A CUP OF COLD WATER

 

Hello readers, we have now come to the last post of lessons I learnt through prayer and I hope you were inspired by my lessons and I hope you will share yours on your platforms. Blessings!

Lesson 12— When you look after God’s business He looks after yours.

Bethlehem Church, Richmond Hill, NYC, raises funds for missionary support three times a year; at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. As the fundraising service for Easter 2013 drew near, I was contemplating on how much to give, and decided that I would not give less than what I gave at the fundraising service the previous year. In the previous year, I came into some money quite unexpectedly, and I used some of it for the missionary offering. As I thought about it, my mind went to my monthly savings, and I decided that I would give my savings for that month. After making that decision, doubts started coming into my mind about the wisdom of giving away the savings. I struggled with this for a while but as soon as I got my pay slip, I made out the checque for the amount and put it in the missionary envelop and sealed it, as if in a final gesture against the struggling thoughts. I gave it at the fundraising service on Sunday. On the next day, Monday, when I arrived at work, my bosses in the UN headquarters, NY, asked me to go to Bamako, Mali, to set up the Medical Support for the start of the UN mission there. Needless-to-say, the total monies paid to me for the trip, which was supposed to be for one week but got extended to two weeks, enabled me to replace the monthly savings, support two missionaries in NYC, and finish the kitchen cabinets for the house I was building in my home country. Talk about pressed down, shaken together and running over! (Matthew 6:32–33; Luke 6:38).

Lesson 13— Always pray and never give up.

Recently, I was in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, visiting one of our daughters and her family. I was walking to the International House of Prayer (IHOP, KC) and on the way I had a monologue with God. The day before, I had been asked to pray for a sister who was diagnosed with cancer, and as I walked along the road, I asked God what His intention for her was. Was He going to heal her or not? I wanted to know because we had prayed for many who had sadly passed away, and I wanted God to tell me what the outcome of her case would be, so I would know how to pray. I started recounting to God the number of people who had died of cancer despite our prayers and their memory made me sad. At the same time, people we had prayed for and had been healed of cancer came to my mind. I continued my monologue with God until I reached the Global Prayer Room. I sat near the front, feeling sad and dejected, and just tried to focus on the worship. After some minutes, I looked at the screen and saw the following:

My part is to let You be God,

My part is to keep coming back to You;

My part is to pray and see what You will do,

My part is to not quit before You do.

At first it did not appear to me as an answer to my complaining, but soon enough the penny dropped and I knew, without doubt, that it was God’s response to me. I got the message and learnt the lesson—my part is to always pray and not faint, and God will do His part. My weariness to pray led me to question God. Now, I continue, with God’s help, doing my part and leave God to do His part.