Post by JEM on Jan 19, 2011 4:12:56 GMT
ANSWERED PRAYER
Denise McGarvey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the run up to Christmas Denise McGarvey in a town South of Warsaw in Poland prayed earnestly that God would provide her access to some Bible Reading Notes in Polish for her to give to the young people in her Salvation Army Youth Cell on January 1st. She had searched diligently for a source in Poland without success.
On Dec 30th 15 copies of OUR DAILY BREAD in Polish arrived through the post from the UK from someone she did not know who had had the booklets about 3 years looking for somewhere to use them when he came across her address in the Salvation Army Weekly magazine and thought this woman may surely be better able to use them than he.
A Hospital Patient
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several years ago a young woman, a factory night guard, and a chorister in the Anglican Cathedral at Accra in Ghana lay on a bed in the main city hospital ill and depressed. She had been there a month. She was not getting any better and she was beginning to wonder whether the LORD heard her prayer. Then the postman delivered an envelope to her and she opened one end, and a booklet fell out - a copy of OUR DAILY STRENGTH with 30 days of selected Bible promises and 2 or 3 hymns.
She was desperate for a Word from the Lord and for healing in mind and body. She read it all and her spirit was lifted. And from that day she got well again.
That envelope began it’s journey from the UK by sea 3 months earlier, and two months before she was taken ill and prayed for help, God had provided an answer before she asked.
Helen Roseveare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helen was a medical graduate of Cambridge University who went with WEC to open a Medical Centre
in what today is the Democratic Republic of Congo
One night on a labour ward a young mother gave birth to a premature baby and Helen and a young nurse tried to save mother and baby but the mother died and the baby needed warmth, so Helen instructed the nurse to stoke up the fire and get a hot water bottle, but the bottle burst and it was the only one. Helen told the nurse to sleep next to the baby through the night to give it body heat. The baby survived the night but was in a critical condition.
Helen gathered the children of the orphanage school together to pray for the baby and the need for a hot water bottle
Ruth a 10 year old girl prayed out loud “Please God send us a water bottle, It will be no good tomorrow God, as the baby will be dead, So please send it this afternoon, and while you are at it would you please send a dolly for her 2 year old sister so she will know you really love her. AMEN”
Helen hardly dare say AMEN for she knew that God could answer prayer but this was bordering on the ridiculous
The only way that could happen was if a supply parcel came from England and she had been there 4 years and nothing had reached her. Who would think of sending a hot water bottle to a hot equatorial country?
She was teaching a class when, early in the afternoon, a car came to her house and unloaded a parcel and drove off
With a group of children Helen unpacked the parcel finding it had come from the Sunday School class she used to teach in England and it had been travelling 5 months
It was full of knitted clothing and bandages, plus a box of raisins and sultanas and underneath that a brand new hot water bottle, and underneath that a small beautifully dressed doll.
Why did someone send those two items - clearly they were in tune with God.
21 years ago in NW Kenya
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a windmill that powered a water pump broke down and the flow of water to the water tanks stopped. The Turkana women used to haul water from the windmill to their homes in jerry cans daily.
The on site missionaries had been there 9 years and had mended then mill several times but this time they could not .They radioed for help to a colleague who brought some equipment but that did not help. They called in the contractor who’d built the mill and he flew in with a winch. 4 men now worked together on the mill. Still nothing worked. So they had to order a new pump.
Randy one of the missionaries went to the capital in search for a new pump, but before he went he tied up the wind sails with a chain so they would not turn and cause more damage.
He returned unsuccessfully having put in an order for a pump from the USA which would take weeks.
As he approached home, he was dismayed to see the sails going round and suspected children had untied them.
A teenager ran up to him saying “The windmill l is working normally and the tank is nearly full of water”
How?. Well shortly after Randy and the other men had had left 12 Turkana Christian women used to praying for the healing of the sick and getting results, believed it was no problem for God to heal a windmill. So they surrounded it, and laid their hands upon it and prayed.
