Archive for the ‘Prayer's answered’ Category

Faith in Action

December 1, 2018

Image result for picture of jesus with the centurion

We have heard the well-known following words from our Lord —

“Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.” (Matt. 17:17)

Our Lord was exasperated with the lack of faith around him. But how about those who show great faith and put it in practice?

We remember one of the greatest examples of pure unadulterated faith exhibited by the Centurion.

“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  I say to you that many will come from the east and the west,and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.” (Matt.8:5-13)

Today when we hear of such strong faith , it really encourages us. It motivates us to do likewise remembering that faith is so important in our Christian walk. This week we’d like to tell you about “Brother R”. We heard about this story this week and was led to share it. The following is what he wrote on FB —

Blessed by the goodness of God!

I lost my wallet today on a bike ride to the store. When I got home I immediately knew that it was not in my pocket. I got on my bike and followed the way back to the store. No wallet. I went inside the store and asked customer service. No wallet. I left my name and tele # with them. Then I rode back the same way. No wallet.

When I got home, Elba and I had prayer that it might be returned. I then cancelled my debit card which thankfully was the only card that I had. We both had faith that it would be found and returned. Later on I called the store to check in and see. No wallet.

We had some family over for Thanksgiving dinner this evening. My faith was still encouraged, even though it had been several hours by now. After the family time was over and everybody went home, I had began to think that it was not going to be found. I wrote down on my desk that I needed to contact the DMV, bus pass, and store discount card. Then we sat down to watch a movie. It was 9 pm.

Shortly thereafter…….
The doorbell rings. There stands two guys and a lady. I immediately knew what it was all about. They brought my wallet to the door. A mom and her two sons who were older. Wow! The mom’s husband found it on the sidewalk about a block away. He was unable to come. I didn’t hesitate to offer them a check. They all absolutely refused. I offered a couple of times, still they said no way. We praised God for them and gave them many thanks. We said, “God answers prayer”. They agreed.

What a God! God’s faithfulness was shown even when I had pretty much given up on the tail end. Bless His name! (This was the third time in recent years that my wallet was lost. Each time they were returned, nothing was missing.)

Although tempted to forego his faith, he still had faith in the power of the Lord to answer prayer, for he had lost his wallet two other times and each time, prayed and it has been done unto him. We notice that he and his wife did the most important thing, they took the matter to the Lord in prayer right away. So often we sadly forget to call upon the Lord in these situations, whether big or small, important or not so important.

But here is what really made us think. Brother R, his wife and myself all think it was no ordinary humans who found and then delivered this wallet, we believe it was–angels! Brother R relayed to me when we discussed this situation that there was something unique and wonderful about the “mom and her two sons”. For they smiled very warmly and presented themselves in, well let’s just say an “angelic way”.

God’s word says —

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”(Hebrews 13:2)

We also had the same unique and wonderful experience, which we related in the following post done back on Dec. 11, 2009 —

https://godsloveandlaw.com/2009/12/11/gods-sings-give-us-renewed-faith/

The above link post experience reminded me of a prior similar experience. Looking back, I truly believe it was angels who sat down with me for that dinner. Angels probably take a much more active role in the Christian experience than we realize. We remember Lot having that memorable meeting with the two men who were angels.

Some may say. “Yeah but I pray often for things but I don’t get much from it.” The Scriptures answers that —

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)

In closing, our walk is built upon “the basics” and those are –love, faith, and obedience. When we learn to trust the Lord, He will certainly reward our faith if it is according to His purpose.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.”(Matt.21:21)

Posted in Christian faith, Christian walk, God's power, God's signs, Prayer, Prayer's answered | Leave a Comment »

The Quote Scripture Plan for Addictions

September 24, 2016

smoking

Let’s face it, nicotine is one powerful substance. I have personally seen its devastating work. My Mother passed away at age 72 from emphysema due to smoking for 50+ years. My Grandfather had a large portion of his jaw removed when he was 68 due to cancer after being a long time pipe smoker.

But there is a plan which, if followed and believed can defeat this very addictive substance. It is God’s proven plan. Let us read.

“Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.” Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me.” “Away from me, Satan!” Jesus declared. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'” Then the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.” (Matt. 4:1-11)

These Scriptures show us the powerful effect our King had with the devil. And what method did the Lord use? Scripture! We see that Satan came at Jesus and when tempted our Lord rebuked him , not with subtle arguments or persuasive words, but with a “thus sayeth the Lord”.

Recently  during my work travels I received a call from “Gary” a former church friend of mine, whom I had not seen for a good 3 years. He is a member of the prior church I belonged to. We chatted for a bit, then he said he needed some help with his refrigerator. We made plans for the service call the following day.

So I showed up at the appointed time and went in to see his refrigerator. Sure enough, it was a solvable problem (bad freezer fan) and I proceeded to do the repair. While working on it I was able to chat with Gary. Soon we discussed church. But as we spoke  the Spirit indicated to me that Gary was not ready yet for some deeper present truth studies. He was to be reached at his level. As we talked it clicked. So I told him about how there is so much sin in our church, poor dressing, poor eating, socializing among our members instead of studying and testifying of God’s power and work.

He agreed and said that the church was turning into a “country club.” Then I was moved to tell him how I overcame some of my worldly ways such as drinking, chewing tobacco, poker, etc. Then Gary told of his “current” bad habit–smoking. He admitted he was not an over-comer and really needed to stop this bad habit. Bingo! The plan came.  I told Gary about the “quote Scripture plan”. He was all ears.

