God Prescribed A Radical Cold Remedy For Me

Working on my Sunday School Lesson outline while sick in bed.

The date was Tuesday, May 10, 1983, and I lay sick in bed in Rockville, Maryland, USA, with a nasty head cold. My throat was very sore and earlier that day, I had coughed up blood. I lived alone, so whenever I got this sick, I stayed close to my bedroom so I could lay down if I became dizzy or winded.

That evening, I settled myself in bed and tried to begin preparing my Sunday School lesson which was found in the Book of Acts 19:11 & 12:

       11. “Now God worked unusual miracles by the

        hand of Paul, 12. so that even handkerchiefs or

        aprons were brought from his body to the

        sick, and the diseases left them and evil

        spirits went out of them.”

As I continued to study, my attention kept going back to verse 12. Finally, I said to myself, ‘I wonder if a cloth could heal my throat.’ Immediately, my Mother came to mind and the Holy Spirit reminded me of her true devotion to the Lord all throughout the day.

At that time, my mother lived in Minneapolis, Mn., but earlier that same year she had crocheted some table doilies and sent me a ten-piece set. In my mind, I could picture her settled in her favorite chair rocking and crocheting while at the same time humming hymns and giving praises to her God all the day long.

Sample image of one of the crocheted round doilies.

So, I got out of my bed and went downstairs to the hall closet where I had placed the newly received doilies. Very carefully and with a lot of hesitation, I removed the box from the top shelf. I selected a small round coaster doily. I then tipped toed back upstairs to my room. Boy, was I nervous and continued praying all the while. Cautiously, I slipped back into bed and braced myself against the pillows. I held the doily in one hand and prayed over it very softly. Next, I asked God if I was doing the right thing. I wanted to assure him that I was not “trying” him. It was my fervent desire to only trust him for his healing power.

The next thing I did was to carefully place the handheld doily on my sore throat and kept both hands clasped tightly over it. At the same time, I quietly continued to pray…almost apologetically for my demonstrative actions. Suddenly, something began to happen!

Lightening bolt!

The first thing I noticed was that a cool bright breeze was coming towards me. It passed through my nostrils. Actually, it rushed through my nostrils. My eyelids popped open and I put one hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. I sensed it was the Holy Spirit, and I wanted to speak out and praise God. But at that precise moment I had to swallow. When I did, everything went right down my throat with ease. No pain. My eyes got bigger and I began to sweat, Somehow I found the courage to whisper, ‘Lord, is that You?’ In a still small voice He responded, ‘You asked to be healed, didn’t you? Well, do not waver!

Tears of joy began to stream down my cheeks. Incoherent praises were coming from my mouth. My voice still sounded as if I had a cold, but my head was all cleared up. My eyes stopped watering. My fever had dropped. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I was healed. I recognized that with the aide of the Holy Spirit, my mother’s doily and most of all faith in Jesus Christ, I was healed just as Paul’s handkerchief had healed those saints in the Book of Acts.

In my later years of life, I am still thanking God and sending up prayers for his love and tender care…

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your blueprint for prayer. I knew that You were with me when I sought You in my bedroom and that I did not have to pray a long prayer because You know me so well that You already knew every thing that I wanted to ask You. Without a doubt, You are a wonder-working God. A doctor Who has never lost a case. A healer to all those who call upon Your holy and blessed Name.

I sincerely thank You for putting me in a quiet place that night so many years ago. It was there where I could be alone with You. You prompted me through the Holy Spirit to take courage and delight in You as I experienced Your healing powers. You have no respect of person…you blessed me as mercifully as you blessed the Apostle Paul.

And less I forget, You also remembered to honor and bless my (now deceased) mother’s devotion to You. Amen!

Scripture Lesson: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:6

Click http://www.tgifmasterminds.com every Friday for a new post from the Master’s servant manager…ME!

God Allows Me To Live Vicariously Through My Grandmother’s Prayers!

Train Up A Child – Proverbs 22:6 – YouTube (Click and listen.)

Do you realize just how important you are in the family of Christ once you have accepted His invitation?  You have bonded with an exclusive group of believers who are on a pathway of growth, renewal, and maturity.

You might ask on what authority do I proclaim this? 

Well, just so you know, I have aligned myself with the Apostle Paul’s encouraging letter to the Philippians in which he states: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Phil. 1:6

As I read and reread those words during my study time this week, the Holy Spirit reassured me that I could claim them for myself.  And He also encouraged me to impart those words to others.   At first, I did not thoroughly understand the interpretation from my Spiritual Messenger.  But the more I prayed about it, the clearer it became.  Paul’s message to the Philippians was really his way of expressing his sentiments that the Lord would continuously equip them via the instructions outlined in His holy word… not only during their lifetime, but His guidance and presence would also be available to their generations to come, even up until the Second Coming of Christ Jesus.

That’s through Eternity…folks!!