Within 2 hours a strong wind arose and hit the windmill squarely and broke the chain, that had stopped the blades moving’
The tail unfolded into the wind and the sails turned vigorously and the pump became alive again and the water flowed.
The 4 men could not got it to work and neither could the women but they knew someone who could, Jesus, and they asked him and he did it. And the pump continued to pump water until the new pump arrived from America and then it stopped, and a as the new one was fitted it began again.
And as a result where there had only been a handful of nomadic Turkana believers, there is now over a 1000, most of whom have heard how the God who rules the universe has no trouble healing a windmill.
Monica
~~~~~~
1700 years ago a mother named Monica prayed for her son whom she loved dearly but he was headstrong, selfish and into every debauchery possible. He got steadily worse and ignored all her warnings and laughed at her praying for him. There was no place for Jesus or God in his life. He lived at home but he was mostly out with his mates
Until his mid 20’s Then he decided to take a boat to another land, and while Monica slept he left home without saying good bye. She was shocked but still she kept praying
Tossed about on the sea he began to worry about her
And when he reached his destination he started going to church and listening to the Venerable Bishop Ambrose preaching.
The boys name was Augustine and under the preaching and guidance of Ambrose he turned away from his wasted life and became a committed Christian. He trained for the ministry, became a theologian and a bishop.
In the dark days that Rome descended into, the light of the New Testament did not go out but remained amidst the debris of the former empire to light the way to another civilisation That was largely due to Augustine that the Christian Faith survived in Rome.
Shortly after his conversion his mother Monica told him that now she had achieved her lifelong quest of seeing him come to faith in Christ she had nothing left to live for and 9 days later she died.
Of course it is not only women who get prayer answered
Back in 1990 in the Soviet Union, the President was the reformer Michael Gorbachev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In October there took place the Soviet Lausanne Congress when thirteen hundred evangelists from all parts of the Soviet Union gathered to plan the evangelisation of that huge country John Robb who worked for World Vision International was directing a seminar there o “How to win Muslims for Christ”. John found that one of the men working with him as an interpreter with the Russian speaking staff at the hotel was a Muslim who came to his apartment to say goodbye and brought him a gift. John wanted to give him a gift too but he had nothing. He had given away all his Christian literature and he felt that a Russian New Testament would be ideal but this nation had been closed to Christianity for 70 years so there would hardly be anything around but he had nothing and so he prayed an instant arrow prayer “Lord show me what to do”
Instantaneously this arrow prayer was answered by a knock on the door.
As John opened the door he met an unusual sight. There stood 2 men with a cart loaded with Russian New Testaments. Gorbachev had signed an order that allowed the Gideons to put Bibles and Testaments into hotel bedrooms as in other countries. And they were there to do begin to do that.
John took a copy and presented it to his Moslem friend and they parted company
3 months later he received a letter from the man saying “This book is my friend and constant companion I’ve read it and reread it.
9 months later back in Moscow John looked up his Moslem friend who told him
“I have given my heart to Jesus Christ as my saviour. I’ve put my faith in him”
A few months later the Soviet Union collapsed.
Years ago John Wesley said "It seems that God is limited by our prayer life - that He can do nothing for humanity until someone asks".
We need more people to ask him and we need people who will do simple things to help change situations
Alfred Tennyson wrote “ More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of [ Chains of Gold ]
We need more people to ask him and we need people who will; do simple things to help change situations
Two House bound ladies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About 60 years ago Peggy Smith 84 years old had lost her eyesight and was unable to attend church anymore and her sister Christine had severe arthritis which kept her at home most of the time and looking after Peggy, They had no TV to wile away the hours so they portrayed not for their healing but for their part of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides where at that time the late 1940‘s most of the churches were near empty and had no young people, They prayed that God would revive and renew his church and one day Peggy had a vision of all the churches filled with young people
Peggy sent for the minister and told him, and told him what according to the vision he had to do.
