It is always a joy my friends to share about the love and blessings of the Lord. Sometimes a question will arise in my mind:
How can we ever repay Him?
It is true, we can’t. The Bible says: God is good and His mercy endures forever. With time, I realized that we may not be able to repay Him but there are some things we can all do for His kingdom. The first is to Love Him with all your heart, mind and strength. The second most important duty is to serve Him. Remember serving Him is serving others. One preacher said it like this:
When Jesus was on earth, He did a lot of social work. We as His children have the same responsibility. We are social workers for God’s kingdom.
Upon learning the above truth and understanding the depth, I developed a formula which I feel is helpful in defining love and service. See below:
Loving God = Loving People
Serving God = Serving People
Loving God + Serving God = Loving People + Serving People
You see my friends, love and service goes together. We cannot separate the two. So begins the story of how Brother Francis and I reached Grandma Ram Rati’s house. I had just lost my job and was sick. Being weak and jobless is not a good combination. Stress was slowly taking its toll on me. During my unemployment days, I was looking for any reason to get busy but being sick, I was not able to do much. I used to spend much time helping my Pastor Hendry Latchman with ministry work but he had taken a vacation. So here I was on my knees, praying to God about my needs and praising Him.
I was in the middle of making my requests to the Lord when my cell phone rang. It was Sister Anni, one of our church members and a very dear sister to all to us. She said that Grandma Ram Rati’s arms and shoulders were paining really bad and she was requesting for someone to come down to her house and pray for her. She also said that she called the Pastor but he was on vacation. I said I will go and pray for her with great joy. Although I myself needed the most prayer, being jobless and sick, I knew this was God opening up a door for me to serve Him. A lot of times, God tests our hearts to see if we really care about His work and most of us because of our busy lifestyles miss it completely. Yes brother and sisters, I literally mean completely.
Pastor often advised me to take someone with me especially when you visit women. I took His advice and followed it. I called Brother Francis and he said he was available to go to Grandma Ram Rati’s House with me. Brother Francis was also unemployed and looking for work at this time. One of the greatest qualities I learnt from this brother was making yourself available for God to use you. May the Lord continue to use this brother and bless him abundantly for all he does for His kingdom. So here we were, Brother Francis and I driving to Grandma’s house. She lived around three miles from my house and probably one mile from Brother Francis house. Brother Francis said to me that he used to visit her sometimes and see how she was doing. I thought how caring this man of God is. Another good thing learnt. As we reached the door of Grandma’s apartment, she stepped out to greet us. We both could see that she was in great pain. I thought to myself: why has she not gone to the hospital? Who could have guessed that here stood a woman of faith who has made up her mind that she will be healed when prayer is said? We can all learn something from each other if we stopping looking at the defects and start looking for the Jesus in all. The Bible says we are made in the image of God and that the spirit of the almighty dwells in us when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
As Brother Francis and I entered Grandma’s house, she informed us that she was in great pain and has been waiting patiently for us. Believe me friends, I and Brother Francis are really no one special, just as ordinary as you, two normal people trying to help Grandma and believing in the miracle although we were ourselves struggling with our own issues. But as we sat down in the house, I remembered the teaching of the Pastor and how he would conduct this healing prayer. After being with the Pastor for a continual several months, I knew 100% without a shadow of doubt that God heals but was our faith enough for the miracle, I did not know. But I had made up my mind not to give up. Before leaving my house, I prayed to the Lord that without Him, I am nothing and He is the miracle worker, not me. Pastor always told me how much power there was in the name of Jesus, in the blood of Jesus and in the word of God which was life and healing to anyone who believes. I still thank the Lord daily for bringing such a mighty Pastor into my life.
Brothers and sisters, I had just learned how to play the guitar, so I had brought it with me. I played some Hindi songs and all three of us worshiped the Lord joyfully. Let me warn you that when Brother Francis starts praising the Lord, it’s hard to stop Him which I didn't do since we had the time. Grandma sang with us following behind me and I also played the guitar. I don’t remember all the songs, but one song still remains in my memory, Yeshu Tera Naam. We could all feel the Holy Spirit moving in our mist as we praised and worshiped God. It was such a wonderful moment for all of us. At the finish of our worship, I opened to the book of James from the New Testament and read from the last chapter about how James instructs us to call the elders of the church and have them pray over the sick anointing them with oil. I explained this scripture to Grandma in Hindi and then asked her if she had olive oil. She did. So brother Francis and I anointed her arms and shoulders with a little olive oil and prayed in the manner I had learnt from the Pastor. First Brother Francis and I prayed agreeing with one another for Grandma’s healing. Then I asked Grandma a straight question: Do you believe Jesus can heal you? She said she believed. I told her to receive her healing in the name of Jesus. She said I receive. Then I put my hands on her arms and shoulders and commanded the pain to get out in the name of Jesus quoting the Bible Scripture in Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24. As I was completing my prayer, thanking and praising God for the miracle, Grandma Ram Rati jumped up, throwing both her arms up into the air shouting I’m healed, Jesus healed me. After that my friends, all hell broke loose. All three of us were praising and worshiping God in the spirit. Before I realized, I was healed also from the flu I had. Brother Francis and I started to praise God in tongues. It is hard to describe the joy we had. I wish more people had been there and seen with their own eyes how God turns our morning into joy, tears of pain into tears of praise. We praised the Lord like Jesus freaks; some might have made it a headline if they saw and recorded it. There is so much the Lord desires to do for His children. What a compassionate God He is? There is none like Him, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
My friends, Grandma cooked and fed us with those same hands she could not even lift an inch without crying with pain. The Lord is so merciful in doing the unthinkable. The Bible says He heals the broken hearted and sets the captives free. So true, isn't it? I encourage you my fellow Christians to trust the Lord for the miracle. He’s the same God, yesterday, today and forever. He healed in the past, He heals now and He will continue to heal those who believe in Him also in the future.
God bless you all.