Matthew 9 - Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
I got to see this verse in action tonight and so did half of my family. I am humbled and honored that God allowed us to witness this amazing display of His power. I can not think of a better way to end this beautiful season where Love came down. Here is what happened:
My oldest daughter and her boyfriend met this summer while working for a human trafficking ministry in NYC. One of the things they did was spend a lot of time with a ministry called The Relief Bus. Check it out if you are in the area - they were very impressed.
Anyway - they had a great idea to go out this morning and buy blankets and then take them and deliver them to the homeless. We are having quite cold nights lately. So - we loaded up the car with blankets, water bottles, and a few of our Blessing Bags that we made a few weeks ago. We drove downtown and started looking for a place to park. We noticed a large crowd of what appeared to be homeless men and women gathering at a specific location and we realized that they were about to serve a meal. So, not being shy, we piled out of the car - and carried our wares inside. There were clothing and blanket tables set up, a meal was prepared, a band was in place - and the ones organizing the whole thing welcomed us like we were supposed to be there - even handing our four year old a t-shirt to indicate he was a volunteer as well.
Our family was given the job of greeting the folks as they came in, handing them cookies and drinks and showing them to their seats. I would say about 75-80 people came through the doors and Patrick's sweet face was the first thing they saw. Oh my heart. He greeted everyone with a smile and a quiet voice saying, "Happy Christmas, do you want some cookies?" One gentleman came in pushing his walker and he had some sort of palsy that made him shake uncontrollably. He couldn't even carry his drink and cookies to the table because of the shaking. Once everyone was seated and the band played a few worship songs, a speaker commenced. She was powerful and so excited about what God was going to do there tonight. The Spirit fell and it was amazing to witness. At the end, many many of the crowd surged forward to pray individually with the volunteers. This man was among them and one of the volunteers walked him up the aisle. He was gripping her arm and shaking so violently that her entire right side shook with him. As the speaker continued to share the gospel and claim the blood of Jesus over the room, this man began to pray and ask God to forgive him of his sin. As he began to pray his shaking ceased. Completely and immediately. The volunteer began to scream. She could not believe it! The man just kept staring in wonder at his hands. He could not believe they had stopped shaking. He was able to continue with the meal totally unassisted.
I hate to admit it, because I know that God does miracles every day, but I have to say that this is the first immediate healing I have ever been in the midst of. The Spirit was palpable. I just have to say that we serve an absolutely amazing, mountain moving, breath taking God - I want all of my life to be lived in the midst of His amazing power. My desire is to always notice what He is doing all around us and live every second in complete and utter gratefulness that He chose me to be part of His redemptive plan.
Thank you Jesus - thank you for putting on skin and coming to earth. Thank you for caring about the intimate details of my life. Thank you for leading our family to Phoenix Inner City Kids tonight to witness your rejoicing over a new believer. Your love spilled out and everyone in the room was impacted. Thank you seems so small to say, but my heart is bursting. And as we were leaving, the last words my 16 year old spoke was, "Can we come here every week?" Oh, my heart sings.
1 comment:
So wonderful to read!
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