I don't know about anyone else, but that sums up chapter one. The author basically picks up a hammer and smashes apart my definition of "normal."
There wasn't a lot of traditional teaching in this chapter. He seemed more intent on using stories about miracles around the world to awaken a hunger in us for more of God. Did it work on you? I know I'm pumped for chapter two and learning more about how to change the way I live. But until then, let's take a minute and discuss chapter one.
What was your favorite story of the chapter? What was the miracle that got your engine revving more than any other?
For me, it has to be the Buddhist monk who came back from the dead (p.32-33). How wild is that? The guy dies, goes to hell, sees Goliath there (whom he'd never heard of before), gets raised from the dead, and then tells everyone that the Christians are right and we all need to repent! Wow. For me it was especially cool that he saw Goliath there. If it was somebody with a Christian background, you could chalk it up to a hallucination or something. The doctors would say that the guys was simply remembering stories he had heard and dreaming about them or something. But this guy had never read or heard the stories, and he describes these people exactly. Wow.
By the way, I tried to follow the directions in the book to get the full story, but the email he gave wouldn't work for me. I looked up the transcript online, and you can read the full version here:
http://bibleprobe.com/backfromthedead.htm
There are also pictures of him on this site:
http://worldrec.info/2006/10/29/remarkable-testimonies-buddhist-monk-athet-pyan-shinthaw-paulu-and-paul-williams-buddhist-scholar-converts-to-christianity/
So tell me, what rocked your world from this chapter?
12 comments:
I'll go with all the different ways God supernaturally provided for people.
It was also pretty cool to read Psalm 81 which shows God's heart on the matter. He's pleading for us to walk in his ways so he can bless us.
Psalm 81:13-16
"Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn My hand against their adversaries.
The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him,
But their fate would endure forever.
He would have fed them with the finest of wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you."
What amazed me the most were the stories where God imparts such specific information to people in order to show how much He cares. Like the Muslim guy on p. 32 who gets an address of where to get a Bible to learn about how to get real peace. Or on pp. 35-37 where Pastor John Nduati is at a crusade and starts prophesying to people in the attendance. God gave him names, details about diseases and problems in their lives, and actual numbers of how many people needed healing for certain things.
Stuff like that just blows me away, and I don't know about y'all, but I want to be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that God could use me in something like that. I don't know how I would hear things like that from God, but I'm asking that He would increase my faith and our faith so that we could believe Him to use us to perform miracles that would bring people into His Kingdom!
Nicole, I don't know if I've ever heard you say "y'all" before. Indiana must be rubbing off on you...
I picked up y'all from Virginia actually. In fact, I tried really hard to assimilate it into my vocabulary because I thought it was a really fun thing to say. And I don't have a fun Boston accent, so I needed something :-)
You could say, "Let's go eat baked beans and clam chowder, y'all!" That would combine the two nicely.
I loved the story of the girl who had to run away from home naked, but was clothed by God's beauty. It's so wonderful to me to know that God cares about a young lady in the middle of nowhere, not wanting her to experience the humiliation she naturally would have endured. I don't think it was just to speak a lesson about being the "bride of Christ" that God did that. Perhaps he was mainly motivated by his desire to protect the girl.
As we're asking God to involve us in supernatural ministry, I just know he's not up there like, "are you guys sure you REALLY need miracles to see people saved? 'Cause I don't wanna waste any..." That's not his heart! He's like, "Definitely yes! I love to use you guys for my glory. I'll give you even more than you're asking for if you'll just not give up too quick." Let's not make this a passing thought in our minds, but a genuine lifestyle change!
My favorite part was p.35, where Jesus had to tell David Yonggi Cho's son that He couldn't keep him in Heaven because "your father will not let you go." So powerful! That really inspired me to believe more in the power of prayer and the power of our words!! If we agree with Scripture and pray according to the will of God, NOTHING will be impossible for us! Our religious heads find that hard to fathom, but I believe God is breaking us out of old mindsets and bringing us into a new level of faith as a Body...as we stand on His Word.
Jesus said we can even speak to mountains and command them to move!!! This actually happened in history (look up Pope Abraham of Alexandria on Wikipedia.) I challenge you to read the Bible with new eyes--to envision the miracles you read on the page as happening here, now, at Purdue! God wants to pour out His glory and draw the nations to Himself!!!!
One that struck me was the meantioning of Wolfgang, who was moving to a new home. It was a reminder of His providence...a reminder that He does play a role in our life. Especially as of late, as I've questioned the true interaction of man and Creator (my own).
Nonetheless, it speaks of the extraordinary within the ordinary occurances of each one's life. So it is true to how any of it can be real to us. Something exceptional, something extraordinary within our daily life.
So definitely a reminder of prayer. Definitely a reminder of the seriousness required within our dedication and faith, because if there's questioning of the interaction between man and Creator, it is not because He has left us. It is too evident of His love and caring, especially clear in these miracles.
My apologies for the late comment... That first chapter blew my mind away... simply because I had forgotten the magnificence and greatness of the God I serve.
Although I loved each an every story, when I finished the chapter, I was curious about the sources and I started to read them (p. 42-54). Reading one of the miracles I felt identified with a similar miracle God made in my life and I wanted to share with you (p. 43).
It’s the miracle where members of one village asked a preacher to pray that it would rain, while members of a close village asked him to pray that it wouldn’t. It looks difficult, but let me tell you my story…. I’ll try to keep it short
When I was planning my wedding, I was trying to decide where to get married. I wanted to get married in the beach but I was afraid that it would rain (it rains like crazy in PR). I said to the Lord: “Lord, I really want to get married in the beach, but I pray that it wont rain that day” I paid for the place ( 6 months before the wedding) and since then I had that same request in all my prayers. Every time I had the opportunity to request for prayer I would request the same thing. About 1 month before the wedding, one of my friends reminded me something that blew mi mind away. I was getting married at noon, in the beach and in June ! ( that could be equivalent to 100 degrees and a lot of sweating and discomfort).
As you imagine my prayers started to change: “ Lord, I don’t know how you are going to do it, but I don’t want it to be hot and sunny either” . You might not understand, but in PR that was almost impossible, in summer is either hot, humid and sunny or raining.
The day of the wedding, the Lord did it, … but I had to truly believe Him. The skies became dark, really dark (there were thunderstorms in the forecast), the wind was blowing.......... but IT NEVER RAINED!! It was hard to see the sky and believe that it would not rain... but how else could he have covered me from the sun?
He did a miracle that day, and I more than anyone saw that!
God bless you!
Suleidy
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