Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Where is your faith?

Tonight was my first night back at a church. I listened to a guest speaker, and I can't remember his name unfortunately. I won't ever forget his sermon. It's as though it was made for me. I was meant to be here tonight.

"Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the demon. He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for those he can devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Like a lion. Like a snake in the grass. He prowls looking for those who CAN BE devoured. We cannot let ourselves be vulnerable to him. He will do anything to break our conduits to God. He attacks our family. Our health. And us, through our friends. By allowing ourselves to blame God, for the demon's trials, we give the demon the upper hand.

Renounce your anger towards God.
Let faith flow into you like a river.
Be fearless in your faith.

The speaker, he told of a woman from his Ministry in Africa.
She lived in a muslim village, and she became Saved. She turned to God.
She was taken by 3 men to a near by pond, beaten. And held under water.
She said  "I became as a fish. My God came and took death from the water. I should have drowned."
The men left her, thinking her dead.
She said "I lay there for hours. Then  God came and gave me strength.
She walked back into the village, and told of the Gospel.
Undeniable, unshaken faith.
FEARLESS


Another story from the speaker.
This married couple had tried for years to have a baby. Miscarried countless times. Upon coming to Christ, they became pregnant. The woman started to lose the baby. The church gathered, and lay hands on her stomach, praying. She went full term.
In the hospital, she lay on a cot in a room full of 30 women on similar cots. The man was not allowed in. She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. None of the nurses helped the woman. None of the other women in the room helped the woman. The baby boy drowned in the fluids.
Anger engulfed the speaker. But not the man. The man took his wife home, lay her in bed, and sat in his living room amongst his weeping family and the speaker...
And he prayed. He said to God, "I know this wasn't you. I don't blame you. I do not hold it against the people. All I ask is for you to heal  my wife's body. And to get us through this."
Unshaken faith.
Unconditional faith.

Now, this couple has a healthy young daughter.
 Renouncing anger is among the hardest things for humans to do. But not impossible.
Never forget that we were called to that Higher Standard.
Rise above.


Thank you for your time...
And God bless.

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