Pastor James Murray McKay called together the church leaders and they prayed 2 nights each week for 3 months in a barn. for revival
Peggy had another vision and sent for the minister again and told him, what according to the vision he had to do. He had to invite an experienced revivalist preacher Duncan Campbell to come and preach
So an invitation was sent but Duncan was busy at the Keswick convention in the Lake District and he said he could not come but he would come a year later if they still thought he was needed
The message was delivered to Peggy who replied ”That’s what the man says but God has said otherwise. Write to him again
The message reached him while he was sitting in the front row of the Great Tent at the Keswick Convention with the opportunity of a lifetime to conduct the morning Bible studies for the week.
He felt uneasy. He felt he was in the wrong place, and just before he was to begin he turned to the Moderator and told him something has cropped up,
I have to go and he took the next boat to the Outer Hebrides
When he began to preach at the parish church at Barvis, things began to happen, the church filled up with people and it became standing room only and then they filled the graveyard too, spilling out onto the street with much weeping and wailing and cries of anguish, seek God‘s help
Witnesses spoke of feeling the presence of God and so it continued all day late into the night, and as some people went way to their homes and more were arriving, and the news spread to other parts of the island and people began to flock to their churches and at one place he was called to come at 1am and found the church full and crowds outside
The entire Outer Hebrides was shaken with this revival including many otherwise heedless young people. The pubs were empty and some closed down, old debts were paid, old quarrels sorted out, people returned things they had stolen, more and more people started caring about their neighbours.
The ripples of that event were still being felt in other parts of the world years later
Meanwhile at home still praying Peggy and Christine explained
We had a confidence in God that refused to accept defeat
Night after night for a long they had struggled to keep awake through nights of praying refusing to quit - and God answered them
The Dressmaker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three years ago a Mission team in Ghana were being looked after as a housekeeper by a young woman who was an orphan. The opportunity came up for her to learn a trade - dressmaking, but the course would cost £250 which they had not got.
The Mission team Leader emailed a friend in England who replied that there was no spare cash “so pray hard”. They did.
The following day the man in England took their request to a special service and spoke for about 5 minutes and stated how much was needed,
After the service he was approached by a woman who said that earlier in the week her husband and her had had sent to them a £250 cheque with the message that someone would need it and they would know who. They did not know until that moment and the cheque was held over and the girl was able to train.
Back in the 1960’s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev had sent warships loaded with missiles to the Communist island of Cuba. President Kennedy stood up to Nikita’s threat and warned “Withdraw the missiles or we launch our nuclear missiles on Russian cities.”
The world sighed in despair as thinking we were on the edge of a 3rd World War, a nuclear one.
After a stalemate of some hours the Soviet ships were recalled and there was a sigh of relief, and Kennedy got the credit
But it was not his diplomacy that changed things it was a young Christian opera singer performing in Moscow who God used to defuse the situation and answer the prayers of millions.
The young man in his opera company was visiting the City of Moscow and he knew that Nikita loved the opera and had a particular love of a certain song as sung by him.
He sent a personal invitation to the Kremlin asking the President to attend.
Other people said “You are daft, he has weighty matters to deal with”
Yes he had, he was under great pressure and needed a rest to calm himself down.
The young man did not give up, he prayed, he asked God to intervene.
Then just as the curtain was opening for the beginning of the performance Nikita and his aids arrived at the front door and climbed up into the Presidential Box.
The young man sang, Nikita smiled. They met afterwards backstage and then Nikita’s motorcade raced back to the Kremlin Palace, and a relaxed and happy President picked up the phone and ordered the stand off to end.
So it was not the tough guy Kennedy who stopped the danger, but an unknown singer, a favourite song and a believing prayer that saved the world
And after the fall of the USSR and the files were revealed it was found that there was never a reason for the cold war at all. It was just because both sides feared the other, in fact neither side had any intentions of attacking,
Pray as if on that that alone hangs the issue of the day
Pray as of everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you, and the combination will bring the reward.
