Some Days Are Like This!
Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. (Isa 55:6)
Met Mr. A a few days ago at a shelter, and he looked right into my eyes and said, “I remember you.”
The last time I saw him, which was over a month ago, he was sitting all by himself with a walking stick right beside him. At that time, he told me his story about how he lost his job, his car, his house, and pretty much all that he had within a few months. On top of all that, his health was also deteriorating so fast that he now had serious balance issues and was a serious fall risk. That explained the walking stick, though he was only around forty years old. Along with his health, he was also gradually losing his eyesight. Though he wore a pair of thick lenses, he could not read, which obviously affected his ability to work. He said that he could not see beyond six to seven feet in front of him, beyond which everything appeared blurred. He was an educated, experienced, and well-spoken man who could have gone back to work if his health issues hadn’t become an impediment. He told me about how he came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he used to attend a church in the greater Dallas area. Though the church grew fast and acquired its own property, because of the mismanagement of church funds, they eventually lost it and are now meeting on Facebook.
I remember sitting with him for a long time, teaching him from the Scriptures, and sharing many things as the Lord gave. At the end of it, I asked him if I could pray for him, and he was glad to receive prayer. First, I laid hands over his eyes and prayed for his eyesight. I asked him to open his eyes and check them, and he was visibly surprised. If he could see only six to seven feet in front of him before, now he could clearly see more than fifteen feet. He crinkled his eyes as if straining from too much light and said, “Everything looks brighter,” and I knew that he was delivered from whatever was causing him to go blind. Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!
After that, I prayed for his balance issue and asked him to check his body, and made him walk. He walked without the stick, lifted both his legs one at a time, bent down, stretched, and checked his whole body. He said he felt better and that his joints felt loose but he was not sure about the balance issue. I left him that day encouraging him to turn his life around by submitting his life entirely to the Lordship of Christ. I reminded him of the necessity of beginning to live a holy lifestyle, obeying the Lord in all things, and making decisions and choices in life that are pleasing to Him.
A few days ago, when I met him again, I asked him about his sight. He said, “My sight is alright now,” and I noticed that he was not wearing those glasses anymore. I also asked him about his balance issue, and he said that he was not too sure about that, but I could see for myself that he was now walking freely without his stick. In fact, he didn’t even carry his stick with him anymore. Praise the Lord.
As we continued to talk, I felt that he received the healings that day but not the word from the Lord to restore and recalibrate his life. So, to remind him about our conversation, I asked him if he remembered the things we had discussed. He enthusiastically said, “Yes! It was very good.” Somehow the Lord checked me, and I said, “It is only good if you have put it into practice in your life.” He responded with a deep and thoughtful “Hmmm,” for he had nothing more to say. I believe the Holy Spirit conveyed what He needed to convey. So, I got up and walked away, sensing that it was all that was needed for the moment.
Healings and miracles are signs that point to the living God. They are meant to testify to the presence and power of the Lord. To His care, love, faithfulness, and grace toward us. But there are many who receive His grace that way but still do not submit their lives to Him. Some walk away as if it is nothing to have their eyesight restored or infirmity removed in a moment after struggling for a long time, even when they know that medicines and doctors could not help much. This lukewarm spirit frightens me, for many will perish in its grip, not being able to respond to the grace of God that collides with them like a freight train.
I walked over to a nearby bench, where a young man in his early twenties sat. He had called out to me while I was talking with Mr. A and had asked for a Bible. I had told him that I would come to him once I finished with Mr. A. I gave him a Bible and asked him to start reading the gospel of John. Surprisingly, he took it and began to read immediately. He read the whole chapter and returned it to me, but I said it was for him and asked him to keep it. He was new at that shelter. He had a plastic cup before him, half full of a red liquid in it, and I assumed it was some kind of soda. I asked him what exactly he was struggling with, and he said, “Drinking,” gesturing toward the cup. It was only then that I realized that it was not soda. Then I noticed an open wine bottle, half full, which he had kept partially hidden beside one of the legs of the tent under which we sat.
