There
are many accounts of summoning prayer to improve health or save lives. Christians take it on faith that our
Omniscient God knows what is going on at all times. But, I think He really loves listening to us
in prayer; David and Isaiah described the image God has of us when we pray to
and with Him.
It’s
wonderful to follow how God works by recounting the progress He makes on your
prayer. Many times, the motivation for
prayer is initiated by the Holy Spirit, as it was in this instance.
August
25, 2021, beginning about 10:00 AM CDT:
· Multiple urges to reach my brother’s widow;
· I hadn’t communicated with her since my brother’s
funeral about 22 years ago;
· I realized the motivation was God initiated.
· Only known information was the name of the law firm, 22
year old;
· Calling firm’s number was unsuccessful;
· No forwarding information was available;
· Searched Google, Facebook and Twitter for two hours no
avail;
· At end of a day of frustration, I prayed for Lord’s
help to reach her now or as soon as possible.
August
27, 2021, about 8:30 AM CDT:
· I was awakened this morning with my brother’s widow on
my mind;
· Exhausted contact resources;
· The Holy Spirit led me to try a LinkedIn posting;
· Found my brother's widow at a different law firm;
· A Google search turned up number for the current law
firm.
11:00
AM CDT
· By the grace of God, I connected with my brother’s
widow after 22 years.
· I thanked the Lord for answering my prayer.
The
Lord’s omniscience is the key to the Lord’s timing. Do not try to rationalize that, as there are
some things you and I will never be able to fathom until he reveals it to us in
His Heavenly Kingdom.
I
also realized that the Lord had planned this call long before, as the urges to
call my brother’s widow actually started a long time before (perhaps as long as
the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic over a year earlier).
While
my brother’s widow was filling in the 22 year gap since we had communicated,
she wondered how I happened to call at that moment in time. The motivation had to be the Holy
Spirit. My brother’s widow told of the
COVID-19 virus recently hitting her household hard. She asked for prayer, for:
· Her daughter, was seriously ill;
· Her daughter’s husband was most critically ill; he was
in the hospital; wasn’t responding to treatment; medical staff might have to
place her daughter’s husband on a ventilator.
COVID ventilation equates with potentially poor outcomes for patients;
too many ventilated patients never came off the ventilator.
· Her daughter’s husband’s mother was seriously ill.
Without
having to say another word, my brother’s widow and I both prayed for the Lord’s
healing grace for a cure for all three relatives in the name of Jesus Christ.
Lord,
we come to you today,
Your
humble servants in Christ, to
praise
You for answering our prayers.
We
love knowing of Your constant presence.
We come
before You in fervent prayer
for
healing our loved ones and
your
gravely ill children, whose names you know specifically.
Lord, we love and honor You
in every way and anxiously pray to You;
As the deer pants for the streams
of water,
so [our] soul[s] pant for You, [our] God
Psalm 42:1
O God, You are [our] God;
[we] shall seek You earnestly;
[our] soul thirsts for You,
[our] flesh yearns for You,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
Lord, by Your Word and Name,
the eyes of the blind will be opened
and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute will shout for
joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the Arabah.
Isaiah 35:5-6
You
are a God of miracles Who delights in answering
Your children’s prayers as You
see fit and in Your timing.
Your way, O God, is Holy;
What god is great like our God?
You are the God Who works wonders;
You have made known
Your strength among [us]
(Psalm 77:13-14)
Create in [us] clean
heart[s], O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within [us].
Psalms 51:10
[for]
… the prayer of
the upright is Your delight.
Proverbs 15:8b
We pray for Your quick and complete healing in
Your stricken children, as your medical servants
continue to be frustrated by their lack of progress.
Isaiah 58:8, says Your Grace, Mercy, and
healing will quickly appear; as You, Jehovah Rapha,
are a light unto the world, and Your healing is
a glorifying testament of Your love.
We have faith in Your good and perfect timing.
We pray that our answered prayer
will glorify You,
Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray.