Denise McGarvey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the run up to Christmas Denise McGarvey in a town South of Warsaw in Poland prayed earnestly that God would provide her access to some Bible Reading Notes in Polish for her to give to the young people in her Salvation Army Youth Cell on January 1st. She had searched diligently for a source in Poland without success.
On Dec 30th 15 copies of OUR DAILY BREAD in Polish arrived through the post from the UK from someone she did not know who had had the booklets about 3 years looking for somewhere to use them when he came across her address in the Salvation Army Weekly magazine and thought this woman may surely be better able to use them than he.
A Hospital Patient
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several years ago a young woman, a factory night guard, and a chorister in the Anglican Cathedral at Accra in Ghana lay on a bed in the main city hospital ill and depressed. She had been there a month. She was not getting any better and she was beginning to wonder whether the LORD heard her prayer. Then the postman delivered an envelope to her and she opened one end, and a booklet fell out - a copy of OUR DAILY STRENGTH with 30 days of selected Bible promises and 2 or 3 hymns.
She was desperate for a Word from the Lord and for healing in mind and body. She read it all and her spirit was lifted. And from that day she got well again.
That envelope began it’s journey from the UK by sea 3 months earlier, and two months before she was taken ill and prayed for help, God had provided an answer before she asked.
Helen Roseveare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helen was a medical graduate of Cambridge University who went with WEC to open a Medical Centre
in what today is the Democratic Republic of Congo
One night on a labour ward a young mother gave birth to a premature baby and Helen and a young nurse tried to save mother and baby but the mother died and the baby needed warmth, so Helen instructed the nurse to stoke up the fire and get a hot water bottle, but the bottle burst and it was the only one. Helen told the nurse to sleep next to the baby through the night to give it body heat. The baby survived the night but was in a critical condition.
Helen gathered the children of the orphanage school together to pray for the baby and the need for a hot water bottle
Ruth a 10 year old girl prayed out loud “Please God send us a water bottle, It will be no good tomorrow God, as the baby will be dead, So please send it this afternoon, and while you are at it would you please send a dolly for her 2 year old sister so she will know you really love her. AMEN”
Helen hardly dare say AMEN for she knew that God could answer prayer but this was bordering on the ridiculous
The only way that could happen was if a supply parcel came from England and she had been there 4 years and nothing had reached her. Who would think of sending a hot water bottle to a hot equatorial country?
She was teaching a class when, early in the afternoon, a car came to her house and unloaded a parcel and drove off
With a group of children Helen unpacked the parcel finding it had come from the Sunday School class she used to teach in England and it had been travelling 5 months
It was full of knitted clothing and bandages, plus a box of raisins and sultanas and underneath that a brand new hot water bottle, and underneath that a small beautifully dressed doll.
Why did someone send those two items - clearly they were in tune with God.
21 years ago in NW Kenya
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a windmill that powered a water pump broke down and the flow of water to the water tanks stopped. The Turkana women used to haul water from the windmill to their homes in jerry cans daily.
The on site missionaries had been there 9 years and had mended then mill several times but this time they could not .They radioed for help to a colleague who brought some equipment but that did not help. They called in the contractor who’d built the mill and he flew in with a winch. 4 men now worked together on the mill. Still nothing worked. So they had to order a new pump.
Randy one of the missionaries went to the capital in search for a new pump, but before he went he tied up the wind sails with a chain so they would not turn and cause more damage.
He returned unsuccessfully having put in an order for a pump from the USA which would take weeks.
As he approached home, he was dismayed to see the sails going round and suspected children had untied them.
A teenager ran up to him saying “The windmill l is working normally and the tank is nearly full of water”
How?. Well shortly after Randy and the other men had had left 12 Turkana Christian women used to praying for the healing of the sick and getting results, believed it was no problem for God to heal a windmill. So they surrounded it, and laid their hands upon it and prayed.