He was visibly distressed, and I knew that he was fighting the guilt inside of him, which was smothering him because he knew what he was doing was wrong. Yet he felt helpless to change his condition. He was the product of a broken family. His father was in prison, and he didn’t talk to his mom, who was in another city far from Dallas. But as we talked further, he agreed to call her and ask her forgiveness for all his wild ways.
I showed him several scriptures, taught him from them and shared the gospel with him. He used to love the Lord at a younger age, but now he knew that his choices and lifestyle had clearly led him away from the Lord. He felt that Jesus was mad at him and would not forgive him. So, I reminded him of the love of the Lord and how tenderly he is waiting for him to turn back to Him. I offered that if he was willing to throw away the bottle of wine and turn back to Jesus right then, I would pray with him. He began to weep, and he wanted to do that. Yet he thought for a bit and said, “Let me finish this bottle, and then I will turn back to Jesus.” I didn’t feel that he was ready to give up his habit and come back to the Lord. I told him to continue to read the word, to talk to the Lord, and to repent before I walked away.
After that, I met another gentleman who was 49 years old. He said he needed prayer for a place to stay. In the ensuing conversation, he said that it was almost ready and probable that within a week he would have his new home. But then he began to speak to me about his difficult life and his struggle with mental health issues. He spoke about having a very traumatic experience when he was 20. Also that he used various drugs for a long time but is now free from the habit. He used to drink a lot, which often triggered his drug use, but he was free from that as well. He suffered from mental health issues and was taking four different medications as well as some kind of cannabis derivative that was prescribed to him.
After he told me his story, I casually asked him at what age he started using weed. And that took us into another deep dive into his life. In short, he started using weed at the age of seven, and later he graduated to cocaine, meth, and other hard drugs.
Until then, we were standing, but before he started on the weed usage side of his story, we found a table and sat there, where another man was already sitting. As we continued to talk, this man interjected to say something, and I realized that he was listening to our conversation. As I began to speak to the first man about the effects of smoking weed (using drugs in general), as I have already published in three parts, the other man also began to engage, and thus I ended up talking to both of them at the same time. It turns out that the second was over fifty years old, and he was still struggling with drug addiction. As I taught them from the scriptures, both understood the mistakes they had made that caused their lives to go totally out of control.
Since we had already talked for a long time, I finally asked if they were willing to repent, give up their ways, and turn to Jesus so that He could set them free from their addictions and begin a new life. Remember, the first man was already free from addictions, but I told him to repent and ask the Lord to free him from the mental illness and from his dependency on prescription drugs. Obviously, it was not an easy thing for him to do, but I knew that he truly loved the Lord. So, I encouraged him to ask the Lord to set him free, and he did. After that, I put my hand over his head and prayed for him, and as I was praying, he began to weep. After prayer, he told me how he felt the Holy Spirit touching his heart. His countenance had changed; he hugged me, encouraged the other man to follow the Lord, and then left.
Immediately, I turned to the other man and asked him if he was willing to repent and give his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously, what he had just witnessed with the first man affected him, and the Lord opened his heart. Without me prompting him any further, he said his problem was not just drug addiction, but a whole lot of addictions including fornication, robbery, and several other wicked things. Then he repented and prayed, asking the Lord to forgive him and to be His Lord from that day on. I prayed for him after that and gave him a Bible, and he gave me a huge hug, and then I left.
Some days are like this. I see people receive outright miracles, yet their hearts remain closed to the Lord. It is a mystery how they cannot perceive the goodness of the Lord even when they have received such tangible, life-changing evidence of His grace. There are days when I can see people coming to the brink of receiving the Lord’s saving grace and then turning away. Yet it is all so worthwhile and beautiful to see the Lord turn around lives and bring them to Himself in the most unexpected way. All glory to the One who took the wounds on His body for us, died on the cross of Calvary, and then rose from the dead, never to die again.
It is a joy to share with you what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. Thank you for praying for us.
Please share ‘Resurrection Life’ with your friends and family and bring them along in our journey with the Lord. All glory to the One who rose from the dead, never to die again – our Lord Jesus Christ.
❤️