You Want Me to Do What?

(This picture has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with today's post....but yesterday at church there was a stat thrown out as to how often children laugh vs. adults...it's a scary stat. The average child laughs 300 times a day...an adult 7....So there's your laugh from me)

Sometimes I gotta say it just doesn’t make sense...

Lord what the heck was that all about? Wait you want me to do what? But Lord I’m really busy….can’t you see that?

I just wanted to share a testimony to build your faith and to challenge you to step out in boldness. We talk about being fearless, about being free....don't forget we gotta walk it out too!!!

So a few weeks back I was sitting waiting for church to start and I looked over and saw this man and immediately felt like I was supposed to pray for him. I wasn't sure what for, so I asked the Lord. I felt very strongly that I was to pray for healing because he was sick. I bantered back and forth...well bantered basically with the Lord explaining all the reasons I couldn't go and pray for him. I finally did though. I asked him what his name was and if it would be ok if I prayed for him. I told him I felt like the Lord asked me to pray for his health and so I asked him about his health...he then proceeded to tell me that he was terminally ill with psorosis of the liver and that he had just had a cancer treatment on his liver.

My faith was massive at that point...Lord I really did hear your voice??? Well of course you did silly...pray for the man....

I brought my friend Bill with me and Bill put his hands on his stomach and placed them on his chest and his back. His breathing was incredibly labored. I began to pray that the Lord would come and invade his body...not 10 seconds in John's tears are streaming down my hand. We began to pray, he wept, he cried out for the Lord, he accepted Jesus. The spirit invaded the heart of this man and he walked himself through repentance and accepting Jesus. At one point I said John have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior...he said...I think I just did. It was so funny.

He showed up that day a man who was physically hungry and he will tell you that he left full...he looked like a different man, he said he felt lighter and filled with the love Jesus like he had never felt before. He said he knew God had been chasing him his entire life. Mind you John was diagnosed terminally ill in 2007 and was given 2 months to live.

The next week he showed up to church dressed in a suit and tie. He didn't know why but he felt like he should. So as we began to chat I asked him if he wanted to get baptized...HE WAS SO EXCITED!!! So we took him down that day to the pier in his dress shirt and slacks and baptized him. He is homeless but shows up on campus most days to help with some construction stuff. He will talk about how much God has changed his life. Oh yeah that Sunday night he accepted the Lord he said he never slept. He picked up a Bible and read from Job to Matthew...he couldn't put it down. The man started in Job and continued to read. =)

So what I'm getting at is LISTEN TO THE LORD'S VOICE. John believes he is fully healed. I will agree with him but either way John is seated in heavenly places and his salvation was found that day. Had I not been obedient, John may have never met Jesus. Be obedient when God speaks. If you don't quite get what he's asking...ask him. He's a good leader and a really good teacher.

Ask the Lord to bring people this week...people to pray for, to encourage, to share the simplicity of the gospel. Had I been prideful and sat and not wanted to look silly if I asked to pray for sickness and the man wasn't even sick....man I didn't want to pray for him...he could have died never knowing the Lord. Think about that next time you choose to be bold or not to....you could be the last person they ever speak to...you could be the only person to ever tell them about Jesus.

Be bold!!!! Ask the Lord for people, words, verses, etc. He's dying to tell you.



3 Rounds of...
Run for 3 minutes (good challenging pace)
1 minute squats
1 minute situps
1 minute pushups

Keep a tally of your total amount of reps.