Within 2 hours a strong wind arose and hit the windmill squarely and broke the chain, that had stopped the blades moving’
The tail unfolded into the wind and the sails turned vigorously and the pump became alive again and the water flowed.
The 4 men could not got it to work and neither could the women but they knew someone who could, Jesus, and they asked him and he did it. And the pump continued to pump water until the new pump arrived from America and then it stopped, and a as the new one was fitted it began again.
And as a result where there had only been a handful of nomadic Turkana believers, there is now over a 1000, most of whom have heard how the God who rules the universe has no trouble healing a windmill.
Monica
~~~~~~
1700 years ago a mother named Monica prayed for her son whom she loved dearly but he was headstrong, selfish and into every debauchery possible. He got steadily worse and ignored all her warnings and laughed at her praying for him. There was no place for Jesus or God in his life. He lived at home but he was mostly out with his mates
Until his mid 20’s Then he decided to take a boat to another land, and while Monica slept he left home without saying good bye. She was shocked but still she kept praying
Tossed about on the sea he began to worry about her
And when he reached his destination he started going to church and listening to the Venerable Bishop Ambrose preaching.
The boys name was Augustine and under the preaching and guidance of Ambrose he turned away from his wasted life and became a committed Christian. He trained for the ministry, became a theologian and a bishop.
In the dark days that Rome descended into, the light of the New Testament did not go out but remained amidst the debris of the former empire to light the way to another civilisation That was largely due to Augustine that the Christian Faith survived in Rome.
Shortly after his conversion his mother Monica told him that now she had achieved her lifelong quest of seeing him come to faith in Christ she had nothing left to live for and 9 days later she died.
Of course it is not only women who get prayer answered
Back in 1990 in the Soviet Union, the President was the reformer Michael Gorbachev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In October there took place the Soviet Lausanne Congress when thirteen hundred evangelists from all parts of the Soviet Union gathered to plan the evangelisation of that huge country John Robb who worked for World Vision International was directing a seminar there o “How to win Muslims for Christ”. John found that one of the men working with him as an interpreter with the Russian speaking staff at the hotel was a Muslim who came to his apartment to say goodbye and brought him a gift. John wanted to give him a gift too but he had nothing. He had given away all his Christian literature and he felt that a Russian New Testament would be ideal but this nation had been closed to Christianity for 70 years so there would hardly be anything around but he had nothing and so he prayed an instant arrow prayer “Lord show me what to do”
Instantaneously this arrow prayer was answered by a knock on the door.
As John opened the door he met an unusual sight. There stood 2 men with a cart loaded with Russian New Testaments. Gorbachev had signed an order that allowed the Gideons to put Bibles and Testaments into hotel bedrooms as in other countries. And they were there to do begin to do that.
John took a copy and presented it to his Moslem friend and they parted company
3 months later he received a letter from the man saying “This book is my friend and constant companion I’ve read it and reread it.
9 months later back in Moscow John looked up his Moslem friend who told him
“I have given my heart to Jesus Christ as my saviour. I’ve put my faith in him”
A few months later the Soviet Union collapsed.
Years ago John Wesley said "It seems that God is limited by our prayer life - that He can do nothing for humanity until someone asks".
We need more people to ask him and we need people who will do simple things to help change situations
Alfred Tennyson wrote “ More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of [ Chains of Gold ]
We need more people to ask him and we need people who will; do simple things to help change situations
Two House bound ladies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About 60 years ago Peggy Smith 84 years old had lost her eyesight and was unable to attend church anymore and her sister Christine had severe arthritis which kept her at home most of the time and looking after Peggy, They had no TV to wile away the hours so they portrayed not for their healing but for their part of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides where at that time the late 1940‘s most of the churches were near empty and had no young people, They prayed that God would revive and renew his church and one day Peggy had a vision of all the churches filled with young people
Peggy sent for the minister and told him, and told him what according to the vision he had to do.
