Pray and Watch God Work!

“Our God is Awesome! Heals me when I’m broken, strength where I’ve weakened… Forever He will reign…!!!”

I believe in the power of prayer!

During the months of October and November of 2013, I was led by the Holy Spirit to pray for the direct needs of my congregation and persons who worship with us at Bethel Temple of Praise. There were several individuals who had been diagnosed and some that were waiting for the test to confirm or clear them of potential diseases.  Others were in various stages of financial upheaval and families that were having various issues.

The Holy Spirit spoke these words to me to declare over the congregation, “Pray and Watch God Work”.

I commissioned one of our members, a medical doctor, to make a list of all the different kinds of illness that persons were facing.  She also gave me what were the causes and potential consequences of each of these illnesses. Every Sunday morning for 15-20 I personal prayed for these various issues: personal, spiritual and financial.  During this period, we would break during our Sunday morning worship and pray specifically for the different illnesses and needs of those persons who were worshipping with us. These moments of intercessory prayer have been such a blessing and on the fifth Sunday of October we had our congregation shared their testimonies about the power of prayer and how God has worked miraculously in their lives.

As we sat and listened, during worship, we were just in awe at some of the miracles that The Lord has done. God has continued to heal the sick among us. When we sat and listened to how God has removed tumors and potential cancer cells from the bodies of our people it is just so amazing! We have heard of persons who were told by their doctors that there was nothing more to do—no operation was possible. Thanks to God he never gives up on us, and He is the ultimate healer when we are ailing.

God’s goodness never fails us, for instance we see where The Lord continues to work miracles in the lives of his people. We have had healing taken place in the life of one of our members who was inflected with stage 3 pancreatic cancer. The doctors’ thought it was impossible to do surgery, but today the surgery was a success, and thanks to God she is now recovering. God has also removed what was thought to be cancerous cells from another of our sister’s body. I can recall following the leading of the Holy Spirit to ask for seven persons to believe in faith with me while we went to God in prayer for another person that had a preliminary diagnosis of potentially cancerous cells.  Our sister has been given seven months to return to the doctor to confirm that all cancerous cells are gone. It is only The Lord that could have performed all these miraculous deeds!

Through prayer, God had restored broken relationships, provided financially for his people, provided jobs when it seems as if all hope was gone. He brought about promotions in the lives of his people and has removed numerous obstacles that were preventing his people from moving upward.

We have also seen The Lord working in the lives of His people in their personal relationships.  There were siblings and relatives who have not been talking to each other for some time now. We prayed specifically for those relationships, and we have heard of reports of these persons are talking to each other and have now reconciled their differences. This could only be achieved through God’s grace and mercy towards us as we believed by faith.

We prayed continuously for job opportunities to be opened up for our people and how good it is to hear our people shared of God providing jobs for them when they least expected it to happen. Our God promised to supply our needs and indeed He has come through for us and we are so grateful to God for always being there for us.

How then can we not remain steadfast and continue to serve The Lord with all our hearts and soul? We read in God’s words that He will always provide for us if we remain faithful to him. After listening to all that The Lord has done in the lives of His people how can we not obey His word where we are told to “…hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering…”

Not everyone was instantly healed or delivered from their various sicknesses or delivered from their various issues. They too experienced the presence of God in a real and personal way. Through their issues and sicknesses they found strength and comfort that was a miracle.

Finally, let us always remember to give thanks to God for all He has done. As Psalm 34:19 says ” Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but The Lord delivers him out of them all.”…. God may not remove all the afflictions, but He makes sure we are able to endure them faithfully. Pray and watch God work!