Wed/Thurs: Healed to Work

Good Morning my dear brothers and sisters. I am truly sorry about yesterday morning, I really hate to miss any day, but Wednesday, our day of Salvation prayers, is most important because of the Salvation and also I think we really need the midweek break for Jesus. So today we will have Salvation Day and Family Day all in one ... and why not, for it is just great when a whole family is all saved. I am telling you that one way to please this old dad, granddad and great granddad is if he knew without doubt that all the family, and we have been blessed with a large family, were "Born Again". So pray warriors, pray, and please pray also for Miller family in the passing of Don's mother. Pray for Sandy Tritt, who is with child and has been taken to the hospital and hemorrhaging and might lose the baby ... pray warriors, pray. Pray also for the family of Roy Shrawder, age 47, who had a massive heart attack while having knee surgery. And please pray for the town of Coatesville Pa. where they have someone setting house fires, and for Lancaster County Pa, where someone is torching barns.

Healed to Work: It is morning, the alarm clock is ringing, and you are feeling like you were hit by a Mack truck. Your head is stuffed, you cannot get your breath, you had just fallen asleep and that darn clock went off and it is time to go to work ... You turn the clock off and run to the bathroom, not because you are that excited about going to work, but you just need to get there in a hurry ... You are so sick, you make the phone call that most people hate to make ... Hi, this is Martin, and you need to mark me off sick ... and you go back to bed ... maybe call the doctors ... and then you pray God's healing hand upon you. Come on God, heal me, for I want to go back to work. Ok, not all people pray that way, but some do for they really need the job for the money to pay the bills. And lets face it, no one wants to be sick.

I did hear one time of a pastor and three others meeting for a round of golf. Before going out to play they were making excuses about what hurt, maybe making an excuse for a bad round of golf that is coming up. Jake said he had a bad shoulder, Joe said he had a bad back, and Josh had bad knees. The Pastor who felt good said to the men, lets pray for healing before we start the round of golf, for we all know God really does heal. All knowing full well the healing power of God, were ready for this, except for "Joe", who said, "please don't pray for me, I am on Workers Comp". Yes Joe was being paid to stay home and play golf, etc., maybe riding the system so to speak.

But there is something about getting better and going back to work, and folks, when God heals you, don't you think that should go back to work and some of that work should be for God? Listen to this from Luke 4: 38: Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So He bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. (NIV)

Notice that Mamma-in-law got up to serve all, not just Jesus, or not just the others ... She served both. So while the healing hand of Jesus is what we need to look at here (and again, Jesus still heals today as He did back then), I want to point out the message that might be hidden in here ... Jesus healed the lady to serve God and man (woman). Please my dear brothers and sisters, know that is still being done today. When God heals you, be it direct or through the hands of doctors or others I believe you are being healed to serve God and mankind. Yes I truly believe it ... and even when we are not healed, I fully believe that most all people can do something. Folks, I know people who because of health problems cannot go to work, but they can spend a lot of time on the computer. How about some work, typing, mailings, etc., being done on the computer ... or even phone work. And if a person can do nothing for pay, can they still not work for Jesus? If you can type on a computer, you can work for Jesus. Folks, when it comes to numbers there are very few who really can do nothing ... and those folks we need to be taking care of.

So maybe, just maybe, God would be more willing to heal people if He knew we were going to get up and go to work for Him. And even WHEN HE CHOOSES NOT TO HEAL US RIGHT AWAY, WE STILL NEED TO GET UP AND WORK FOR HIM. That is what I feel folks, it really is ... we need to push back the pain, and work for Jesus ... THINK OF THE PAIN HE WENT THROUGH FOR US. While I know some will get mad at me for saying this, others might be thinking AMEN ...

Father in Heaven, All of us would just love to be healed today, free of pain and suffering, but Lord I am going to tell you right now, I am working for You regardless, and I will praise You forever and ever. I owe You big-time Jesus for taking me back after being raised by Christian parents and then drifting. So while I know You feel the pain of all of us, it is important for me to just know and love You, knowing that the pain You suffered for me was much greater than I could ever carry. Lord ,today I pray that we, all of us on this line, go to work for You, that we get into the fields of harvest, something we can even do from home, Lord, for anyone that is reading and praying this has a computer and is online and can be sending words from You to others. Lord, Lord, help us to bring people to Your feet to be saved. Be with Don in the loss of his mamma, and be with Sandy who wants to be a mamma again, and Lord, with the family who needs their dad who suffered the massive heart attack. Lord, Your hand on all today and on this message will be appreciated ... in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Sharing your blessings is important, I mention it each day. "We are blessed to be a blessing" (Dr. Richard Denison, United Methodist pastor). Yes and as we are blessed, so should we be sharing it with others. Are you sharing with others from your vase blessings? Folks, when you go to the store, if you buy ten things, give one away ... buy a case of toilet paper, put a roll or two back to give away. buy a pack of soap, put a bar back to give away. Buy ten cans of soup, give one away... share your blessings. Love ya, dan.