PRAYER & PROBLEM PEOPLE

  

                             "For the love of God constrains us,"

   I could give one example after another of how God has helped me deal with problem people in my life, but one in particular stands out.

   I had just started my new job and naturally I wanted to do my best to get along with everybody there. Nothing is worse at work than a tense atmosphere and I set out to be as friendly and considerate as possible to all my co-workers.

  But there always seems to be at least one trouble maker at a work site and it wasn't long before I discovered who that person was at my new job.

   Sharon (not her real name) was argumentative and a known instigator and made no secret of her intentions to cause problems for anyone who crossed her.

   Despite my best efforts to get along with her, Sharon soon had her sights set on making my life miserable and over the next several days took every opportunity to ruffle my feathers and make me look bad to the other employees.

   One day I had enough and was just about to tell her a thing or two when the oddest thing happened. I had walked up to Sharon, ready to unload a few choice remarks, when suddenly I felt the warm love of God well up in my chest.

   At that moment all the frustration and anger I had been feeling just drifted away and in its place I felt such peace and kindness towards Sharon.

   I realized this was a divine moment when I was filled with the kind of love God shows toward even the worst of people. It is often referred to as the Agape (or unconditional love) that holds God back from giving people what they would normally "deserve."

    In the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians, The Bible explains what I experienced,

          "For the love of God constrains us, because we have  

            concluded this; that one died for all," - II Corinthians 5:14

  

   Instead of reacting with human emotion, our desire to please Him and this knowledge (that Christ died for us all) helps us more easily yield to God as His love reaches out through us to even the most challenging people.

   That day God not only changed my heart toward Sharon, He also saved me from saying something I would later regret because I would have stooped down to her level in retaliation.

   God had already done such a marvelous thing, but He had one more pleasant surprise in store for me.

   I really believed God placed me at that job and had plans to keep me there for quite some time. But, things couldn't go on as they were between Sharon and me so I took the matter to God in  prayer.

   "Lord, I'm asking you to either change Sharon's heart or remove her from here," I said.

   Now Sharon had worked at the same location for the last 12 years and hadn't given any indication she had plans of leaving anytime soon.

   However, just after my experience (and to everyone's total surprise) she made the announcement she would be leaving within a few days.

   I must say, I was amazed at how fast God answered my prayer and it seemed the obvious conclusion was that He removed her because she was not going to change.  

   After she left, the atmosphere instantly improved at the work location, not only for me but, for everyone who had dealt with her caustic personality for all those years.

   God will change things for us in answer to prayer, but sometimes the most amazing changes are the ones that take place within our own heart.  

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                     See more testimonies about a supernatural God at:  

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DANNY'S TOUCH FROM GOD

  

         "These signs will follow those who believe... they will lay         

           hands on the sick, and they will recover." - Mark 16:17-18 

 

   I was at my granny's house one evening when a car pulled up outside. The screen door soon opened and my cousin, Danny, walked into the living room.

   We visited for a while when the conversation turned to a physical problem Danny had been dealing with for nearly a month.

   It seems in the recent past he had gotten into an altercation with a rather rough old boy. An argument had quickly escalated into a full-blown fight and the next thing Danny knew, this man grabbed a whisky bottle by the neck and broke it over his head.

   As if that wasn't bad enough, the man then proceeded to thrust the jagged end of the bottle neck against Danny's jaw, puncturing his skin.

   Danny then showed me the spot where the sharp glass had penetrated his face. There, I could see a open slit with clear liquid slowly oozing out.

   He said he initially went to the emergency room as soon as the injury occurred and the doctor put a few stitches in the cut. But in a short time his face swelled up and turned red.

   He then went back to the doctor who had to reopen the cut and place a tube in it so the fluid would drain. The physician explained that the jagged glass had pierced a saliva gland which accounted for the clear liquid oozing from the cut.

   The doctor said the procedure to repair the injury required delicate surgery and needed to be performed by a specialist. So Danny made arrangements to see one.

 

   Despite the fact I had been raised in a denomination that didn't believe in laying hands on the sick, I had learned from reading the Bible that Christians are actually supposed to lay hands on the sick and to fully expect them to recover.

   I explained all of this to Danny and told him I would like to pray for him, to which he was more than willing. I laid my hand next to the wound and simply commanded it to close up and be healed "in the name of Jesus."

   Though I saw no immediate results, I told Danny I was confident it would happen and encouraged him to just believe. He seemed satisfied with my advice and went on his way.

   To be honest with you, I had completely forgotten about the whole incident until I saw Danny again several weeks later at his parent's house.

   I was sharing with everyone there about how I believed God could still use people to heal others, when Danny suddenly spoke up.

   "I believe it," Danny said, with an absolute tone in his voice.

"Jimmy healed me. He prayed for that cut on my face and it closed up!"

   He then pointed to the spot where the wound had been and there was no clear liquid or open cut to be seen. Later, Danny told me more details of the story which made the whole incident even more remarkable.

   "When I would go into a restaurant I would have to hold a napkin over my jaw because of the drainage and try to eat with the other hand. It was really embarrassing," he explained.

   "You prayed for me on Friday evening. I was driving a truck then and was supposed to take a load to Dallas on Saturday. I had heard Billy Graham was holding a crusade in Dallas at the time," he recalled.

   "On the way to Granny's house that night I joked with my friends saying, 'Maybe I should look up Billy Graham when I get there and get him to pray for my jaw.' "

   Danny went on to explain that he was actually scheduled to see the specialist the next Monday, but by Saturday the saliva had stop flowing and the cut had completely closed up.

   His testimony is a wonderful confirmation to the promise Jesus made in Mark 16 that believers will indeed - 

                     

                            "lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

                                                          *  *  *  *  *  *  *

                If you will step out in faith on God's promises, you will find

                  that He is faithful to fulfill what He has said in His Word.

             

                        See more testimonies about a supernatural God at:  

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