Can you remember moments when you have heard about God’s intervention in people’s lives in a tangible way? Do you get tingles down your spine, goosebumps down your arms and a welling in your throat?
I read ‘The Heavenly Man’ about Brother Yun’s miraculous experiences a while ago and recently an article on 24/7 Prayer’s site containing this extract that made me feel that same tingle of awe and wonder – the heavenly here on earth:
“Actually, I have quite the story from the prayer room with the underground church – the pastor of this church wanted me and another girl to help some of his students set up the prayer room. We did so, and he invited me to return to spend the night in the apartment with the women who were going to cover the night shift. I took my good friend along, and what happened through the night gave us an experience akin to that of many Chinese underground church leaders – as the two of us white foreigners ran from the apartment at 4:30am by order of the Chinese believers, we ran face to face into some uniformed Chinese policemen. [It’s illegal for foreigners to be with the Chinese in any religious meeting that’s not registered with the government, and a 24-7 prayer meeting breaks all the boundaries.] It was a Heavenly Man sort of experience, though, where the police looked right past us and we left down the elevator, and they only questioned the Chinese believers briefly and then left. I was seriously scared – legs-shaking kind of scared! No ramifications came of that encounter to the Chinese church, though, praise Jesus.”
When I read testimonies such as this, I sometimes wonder if in the ordinary pattern of my life, I will ever sense God reaching out to shield me or to speak to me…. but then I am reminded of the many things God has already worked in me and that I am a forgetful being – in the Bible, Israel was a forgetful nation:
Deuteronomy 4 verses 7- 13
“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.”
Look at what miracles they experienced and yet how they quickly let everyday life overtake their regard for a holy God!
I think I am longing to see more of the glory of God in our city (Leeds) and to sense more of the tingles down my spine as I hear stories of lives restored, attitudes changed.
God, use me to do your will;
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
