Awesome, awesome, awesome...
that's our God and I have a wonderful testimony to share.
Last Friday a Filipino Pastor we know called late in the night to ask for some legal advice from Ed as his wife had just been arrested. I don't want to go into all the details about it, but just that she was found to be running some small business while only on a visit visa. How was she found out? A business partner had a problem with her and turned on her and called the cops, and whether the person intended or not, it got very ugly (it takes only a small seed of bitterness to cause a lot of damage) and she was taken off to jail.
Over the course of the last 10 days I have seen the Lord at work to deliver promise after promise as we turned to Him and I have to, have to, have to share how good He is.
1)God changed my heart: my initial reaction, when this person called was of the flesh. The whole thing looked ugly and the cops were involved and stuff and I wanted to turn and run away from the problem. Thank you Lord that you gave me the sense to come to you with this. As Ed spoke on the phone totally getting involved, I prayed about my feelings. I told God honestly how I was feeling, and you know what He did, He made me go from the north pole to the south pole. = ) I went from hesitation to having this huge burden in my heart to cry out in prayer and intercession for them. I was surprised by this, it was like something awful had happened to my family. I could not understand why I was so moved by what had happened but I was.
2)God kept their faith alive while circumstances looked the worst. Ed spent the next day at the trial with the pastor and they stood together in hope and faith while the wife was denied bail and sent to prison for 6 weeks before the next hearing.
3) God touched us all to pray for them. Ed asked the Pastor to come to our one body meeting at the Vine and we all prayed for the family in the spirit. It was a prayer of protection and strength, of submitting to God's will, of rising in hope and faith,of breaking bondages and standing against the weapon formed knowing that God's protection would cause it to fall away.
4) God's promise came through. Ed visited the wife in jail and she was strong in the Lord, witnessing to whoever she could, far from feeling sorry for herself and wondering why all this had happened to her.
5) God's promise came through. The husband found a lawyer to help appeal the case and try and get bail. They had another hearing yesterday and bail was set at $40,000 + there was a lawyers fee of $10,000.
6) God's promise came through. Although this family is only 4 months old in HK, and did not have the money, God did an amazing thing, He raised $40,000 in a couple of hours. Friends worked together to come up with the money to settle the bail amount and she was released. It reminds me of the early church in Acts where believers got together, sold their stuff and shared what they had to help each other out. We praise you Lord!
All along the way I see how faith has worked to give us what our flesh so easily could have lost us. Anywhere along the line a feeling to get hopeless and settle for the worst or less (which was a temptation that bothered everyone involved) was crucified as faith, hope and belief was chosen.
I can't thank God enough for His spirit, without which we would have been so lost and alone.
Lord may what we have experienced form deep roots in our hearts, may it bless everyone reading this to know that you are our rock and our strength and when our hope is in you, there can be no other outcome but the fulfillment of your promise. Let this experience Lord be the firm foundation that will stand strong, that will hold our faith and conquer any storm that we might ever face. You are our rock and our strength Lord. We love you Jesus.
While she is out of jail the trial will go on and we ask for your prayers. The Lord's glory will shine through just like it has so far. Let us all release our faith in the awesome God we serve. Keep us Lord ever close to you,and be glorified Father in all that we do. Amen.
that's our God and I have a wonderful testimony to share.
Last Friday a Filipino Pastor we know called late in the night to ask for some legal advice from Ed as his wife had just been arrested. I don't want to go into all the details about it, but just that she was found to be running some small business while only on a visit visa. How was she found out? A business partner had a problem with her and turned on her and called the cops, and whether the person intended or not, it got very ugly (it takes only a small seed of bitterness to cause a lot of damage) and she was taken off to jail.
Over the course of the last 10 days I have seen the Lord at work to deliver promise after promise as we turned to Him and I have to, have to, have to share how good He is.
1)God changed my heart: my initial reaction, when this person called was of the flesh. The whole thing looked ugly and the cops were involved and stuff and I wanted to turn and run away from the problem. Thank you Lord that you gave me the sense to come to you with this. As Ed spoke on the phone totally getting involved, I prayed about my feelings. I told God honestly how I was feeling, and you know what He did, He made me go from the north pole to the south pole. = ) I went from hesitation to having this huge burden in my heart to cry out in prayer and intercession for them. I was surprised by this, it was like something awful had happened to my family. I could not understand why I was so moved by what had happened but I was.
2)God kept their faith alive while circumstances looked the worst. Ed spent the next day at the trial with the pastor and they stood together in hope and faith while the wife was denied bail and sent to prison for 6 weeks before the next hearing.
3) God touched us all to pray for them. Ed asked the Pastor to come to our one body meeting at the Vine and we all prayed for the family in the spirit. It was a prayer of protection and strength, of submitting to God's will, of rising in hope and faith,of breaking bondages and standing against the weapon formed knowing that God's protection would cause it to fall away.
4) God's promise came through. Ed visited the wife in jail and she was strong in the Lord, witnessing to whoever she could, far from feeling sorry for herself and wondering why all this had happened to her.
5) God's promise came through. The husband found a lawyer to help appeal the case and try and get bail. They had another hearing yesterday and bail was set at $40,000 + there was a lawyers fee of $10,000.
6) God's promise came through. Although this family is only 4 months old in HK, and did not have the money, God did an amazing thing, He raised $40,000 in a couple of hours. Friends worked together to come up with the money to settle the bail amount and she was released. It reminds me of the early church in Acts where believers got together, sold their stuff and shared what they had to help each other out. We praise you Lord!
All along the way I see how faith has worked to give us what our flesh so easily could have lost us. Anywhere along the line a feeling to get hopeless and settle for the worst or less (which was a temptation that bothered everyone involved) was crucified as faith, hope and belief was chosen.
I can't thank God enough for His spirit, without which we would have been so lost and alone.
Lord may what we have experienced form deep roots in our hearts, may it bless everyone reading this to know that you are our rock and our strength and when our hope is in you, there can be no other outcome but the fulfillment of your promise. Let this experience Lord be the firm foundation that will stand strong, that will hold our faith and conquer any storm that we might ever face. You are our rock and our strength Lord. We love you Jesus.
While she is out of jail the trial will go on and we ask for your prayers. The Lord's glory will shine through just like it has so far. Let us all release our faith in the awesome God we serve. Keep us Lord ever close to you,and be glorified Father in all that we do. Amen.
posted by Cheryl @ 9:32 PM
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