A day and a half later, the morning of,
August 29, 2021, my brother’s widow texted:
· Daughter’s husband not improving to medical staff’s
expectations and hopes;
· Daughter’s husband being moved to Intensive Care Unit
(ICU); because
· O2 levels had not improved from August 27,
Friday;
· Daughter’s husband was one step before requiring
ventilator therapy.
I sent a text to my brother’s widow at August 29, at 1:10 pm,
which can be construed as a prayer lifting her up from her anguish at not
seeing progress in her family. I texted
her to:
· Be assured that The Lord Jehovah Rapha (The
Healing Lord) is right beside your daughter’s husband, and I told her to tell
him that.
· I asked my brother’s widow to join me in
praying for her daughter’s husband’s restoration continually.
· My brother’s widow texted her daughter that
I had requested all prayer warriors to join us in praying for her husband’s complete
restoration continually.
· My brother’s widow’s daughter responded
that she "loved my prayer," which she Facebooked;
· Facebooked:
Calling all prayer warriors to pray for her husband continually for his quick
and complete restoration.
Boy, the Lord acted fast.
Only 3 hours later, 4:08 PM
that Sunday afternoon, August 29, my brother’s widow texted:
· My brother’s widow’s daughter's husband on
a mask with different meds, not on a ventilator.
· Praise Jesus in all things!
My brother’s widow and I were exchanging praises to the Lord with
every cell phone text. A whirlwind of
healing started taking place. The Lord opened a can of hurt on COVID. My thoughts went to Isaiah 29:6 as right
before our eyes and ears, the Lord rebuked the calamitous COVID-19 virus as an
instrument of evil:
From the LORD of hosts you will be punished
with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
with whirlwind and tempest and
the flame of a consuming fire.
And this is the
support Jesus brought:
For behold, the LORD will come in fire
and His chariots like the whirlwind,
to render His anger with fury, and
His rebuke with flames of fire. Isaiah 66:15
By 3:47 pm, August 30, 2021,
my brother's widow texted:
· My brother’s widow’s daughter was improved
greatly; Praise the Lord;
· My brother’s widow’s daughter’s husband’s
uncle came into town yesterday to help with house and family chores so the kids
can go to school tomorrow;
· My brother’s widow’s daughter’s husband is
in ICU;
· My brother’s widow’s daughter is able to
see him 15 mins once per day yesterday & today;
· Nurse explained that his lungs need to
expand on their own & aren't doing well so forced oxygen mask is required;
· If they don't start working soon, my
brother’s widow’s daughter will have to go on a ventilator.
· My prayers are that God make these lungs
work!
My silent prayer was as
follows:
Lord I praise You and thank You
from the bottom of my heart.
I pray that you continue to
make Your presence known to
those whose name You know are on my mind.
Lord, I lift my brother’s widow up to You;
To cover and console her in Your
lovingly gentle and comforting wings
for the stress she must be under.
Thank you so much, Lord for allowing
having me reach out to contact her
after 22 years to help support her
in a small way as you work Your miracles.
Lord, You got this; You’re on top of it;
You know exactly what needs to be done;
and I thank You for Grace, Mercy and
Glory.
At 10:54 AM, Tuesday, August
31, my brother’s widow texted:
· A gas/blood test is being done today (don't
know when)
· Prayer is requested that the test give
accurate results so doctor can move forward with proper plan for healing.
· To God be the glory, in Christ’s Name!
Thank you!
Wednesday, September 1, 2021,
8:14 pm, my brother’s widow sent a text update which I knew it would be good
because it started with Praise God!
· The gas/blood test shows my brother’s
widow’s daughter’s husband has great numbers & his own O2 consumption
is incrementally better!
· Medical staff encouraged enough to schedule
Occupational Therapy for his lungs;
· Though support his lungs he will remain on
an oxygen mask.
· He's still not out of the woods, but praise
our Lord for these miracles!
· Praise: my brother’s widow’s daughter is
doing much better, though still recovering, & looks the best I've seen in 3
weeks!
