“Can God spread a table in the desert?” “…Can He supply meat for His people?” “They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psalm 78:19, 20, 41; King James Version, emphasis mine).
For 21 years, Mrs. Chang had lain in bed at her home in China, unable to move her arms and legs. Finally, the pain was too much, and she asked her eldest son to take her to the hospital, 40 miles away. The doctors discovered that some of her organs were almost dead, so they advised her son, "Take her home so she can die with your family." But before she left, a Christian nurse came by her bed and slipped her a copy of the Gospel of Mark. "Read this when you get home," she whispered. When Mrs. Chang got home, she first asked her son to read something from the booklet. Opening it to page one, he began: "This is the good news of Jesus Christ..." Before he could read any further, Mrs. Chang's bones started to move. Within moments, she sat up, completely healed! She promptly gave her life to the Lord.
The next day, on her way to the village well to draw water, she was asked by everyone, "Say, aren't you Mrs. Chang? What doctor healed you? We want to use him too!" Mrs. Chang invited all the women to her simple home. When a large group had assembled, she stood and began speaking: "This is the good news of Jesus Christ…." In only four weeks, all 600 people in the village decided to follow Jesus! From there, the story gets even more interesting: When the report got around, a police force arrived to stamp out this "new sect." They beat the villagers, shot their animals, burned their crops, and left, thinking that would be the last they would ever hear about this Jesus Christ. They were wrong: the 600 converts remained steadfast, and within four years, 70,000 turned to Christ throughout the region. Who was the star of this story? The faithful nurse. She was not a famous evangelist; she was a 'nobody' who responded to a need with love in her heart.[1]
We live in a day when God wants to use ordinary people like you and me if we will put our faith in Christ and not put any limits on what God can or can't do. Roger Bannister, the record-breaking runner, completed something that seemed impossible at one time. He ran a mile in less than four minutes. Other runners thought it impossible for a man to run that fast. Once Bannister proved that it could be done, guess what happened? The following year 37 other runners broke the four-minute mile! The year after that, three hundred others also ran the mile in under four minutes. What happened? The measurement of time did not change. The only change was that other runners believed what was possible could be accomplished. We are the ones who put limits on what God can do in us and through us. Our biggest problem in living a life in step with the Spirit and moving in His power is ourselves:
Satan seeks to influence the Church not to see the ramifications of what God has done for us through the cross. Our spiritual eyes need to be opened to Christ’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19). God wants to use every one of us in different ways if we step out and trust him. Due to our relationship of oneness with Christ, authority and power have been given to true believers in Christ as His representatives. We are to re-present Him! No matter how young or how old we are in Christ. Keith Thomas
[1] James Rutz, Mega Shift, Published by Empowerment Press, Page 5.
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