So, after God showed Himself strong to the homeless lady at the dam by healing her shoulder, ending the drought of ’86 and even giving her a pair of flipflops, I went back to my vehicle.
I didn’t live in or near Murfreesboro, so I called a local church and asked if they could help her with immediate needs and get her back on her feet. They were glad to assist and asked me to give her their phone number.
While I was on the phone with them, some big ol’ redneck in a muscle car, windows down (no AC), can of beer in hand, boasting tattoos on his shirtless, sculpted body, and music blaring, pulled into the parking lot. He was apparently a good friend of this woman.
He had an intimidating presence and I thought, “Here comes the devil as a roaring lion to steal the seed”! My plan was to quickly walk over to the woman, hand her the phone number and get out of there quickly.
By the time I got off the call to the church, he had gotten inside her car because it was still raining lightly. As I handed her the phone number telling her they would help her further, one of the kids in the car excitedly said, “That’s the man who prayed for Mommy and she got healed!”
The redneck guy looked at me sternly, yet inquisitively and said...
“What?!?”
I explained a little sheepishly, that she had been complaining about her pain and that Jesus had a reputation for healing people, so I asked Him to heal her, and He did.
I followed that up by asking him if he needed any prayer. He explained that he had recently been divorced, so I asked him how he was doing with that. As it turned out, he was heartbroken.
So I told Him that Jesus was also known to heal broken hearts and He could heal his.
He melted.
I simply led him in a prayer of salvation and healing for his heart. He was deeply touched and I believe, forever changed.
As for the woman, I gave her some cash. She went to the church where they provided clothes and other essentials for the kids. Then as it turned out, she had family in Alabama and was given sufficient cash to return home where they could care for her.
I never knew what happened with either of them after that, but the way I see it, there were at least two people who were no longer lost, and God would continue to lead and guide them along the way.
No telling what their lives would have been without the divine intervention of our Lord. They were definitely on the wrong track, but God derailed the devil’s plan... And He did that by using me that day, just like He will use you when you agree to be available and follow His leading (even if you're slightly intimidated)!
I noticed in the Bible that when Jesus healed folks, they tended to listen to what comes next.
That still works.
It’s one of seven ways I’ll be sharing in my blogs and maybe on YouTube on how to influence people for Jesus.
In the example I shared with you, I had never prayed for a total stranger to be healed out in the public arena. In fact, up to that point in my life, I had never prayed for someone’s healing, and saw them get healed. I wish I could tell you that became my new way of witnessing, but I was probably as surprised as they were!
Since then, I’ve had other even more dramatic experiences, but for me, they’ve been the exception and not the rule.
In coming blogs, I’m going to share with you super easy ways to impact your sphere of influence for Jesus Christ. These tactical strategies cooperate with the way God wired us and are so effective that I’ve taught them in the business arena with great effect over the years.
If you want to see transformation of your community, the strategy I’m going to share with you is proven and effective. I’ve been teaching it for years in the business arena to rapidly grow businesses. But when I look at the rapid decline in our country, I’m not going to ignore it and hope it goes away, or hope that “someone” will do something about it.
I’m going to do my best to equip whosoever will. If you’d like to support those efforts you can do so by getting my God’s Best Kept Secrets book series or perhaps by joining the Jesus School of Business. If all you can do now is share my blogs on your social media and subscribe to my YouTube channel, I am happy to have your participation. (Added a couple new ones this morning. )
We can take our country back from the brink.
In fact, we must!
More to come in future blogs.
Blessings, Michael