· Loretta is incrementally improving too!
· The children, went back to school yesterday
& even though they are still dealing w/ lung issues.
· Thank you [prayer warriors] for all your
continued prayers for progress to full recovery for everyone.
· Praising our Savior & His ever-present
Agape Love!
Four days later, September 5, 2021, my brother’s widow's daughter’s
mother-in-law was checked out of the hospital to fully recover from home.
By the next day, September 6, 2021, my brother’s widow’s
daughter’s husband was released from the hospital to continue his recuperation
and therapy to fully recover.
Nobody knows it, but the Lord and now you, but I have been bawling
my eyes out in thanksgiving to the Lord for giving me and all of us the
opportunity to add to the full assurances He has already given us with His Holy
Word: For God so loved the world that He by His Grace gave His Son, Jesus, as a
sin propitiation to those who might believe in Christ’s sacrifice and be saved
to live in a eternal relationship with Him and each other.
He has given us so much to share to others the truth that He still
performs miracles.
To hear that those stricken with the COVID virus for whom we pray
have been suffering perhaps for at least three weeks and to know that they made
this much progress in only one week just makes me want to say Thank You Lord!
That kind of turnaround from my brother’s widow’s desperate prayer
request to now is in her words, nothing short of a miracle.
When compared to news that seems to accentuate the negative, that many
COVID patients struggle for months or go into comas, not recovering well enough
to leave the hospital even for three to six months and some patients dying
within a week or two, we all have received a wonderfully incredible blessing
and reminder that our God lives in power and love for believers in Jesus Christ
our Lord and Savior.
Continuing Need
The Lord fully expects that we engage in continuous prayer because
life here on Earth and in Heaven is dynamic.
In other words, when we get to Heaven, we’re not just going to rest on
our laurels and get all out of shape and happy and all that. He certainly doesn’t want us to do that here
and now. Do I know what we’ll be doing
in Heaven? Well I don’t know more than
what is in the Bible. Maybe we’ll be
prayer warriors in Heaven as well. I
figure that I’ll be told what I need to know when I get there.
There is still plenty to do here right now. I think we are all going to need continual
healing until we go to live with The Lord.
After all, all of mankind is in a depraved state when compared with The
Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Continuing prayer requested:
· My brother’s widow for strength and support
and for healing of her serious ongoing ailments.
· My brother’s widow’s requests prayer for his
complete healing, since recovering from COVID, she has had to battle COVID-like
symptoms. Pray that the Lord strengthen
her and puts a hedge of protection around her, as she continues to excel in her
job and as she goes about her motherly tasks.
· My brother’s widow’s daughter's husband and his mother continue to
recover; please pray for their complete healing and for their being stronger
than ever.
While we wait here for the healing we will need, the Bible tells
us to continue praying for each other’s healing needs, as we encourage and
serve in the name of The Lord, just as Jesus would. We should edify and disciple each other,
because this world sorely needs help in so many ways. Right now, the world is being torn apart by
following and making our own rules. Nobody
knows what is right or wrong. That is
part of the problem; too many are calling right, wrong and wrong right. It tells us in the Bible. What else should we be doing?
Woe to those who call evil good,
and good evil; Who substitute darkness
for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for
Sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20
Now we pray to God that you do no wrong;
not that we ourselves may appear approved,
but that you may do what is right,
even though we may appear unapproved.2
Corinthians 13:7
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
for to this you were called
as members of one body.
And be thankful. Colossians 3:15
For it is better, if God should will it so,
that you suffer for doing what is right
rather than for doing what is wrong. 1
Peter 3:17
Is any one of you suffering?
He should pray.
Is anyone cheerful?
He should sing praises. James 5:13
If you need wisdom,
ask our generous God, and
He will give it to you.
He will not rebuke you for asking. James 1:5
Please send your prayer requests and news of answered prayer in so that we can post it. Send it to: epwarrior@aol.com or aulygeo@gmail.com
