Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.” When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.” (1 Samuel 9:15-17 NIV) About a few weeks ago during my quiet time as I was preparing for Sunday’s worship, I heard the Lord’s voice telling me to share about the woman in the bible who was suffering from bleeding for twelve years, no doctor could help her so when she heard about Jesus coming she thought “If I could only touch Jesus clothes, I will be heal” (Mark 5:25-29). I really felt that God wanted a time of prayer and healing to happen that Sunday morning during worship. But I have to confess because it involved talking I wasn’t too excited about it. I usually reason with God, “Do I really have to talk? Why can’t I just sing and lead worship?” I remember even mentioning this strong leading to Pastor Kevin and Pastor Mike , hoping one of them would take the lead. I was wrong and was told, “Do it!” God hears our prayers (Ps 65:2) when we pray for healing, supplication, guidance and protection. But I believe God desires for us to have the kind of prayer like Samuels’ where we listen to His voice telling us what we need to do. The kind of prayer where we have a “two way” conversation with God, when we stop talking and allow God to speak to us through our thoughts and in our hearts. And when we finally hear His voice, we act in faith and obey Him. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God. (Jeremiah 42:6 KJV) A woman came up to me after the service and shared that she was not feeling well that Sunday and had originally planned to stay home. But she said , she heard God tell her she needed to go to church because God said “I will call you and heal you”. She had no idea how was that possible until she heard me share about the woman in Mark 5 and said Maybe youre that woman today. Come upfront, God wants to heal you. She immediately knew that was for her. So she went forward , prayed for and got healed. Praise God! Today, during our time of fasting , let’s not focus on what we are giving up but focus only on Jesus our Lord. Stop and listen to His voice. What is He telling us? What does He want us to do? And when we hear His voice by faith let us gladly obey and follow Him wholeheartedly to bless His name and be a blessing. God bless! Richie Cayabyab #iholdthekeys
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 13:00:00 +0000