Today I share this episode, one of the most powerful lessons God taught me about the release of His power, the blessing of obedience and serving others through prayer.
–Extract from Ever Present Communicator: Engaging with a Dynamic God
“Often we pray the prayer, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” but do not follow through.
Back in Scotland, the days went by very quickly until time was up. I traveled to Houston but my wife had to stay for another two weeks to allow the shipping company to pack the contents of our home into a container.
The Lord left His calling card for me upon my arrival at the office. My desk in the Houston office was on floor number seven while the rest of the group was located on the eighth floor.
After a week in Houston, with one week remaining before my wife would depart from Scotland, the house was still not sold and the flames in the furnace felt scorching hot. My wife’s flight was booked for the next Sunday morning. We had seven days to the deadline and doubt was pounding on the door.
That Saturday morning, for the first time I can remember, I could not get out of bed. My body was exhausted by stress. I felt that I was at my wits end and there was nothing I could do. Curled in a ball on the bed I called out to the Lord. I felt He spoke to my heart telling me that even though the flames were extremely hot, I would not burn.
…so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. — 1 Peter 1:7
He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” — Daniel 3:25
Not wanting to get out of bed, I browsed my personal e-mails. The Holy Spirit reminded me of an e-mail that my brother sent me several months before. At the time my brother thought it could be of help to us. He reminded me again a couple of months later but I put it on the backburner – again. Since that time I have learned that my brother has a gift for bringing instruction from the Lord and I have to treat his messages accordingly.
I listened to the message from the hyperlink. It was an audio message regarding prayer. About halfway through the first hour I realized that I had seen the teacher on television before. It was during a lunch break when I was working at home back in Scotland. The part of his message that I saw was very interesting but I switched the television off to go back to work. I did not realize at the time that God was trying to get this message to me.
One of the sessions relayed the story of a man that wanted to buy a specific house in his town for years. The man felt that the Lord said to him it was his house. The house however never went up for sale and the owner living in the house at the time would not sell it when approached. After a long period of prayer, the man wanting the house was ready to give up. The Holy Spirit spoke to him and said that instead of praying for the house, he should pray that the Lord would bless the incumbent owner and resolve any problems the owner had.
God had already answered the man’s prayer a long time ago but required him to be obedient and not focus on himself but his ‘neighbor’. Not long after he started praying for the needs of the home owner instead of his own, the house was sold.
There was no doubt that this teaching applied to our situation. I realized that like Jesus, the Father expected us to put others first. That was the key.
I spent the following week praising the Lord for having answered my prayers already, instead of begging Him to answer them. I prayed for the couple that was going to buy our house when it initially went on the market.
For seven days, instead of listening to the radio in the car, I worshiped. Instead of watching television at night I prayed both in the natural and in the Spirit. Seven days passed and it was the Saturday before the Sunday that my wife would depart from Scotland. Our home belongings were packed and my wife was arranging some décor in the empty rooms. We hoped that staging the house in this way would help to sell it.
Late that Saturday night Scotland time, I received a phone call from my wife. She was very excited. The couple who wanted to buy our home so many months ago unexpectedly walked through the front door and agreed to buy the house. I could not believe what I heard. We did not have any contact with them in months!
Disbelief changed to awe and I fell to my knees and thanked God. He is Almighty. That experience changed my perspective and I realized that it is never too late for the Lord. Even though the situation could probably have been resolved some time ago, God never gave up guiding us to receive His blessing. God was communicating all the time, but in the rush and busyness of life I neglected to listen to what He was saying. I promised myself, ”Never again!”
We had already appointed a local solicitor with legal rights to sign any paperwork on our behalf and my wife left Scotland on the Sunday morning.
The next challenge was to get closure on the transaction and have the funds transferred to our account. All of this needed to happen in time for us to close the transaction on our new home. The solicitor in Scotland diplomatically told us that it was highly unlikely that it would all happen in time. The process normally took four weeks. After two weeks we received an e-mail from the solicitor stating that everything was settled and the transaction was completed! She added that she never personally experienced a home sale process that completed so quickly.
We were set to take possession of our new home on the seventeenth of December. The only problem now would be to get the furniture in time or at least a bed to sleep on. The estimated minimum time for the shipment was six weeks, not considering the possibility of stormy seas. Six weeks shipping time would be two weeks too late for us to move in to our new home.
The week before we hoped to move in, I phoned the shipping company to get an update on the schedule. I was informed that the shipment would arrive early and delivery at our house would be possible from the seventeenth of December onward – exactly on time!
Praise God Almighty. Going through the process made me acutely aware of how capable our Father is and how much He cares. One thing I am sure of is that if God has spoken and His saints are willing to follow His instructions, nothing can stand against us.
God’s instructions could include patience, prayer, actions or perseverance together with spiritual warfare. The critical part is waiting on the Lord and keeping the communication channel open. If you are like me, you need Jesus to strengthen you and perfect your faith. “
-end of extract
Hope you have enjoyed this testimony, Have a blessed week.
Back in 2013, when I left my long time career, I asked God what primary initiative he wanted me to support as I pursued new ventures. God answered swiftly, “Human Trafficking Victims” and confirmed with the organization postcode 7XX27 (see book). Now 10 years later, this movie will hit the big screen on July 4 – please support this movie and bring awareness to this evil.