy asked Arul what he thought of the idea and he was pleased with the idea.  The couple began to write to each other and were soon engaged.


Plans were made.  It was thought that Arul would travel to China for the wedding.  But in 1917 the world was at war and the Clifts were leaving China.  It was seemed more sensible for them to take Muttammal as far as Ceylon.  The Clifts were in a rush to get home and were unable to wait in Ceylon for Arul to arrive for the wedding.


So the couple were married in the Galle Face Church without either the Clifts or Amy present, just as she had dreamed.

Amy's numbers

Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) is one of the most wonderful people that has ever been born on this island.  She is best known for her missionary work in India and her adoption of many destitute Indian children.  I recommend Janet and Geoff Benge's book on her life.

Before she worked in India Amy served as a missionary in Japan.  On one occasion she took a mission trip to the village of Hirose.  There were only nine known Christians living there.  Before setting out she spent a day praying about the trip and felt that God had promised her one convert as a result of the trip.

The Christians in Hirose had invited their friends to come hear Amy speak but only one Buddhist woman showed up.  By the end of the night this woman had become a Christian.  Amy had the convert that she believed God had promised.

Four weeks later Amy felt that she should make another trip to Hirose.  After another day of prayer Amy felt God promise her two converts as a result of the trip.  When she arrived she found that the woman who had become a Christian on her last trip had shared her faith with a friend who now wanted to come to faith.  Later that day Amy got to speak to an old woman who wanted to become a Christian.  Amy had her two converts.

After a further two weeks Amy returned.  This time she felt that God had promised her four converts.  But hardly anyone turned up at the first meeting that was organised for her and no one come to faith there.  Amy still believed that God would give her four converts.  To make matters worse the local Christians felt that Amy was making it too hard for people to become Christians with her insistence that those who come to faith must burn their idols.

At another meeting on that trip Amy spoke to a room of blank faces.  To everyone's surprise at the end of the meeting a woman who was seated in the corned of the room said, 'I want to believe.'  So after the meeting Amy spoke to the woman alone and then the woman's son came into the room and started to listen.  Both became Christians. 

As she set off to where she was staying the night she stopped into to the home of a local Christian to share the good news.  'I am so glad you came,' the local man said, 'I have a guest here who wants to know how to find the way to God.'  She had her third convert.  But God had promised four!

By now it was very dark.  Almost all the local Christians had joined them in that house.  Amy asked if anyone knew of if there was anyone interested in becoming a Christian.  One man spoke up, 'my wife is, she wants to become a "Jesus person", but she is out of town and will not be back for a week.'

Amy was puzzled.  God had promised four new Christians.  How could this man's wife be one of them if she wasn't even in town?' 

During that night Amy kept waking and praying that God would lead her to a fourth person who would become a Christian.  Then, at first light, a servant knocked on Amy's door with a urgent message.  The man's wife had returned home unexpectantly and she wanted to talk with Amy.  She told Amy of her desire to become a Christian.  As God had promised there were four converts as a result of her trip.  What more could she have asked for on her twenty-sixth birthday?

On the next trip to Hirose God promised eight converts ...

   

Prophetic insight

Over the summer I read 'The God I never knew' by Robert Morris.  While I believe that the so-called charismatic gifts are for today I did not agree with his understanding of baptism in the Spirit, found some of his exegesis to be very stretched, and felt that he only counteracted extreme forms of opposition to the classical Pentecostal position.  It you want to read a thorough reflection of charismatic gifts I recommend Don Carson's 'Showing the Spirit'.

Nevertheless it was an enjoyable read and his ongoing dependence on the person of the Holy Spirit is inspiring.  He related the following story.

'I was once in a cafeteria eating a meal with my wife, Debbie, when I observed a muscular fellow and a woman I later learned was his wife carrying their trays to a table near us.

The moment my eyes fell on this gentleman, I knew something about him.  I recognised this knowledge as coming from the Holy Spirit because I'd never seen this man before in my life ...'

He approached the man and after some small talk added, "The Holy Spirit showed me a picture of you when you were a young boy.  I saw you sitting in your grandmother's lap, and you were crying.  She told you that God could make you strong like Samson if you promised to serve Him.  I saw you make that commitment to serve God and honour him with your life.  Well, God just told me that He kept His end of the deal, but you didn't keep your promise."

The man's chin began to quiver and big tears started rolling down his face.  He looked at his wife and she began to cry as well.  As it turned out, he'd just been telling her the story.

He said, "Sir, I was raised by my grandmother.  My father left when I was born, and my mother left just a few years later.  One day when I was about eight, some boys were throwing rocks at me, just to be mean.  One hit me in the head and put a gash in it, and I went home crying.  That's when my grandmother sat me in her lap and told me the story of Samson.  I promised God that if He'd make me strong, I'd serve him all my life.  I was just telling my wife that I've been thinking about that promise lately, but I didn't really even know how to approach God."

Robert led them to The Lord and they were both baptised the next week.

Prophecy in preaching

Before John Piper preaches he often prays that God would give him prophetic insights that would drive the truth home for his listeners.  On one occasion this happened in a dramatic way.

John was preaching on small groups and reminding the congregation of the fact that you can set up a small group anywhere.  He encouraged people to think about trying investigative Bible studies with their non-Christian friends.  Then, off script, he gave an illustration.  'You might even work on the 34th floor of the IDS tower.  Maybe you should call your people together and have a small group meeting.'

After the service a woman approached him and asked, 'why did you say that?'
It turns out that she worked on the34th story of the IDS building and had been praying about starting a small group.

Healing in history

I thought that I would write down some healing miracles from previous times in church history.

The fourth century church leader Augustine disparaged healings in his early days.  However later, in The City of God, he spoke of how his views had changed.  He wrote, 'It is only two years ago that the keeping of records was begun here in Hippo, and already, at this writing, we have nearly seventy attested miracles.'

On one occasion the eighteenth century English evangelist John Wesley was on his way to an engagement when his horse became lame and could not travel.  Wesley got down on his knees beside his horse and prayed for its healing.  Then he got up and rode, without the horse limping, to where he was going.

The German reformer Martin Luther believed that healing gifts had been withdrawn, after the time of the early church, in order to give preeminence to the preached Word.  However, when his friend Philipp Melanchthon, became seriously ill in 1540 and was close to death, Luther visited him and prayed for his healing.  He wrote on the wall the words of Psalm 118:17, "I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD."  Instantly, Melanchthon's condition visibly improved.  Luther noted this as a miracle.