Blogs

A few years ago I was able to connect a student of mine with Bob Lucy, a long-time minister of the Gospel and also a DID prayer counselor. Bob’s ministry has brought great healing to Kirsten and she has given me permission to use her real name as we share her testimony below.

We did our first phone prayer counseling session with Bob Lucy ministering to Kirsten and me listening in on a three-way call. The session went on for perhaps four hours with a break in the middle. It was powerful and had a life-changing impact on Kirsten’s life. It is now many months after that initial phone counseling session and Kirsten shares below her testimony of healing.

Come and let us reason together. My word teaches you to confess but the purpose for this is not to inform me of what you have done wrong, for I already know. Your acknowledgement of it is part of the process of restoration. Yet this does not occur in isolation, for my presence changes everything. Under other circumstances the acknowledgement of sin would lead to despair, but I am the redeemer. Put it in the open before me and I will change your perspective. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as wool. I am faithful to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. 

Do you have a plan and schedule for every day, knowing where you need to be when, and follow your plan? Yet have you ever had an unexpected encounter occur and sensed that you were suddenly on a special assignment from me? I also have a plan for your day and you would be wise to consult me before making your own plans. Yet I will not always tell you in advance what to expect. I once told my disciples that my time was not yet come, but their time was always ready. This applies to you too. It is important that you walk with me and follow me, looking for the sudden opportunities I give you and being obedient to respond. 

Do you think that unconditional love is great as long as you are receiving it? Are you prepared to give it? You love because I first loved you. This is only possible for you because you were quickened by my love. This began the process of transforming you into my likeness and enabling you to love. I love because it is characteristic of me, and as you become like me it will be of you too. I do not say that it is easy, but I have invited you into the fellowship of my suffering. Do not fear to respond. You will fulfill my joy and find your joy in this sacrifice. Freely you have received, freely give.

Jesus, I need a word for Your people.
 
Ben, I have one. I have many.
 
My people, My dear, dear, children. How I long to take each and every one
of you under My protective wings. Do you not know how much I really love you?
Do you not know how important each one of you is to Me? Come,
spend time with Me! Arrange time to be with Me, for I have much to share with you.
Doing your own thing is not spending time with Me. Yes, tough times are coming
and I want My people to rely upon Me for everything!

The ancient Greek dramas were tragedies or comedies. These metaphors have carried over into the modern age and you have probably heard of drama referred to as one or the other. Is the drama in your own life absurd or despairing? Yet limiting it to these two choices is cynical. For there is another alternative that doesn’t fit these categories. The story of my work in your life is a tale of redemption. It is not a comedy or a tragedy and neither is it a fictional story written for entertainment. It is the real life you live abiding in me with meaning and purpose and abundance and is cause for rejoicing. 

Do you find yourself constantly surrounded by images and stories of celebrities? Some of these are shallow people who are famous for dubious reasons. How many of them are famous for enduring positive accomplishments or Christlike character? It can take a strong inner sense of resolve to maintain your values in this culture. Yet you have my promise that the first will be last and the last will be first. Those who are so highly esteemed today will be disregarded, and in the fullness of my Kingdom those who labored faithfully in obscurity will receive the recognition due unto them. I will render every man what he is due and the acclaim of men is not worthy to be compared to the rewards I give.

Unexpected opportunities to minister the love of God can be challenging.  For example, you pass an acquaintance in the grocery store and in an effort not to be rude you ask them how they are doing.  You fully expect to get the standard, “Fine how are you?” response but instead they begin to cry and pour out their hearts.  How do we respond to those situations?  How do we shift our focus off of whatever we were do

How do you choose your friends? My word says that they who feared the Lord spoke often to one another. I listened in to their conversation wrote a book of remembrance for those who feared me and thought upon my name. These are my special treasure, and you want to be in this book. This depends on your conversation and that depends on how you choose your friends. For you are prone to find a subject agreeable to both. Those who do not have this hunger in their hearts will not want to discuss me. Your choice of friends is a decision with eternal consequences. If you hunger for me you will seek those who have my presence in them as you do and I will find them for you.

To the crowd wanting to stone a woman caught in adultery I said let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Do you take this to be a universal principle or intended for this incident only? You normally think of my pronouncements as being universal, and in a literal sense you should not throw rocks at people. Yet taken in a broader sense, who then can give correction at all? Those who are too eager are automatically disqualified, yet I have placed some in spiritual authority for whom this is a duty. It is a fearful thing for anyone to bring correction to my children but if your motive is love from a broken heart I may allow you to steer others back to the path of righteousness.