Further more, the Holy Spirit encouraged me by imparting that if I keep my hand in God’s hand, my off springs would be privileged to receive the covering, too.  Oh, how those words encouraged me to be all the more steadfast and unmovable and always abounding in the army of the Lord.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

Like you, I have family members who waver from time to time in their walk with the Lord.  Especially the younger ones.  (Some of them remind me of my youthful days.)  But now that I am older, I often find myself recalling the days of my deceased Grandmother who shared with me miraculous stories of how the Lord brought her out of sickness, toils, and snares.  In other words, so many times, I find myself living vicariously off of my Grandmother’s prayers.  Those are the times when I pray and ask the Lord to do me like You did my Grandmother. And guess what? God always honors that prayer.

Listed here is a reprint of a blog that I wrote on January 17, 2019, entitled “God Pitied Every Mourn Of Four Generations Of Prayers”. If you want to experience one of my Grandmother’s miracle testimonies, I humbly invite you to click the website (https://wordpress.com/post/tgifmasterminds.com/720) and experience how prayers of the saints bombarded heaven and brought about a healing. As a teenager I listened to her story and it so resonated in my spirit that I will never forget it.

ScriptureLesson: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Click http://www.tgifmasterminds.com every Friday for a new post from The Master’s servant manager…Me!

God Can Work A Miracle Each And Every Day!

Have you ever wondered why Jesus performed miracles among the people while He physically walked on this earth? Can you describe the attributes surrounding Jesus’ supernatural acts that distinguished Him from the magicians and sorcerers of His day?  Have you ever been a recipient of a miracle from God?  And finally, why should these compassionate miracle-working displays of Jesus’ power be so encouraging to us today in this 21st century?

Okay…I get it!  What’s with all the above questions? You may ask yourself why do I feel like I’m back in school being taught by an ole spinster school marm, shoving a pop quiz down my throat?

Well, for the answer, let’s start with the past week I have just experienced. 

As I sat at my computer, readying myself to start composing my weekly blog post for you, the Holy Spirit interrupted my appeal to Him to guide my creative juices for an interesting subject to blog about.  He abruptly reminded me of the three times I had witnessed to friends and family members of how sometimes the Lord uses miracles to increase one’s faith and dependence on Him. The recipients’ expressions of gratitude upon hearing your examples were so jubilant and heartfelt that they went away longing for an occasion to come to know the Lord in that same mannerism.

Oh, how the Lord was magnified as you shared your experiences with others.  You gave Him all the praise, honor, hope and glory. And just for a moment, a bewildered soul found hope in the possibility that perhaps the Heavenly Father would also perform a miracle in their lives, too. Thus, rekindling a gleamer of reassurance in their lives.

Yes, God can work a miracle each and every day…but that was not the sole reason why Jesus was sent…

First and foremost, let us remember that Jesus not only performed miracles to show compassion for mankind and to meet their needs; He also performed miracles to affirm who He was in God…the Anointed One sent to redeem mankind and to reconcile him back to God. The holy scriptures reveal in Acts 2:22-24: “People of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a Man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. This Man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.

(Now, please allow me to share with you a particular miracle that Jesus performed for me while on one of my international mission trips to Nicaragua, Central America, some years ago.)

After about an hours journey of traveling up the side of a steep mountain and passing in and out of moisturous clouds, our American mission team finally arrived at a small isolated village. The inhabitants of the village were expecting us and they greeted us warmly and with great enthusiasm. The women had prepared a luncheon for us which consisted of a large pot of hot rice that had been cooked outdoors in a large tin barrel over an open flame. Our mission tour guide insisted on feeding the children first, and organized our mission team to take turns serving the hot vittles. I was chosen to be the first server.

As the children lined up before me, I noticed they did not have a bowl or cup to receive the hot rice in. Then the first child stepped forward and reached into his back pocket and took out a small plastic grocery bag like the ones issued in American grocery stores. I was perplexed and bewildered and thought to myself, Lord, when this hot rice touches this plastic bag it will burst! The Holy Spirit then whispered to me to just fill the bag. I hesitated and the Holy Spirit spoke again, this time more forcefully. Just fill the bag. Reluctantly, I did so. I placed a heaping spoonful of hot rice in the child’s plastic bag. And to my amazement, it did not burst! The child ran off gleefully with his lunch in toe. Neither his bag nor any of the other children’s bag bursted.The moral of the story is this: The Lord reminded me that in all my ‘getting’ I should get an understanding of just how He operates especially with willing souls administering mission duties in foreign lands. A place where everyday conveniences do not exist. In these kinds of circumstances one must have faith in knowing that God and his supernatural ways of providing are at work. And I must confess, that during my ten years of serving as an international missionary, my faith has matured to a doctoral level. The Holy Spirit has taught me how to walk by faith and not by sight! Amen.

Poor Latino Boy gets food from waste bin, Nicaragua
Poverty runs high in Nicaragua.

Dear Heavenly Father, please help your people to remember that they can pray for a miracle to happen in any phase of their lives…from their smallest concern to their greatest. Just come humbly to the mercy seat and lay their burdens down and leave them there. Please put it in their hearts to prayerfully listen to the lyrics of the song listed below and be encouraged. To God be the glory. Amen!

3:53NOW PLAYINGThird Day – “I Need A Miracle” Live at the QuarryThird Day

Scripture Lesson: “Very truly I tell you all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:12-14

Click http://www.tgifmasterminds.wordpress.com every Friday for a new post from The Master’s servant manager…Me!