Pastor James Murray McKay called together the church leaders and they prayed 2 nights each week for 3 months in a barn. for revival
Peggy had another vision and sent for the minister again and told him, what according to the vision he had to do. He had to invite an experienced revivalist preacher Duncan Campbell to come and preach
So an invitation was sent but Duncan was busy at the Keswick convention in the Lake District and he said he could not come but he would come a year later if they still thought he was needed
The message was delivered to Peggy who replied ”That’s what the man says but God has said otherwise. Write to him again
The message reached him while he was sitting in the front row of the Great Tent at the Keswick Convention with the opportunity of a lifetime to conduct the morning Bible studies for the week.
He felt uneasy. He felt he was in the wrong place, and just before he was to begin he turned to the Moderator and told him something has cropped up,
I have to go and he took the next boat to the Outer Hebrides
When he began to preach at the parish church at Barvis, things began to happen, the church filled up with people and it became standing room only and then they filled the graveyard too, spilling out onto the street with much weeping and wailing and cries of anguish, seek God‘s help
Witnesses spoke of feeling the presence of God and so it continued all day late into the night, and as some people went way to their homes and more were arriving, and the news spread to other parts of the island and people began to flock to their churches and at one place he was called to come at 1am and found the church full and crowds outside
The entire Outer Hebrides was shaken with this revival including many otherwise heedless young people. The pubs were empty and some closed down, old debts were paid, old quarrels sorted out, people returned things they had stolen, more and more people started caring about their neighbours.
The ripples of that event were still being felt in other parts of the world years later
Meanwhile at home still praying Peggy and Christine explained
We had a confidence in God that refused to accept defeat
Night after night for a long they had struggled to keep awake through nights of praying refusing to quit - and God answered them
The Dressmaker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three years ago a Mission team in Ghana were being looked after as a housekeeper by a young woman who was an orphan. The opportunity came up for her to learn a trade - dressmaking, but the course would cost £250 which they had not got.
The Mission team Leader emailed a friend in England who replied that there was no spare cash “so pray hard”. They did.
The following day the man in England took their request to a special service and spoke for about 5 minutes and stated how much was needed,
After the service he was approached by a woman who said that earlier in the week her husband and her had had sent to them a £250 cheque with the message that someone would need it and they would know who. They did not know until that moment and the cheque was held over and the girl was able to train.
Back in the 1960’s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev had sent warships loaded with missiles to the Communist island of Cuba. President Kennedy stood up to Nikita’s threat and warned “Withdraw the missiles or we launch our nuclear missiles on Russian cities.”
The world sighed in despair as thinking we were on the edge of a 3rd World War, a nuclear one.
After a stalemate of some hours the Soviet ships were recalled and there was a sigh of relief, and Kennedy got the credit
But it was not his diplomacy that changed things it was a young Christian opera singer performing in Moscow who God used to defuse the situation and answer the prayers of millions.
The young man in his opera company was visiting the City of Moscow and he knew that Nikita loved the opera and had a particular love of a certain song as sung by him.
He sent a personal invitation to the Kremlin asking the President to attend.
Other people said “You are daft, he has weighty matters to deal with”
Yes he had, he was under great pressure and needed a rest to calm himself down.
The young man did not give up, he prayed, he asked God to intervene.
Then just as the curtain was opening for the beginning of the performance Nikita and his aids arrived at the front door and climbed up into the Presidential Box.
The young man sang, Nikita smiled. They met afterwards backstage and then Nikita’s motorcade raced back to the Kremlin Palace, and a relaxed and happy President picked up the phone and ordered the stand off to end.
So it was not the tough guy Kennedy who stopped the danger, but an unknown singer, a favourite song and a believing prayer that saved the world
And after the fall of the USSR and the files were revealed it was found that there was never a reason for the cold war at all. It was just because both sides feared the other, in fact neither side had any intentions of attacking,
Pray as if on that that alone hangs the issue of the day
Pray as of everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you, and the combination will bring the reward.