Miracle Continues
December 1st, 2009You May be Next
If I pray for someone, and that person gets what he needs, it does not mean I’m special or that I have a gift. It just means God did something generous and I was in the supply chain.
That being said, let me refer you back to November 22. I mentioned a prayer request I got from a reader. This lady said her husband was severely alcoholic and had been for several decades. Before I managed to get the request blogged, she sent this:
“Steve,
did you pray for him or something? WHile he was sleeping it off today he saw in him mind’s eye a beer can and “heard” the statement that he was giving his whole life to alchohol. Uh, wowie.
Don’t let up and I won’t either.He was pretty sober when he woke up and I was friendly and told him that that well, you got a pretty clear message.
Amazed,
_____”
I was shocked.
It gets better. Look what I received today:
I think I should let you know how the miracle is going.
After the day he received the message about his beer he had to try to drink a little one more time. He ended up terribly drunk one more time. He slept for about 36 hours and woke up and told me he couldn’t drink
even one beer. That it just doesn’t work for him. No kidding?He is doing fine. He was told by doctors that he would become ill if he tried to just quit because of the level of his alcoholism. But he hasn’t become ill at all. He is just fine. Now the scary part is trying to grow a relationship with him again. This is not nothing. Forty years of me taking care of him while he gets drunk whenever he is not at work is hard on the old relationship.
I am excited for the grandchildren who live with us, and his kids, to see him become sober. It will be quite a witness to them. Only God could have stopped him. He always stated that he had no interest in stopping. I sound a little flat I know. But I am a little scared. Trying to have faith and be encouraging to him.
Thank you for prayers, Means more than you will ever know.
I want to point something out. I didn’t get much prayer in before the first miracle, but God performed it anyway. Since then, readers have been praying, and I have kept this man on my daily prayer list. I have put some effort into it, but it hasn’t been the focus of my life. I don’t want anyone to even dream of giving me credit. Even if I had been praying and fasting around the clock, only God could have made this happen.
I hope people who read this will be encouraged. God delivers people from addiction and strong habits that are harmful. This case is a little unusual, but then so was my case. Over the course of a day, I was delivered from gluttony and given increased self-control in other areas. Sometimes God acts very quickly. When he doesn’t, it should not discourage you. Your answer may be coming later.
I just don’t know what to say about this story. If any Christians have advice for these people, I hope they will feel free to leave it in comments. Satan will surely try to reverse this miracle, and they need to be ready.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:14 AM
In Matthew 12:43 -45. 43″When an evil[f] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Even though the house was put in order, and cleaned out – notice it was unoccupied. It’s so important that he start filling his body/life with the Word at this time.
December 1st, 2009 at 2:57 PM
I have direct experience with being delivered by God from alcoholism, which is a three-pronged malady: an alcoholic cannot physically tolerate alcohol the way a nonalcoholic can, is mentally obsessed with everything surrounding drinking, and is gravely ill spiritually. In my experience, and that of many people I know who have recovered from alcoholism, it is not enough to have an “aha!” moment. Pretty soon, the insight gained will recede before the mental obsession to drink. If this man is to obtain lasting relief from alcoholism, I strongly suggest that he attend an AA meeting, introduce himself as an alcoholic, and seek a sponsor with whom to work the steps. Not everyone requires AA to recover from chronic alcoholism and have a happy and useful life, but most do. It’s dispiritingly difficult, nearly impossible, to pull it off without the help of people who have already done it. Working the 12 steps with a sponsor helps to clear away the things which have blocked the alcoholic from receiving God’s grace.
This man may not be ready to say that he wants to quit for good and all, but I pray that he is. Even if he isn’t, his wife can obtain relief through Al-Anon family groups. May God bless them and keep them until then.
December 1st, 2009 at 3:41 PM
God delivered me from 19 years of hardcore alcoholism–no doubt about it. ONLY God can liberate a person from that particular prison. No force on earth can.
That said, I would still strongly recommend AA for this man. It gives you the tools to avoid a relapse and the setting wherein to work through the issues that are behind the first drink itself. It is, after all, that first drink that gets us–every time.
God set up a chain of events to provide the answer for my (and my wife’s) prayers for sobriety that was not truly evident to me until years later. Thanks to AA, when God set me free, I had the means to stay free–also a gift from God.
December 1st, 2009 at 4:17 PM
This all looks like good advice to me. I am not a career fat person any more, but I still have to think about what I’m doing, and if my problem were alcohol, I’m sure it would be much worse. It’s very easy to think, “I’m CURED! I can eat ANYTHING I WANT!” That may be true, but I don’t want to put it to the test, and if it were booze, I think the danger would be greater.