The party’s over… Well, maybe it was not so much a party as a small gathering of friends and relatives to celebrate my 91st birthday, which is October 4. We also celebrated the birthday of my daughter Janis, which is October 3. For the sake of convenience we celebrated on the Saturday before the two epochal- ? events.
I was pleasantly surprised that my pastor and his wife, Bishop Mark and Sis. Shirley Moore took the time to attend the event on Saturday. That took me took to a higher position than that for which I had settled; it gave me a sense of worth, while at the same time it made me perceive more of my utter unworthiness.
They not only attended, but so did a number of my fellow church members. And here is where the real display of love enters the picture: these church members did not know me nor did I know them. We had only heard of each other and touched by a phone prayer line and, on rare occasion, by the Internet. Yet they came out to show their love for me, a guy they didn’t know existed a few months ago; and I have to say that it awakes a responsive love in my heart.
It proves what I firmly believe: All who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior are brothers and sisters and we all fight the same warfare, a never ending struggle against evil. We are in the warfare for the long haul no matter where we live on this earth. We are the true Church of Jesus Christ and what affects one affects us all. That is why it is so vital that we pray in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is when God takes over our faculties and prays through us for people we don’t know and for pressure-packed situations of which we are unaware. As Paul says, we do not know how to pray as we ought. We don’t know what John or Sally or Susie is going through, we can’t see or foresee the dangers that confront or will confront any one of them, but the Holy Spirit sees and He knows how to direct our prayers for them just when they need those prayers, and God hears and He will invariably answer our prayers made in the Spirit because they are spoken according to His will. He is obliged to answer what He has prompted us in the Spirit to request. That is what a real God does constantly.
I send a special THANK YOU to:
my fellow church members,
my son and daughters and their spouses,
my granddaughter and her friend,
my grandson and his wife and children (my great grandchildren),
my niece and her friend,
all my well-wishers,
just for loving me and sending up a prayer now and then for me, as I do for you. I repeat: you don’t have to know people personally and you don’t need to know the dire situations in which they find themselves on occasion. If you love as you should and are submitted to the will of God, He can cause you to pray for persons unseen and situations unknown by you. But you must have a heart of compassion. That means you must have the love of God motivating you. God does not work through a vessel that is not filled with love. God Himself is love.
YOU HAVE ALL MADE THIS MY DAY AND MY YEAR!
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