Basically, I said, it requires that one find a favorite Scripture. Then on day one you start out the day armed with this Scripture and use it on the first temptation from the devil. In my personal case chewing tobacco was my vice. So that first day I had to quote Scripture maybe 10 or 12 times. But , and this is very important, you must quote Scripture and then say “Be gone from me devil in the name of Jesus Christ!”

This effectively chases away the devil/temptation. He will come back again, but you will quote and rebuke him again.  A tampering off should be achieved as the month goes by.

Gary liked the plan. He said he would try it. I encouraged him and told him that he must believe each time he quotes God’s word and not doubt.

A few days ago I got a text from Gary saying he’s successful so far. We praised the Lord and told him not to give up, keep going until you have no more desire and the devil has left for good.

The Lord’s messenger gave us a serious warning concerning our bad habits–

“Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.” (Testimonies, vol.5, p.214)

Our King said- “Do not fear; only believe.”(Mark 5:36)

There is no disagreement among the world’s medical leaders that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. Only Heroin and Cocaine ranked higher in addictiveness. So of all the “legal” substances one can use, it is nicotine that has the highest addiction among the world’s population.

About 1.1 billion people — one in every three adults — are smokers, according to the World Health Organization. And yours truly is a witness to the powerful effect of nicotine.

One of the best testimonies one can give is that of a personal testimony. So I would like to give my own testimony about the quote Scripture plan.

Back in early 2009 I came upon the Bible truth that the Sabbath of the Lord was real, this was new to me being raised a Catholic. I soon came into the Seventh-day Adventist church and was baptized in mid 2009. But as I began my SDA membership and church attendance, I carried into it a few bad habits, chewing tobacco being one of them. In fact I remember  at least a couple of times going to church with some tobacco in my cheek. Let me briefly regress to the past.

This bad habit actually started back in my late teens when , as a bat boy for the San Diego Padres national baseball team. The players often would have a big load of “chew” in their mouth and spit it out often on the field. One day I decided I would try it. BIG mistake! I almost immediately began to get dizzy and felt like vomiting. The natural body defenses warned me–bad stuff!

But I soon tried it again and it gave a strange feeling of exhilaration. You see nicotine raises the blood sugar and one gets a feeling of being “high” , the degree of this depends on the amount and the length of the chew. The more one chews, though, the more one gets used to it and it becomes an addiction. But fortunately after those Padre years, I left the bad habit for a long time.

But in my early 40’s I began to chew on cigars. Having asthma I did not want to inhale smoke, so I found chewing on the cigar released the nicotine  and gave me the “buzz” I liked. Ok, I have digressed to show you how the habit came let’s get back to the story.

But as we all should know the process of sanctification is a process not a one time event or immediate occurrence. The key is that we should want to keep drawing closer to Christ, we should want to “chop away” at our sins, much as a tree remover keeps chopping away at the stump to bring it down.  We keep choppin til we bring down our sins (eliminate them) until the sins we do are mostly unconscious or without deliberateness.

So as I continued my walk the Lord was telling me to straighten up with this bad habit. So I came across the Scripture where Jesus , our perfect example, fought temptation. It was in the desert where Satan tempted Him. But how the Lord handled it was with–Scripture! I figured if it was good enough for our King, it’s good enough for me. Armed with this idea, I decided to use it to overcome my tobacco habit.

That first day I quoted ” The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1). I used this because of two reasons. One, it was my mother’s favorite Bible verse. Two, it had in the words “I shall not want” meaning not wanting tobacco. This was quoted alot that first day, as the devil came again and again to tempt  me to partake in this habit, which off and on I had done for a good 15 years or so.

In other words, the devil had me just where he wanted me–hooked and bound by his chain called tobacco. But I trusted in Christ, through His Holy Spirit, and His –word.

This is key my brothers and sisters, we MUST believe in order for Christ to work in our life. I believed that with Christ’s word and it put into action —it would work!

As the days went on I kept quoting the Scripture with the very important devil rebuke added– “Be gone from me devil in the name of Jesus Christ!” This was the plan and I followed it day after day. Soon it was tampering off and by the third week I was down to quoting it maybe 2 or 3 times a day. Finally by the 4th week  the devil left for good!

The word says– “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

To this day I have never went back to this evil habit and all praise and honor to Him who made it possible. By all means tell your friends and family if you should know of anyone who needs help with an addiction. The Lord’s word is powerful if you believe.

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” We can overcome. Yes; fully, entirely. Jesus died to make a way of escape for us, that we might overcome every evil temper, every sin, every temptation, and sit down at last with Him.”(Testimonies, vol. 1, p.144)

Posted in God's power, Healing and health, Prayer's answered | 4 Comments »

A Promise Kept by the Lord

February 27, 2016

Marriage sign

The word of the Lord says —

“God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.” (Psalms  18:30)

The following is my own testimony which I give to encourage and advise that God’s word can be depended upon with total trust.

Brought up in a Catholic Family, I was shown at an early age the value of the family. We had a total of six in our family. Unfortunately like so many homes around the world our family kind of broke up in mid 1970’s.  Dad and mom divorced and life changed.

I had several girlfriends in my life and after about the age of 20 I kind of got away from Religion. Partying and the rewards of this life held sway for decades to come. Fast forward to December of 2008. I picked up the Bible one night and little did I know the Lord was about to become real to me.

A few nights later I came across Exodus where Moses was given the 10 Commandments. A light went off in my head that the Sabbath was from God and we should obey His 4th Commandment, His holy day.

Soon I was baptized into the local SDA church. This was about April of 2009. But being single all my life I had come to the place where I decided that now, being released of my old ways and passions, I should settle down and meet Mrs. Right.

Being an admitted old fashion type, I decided to undertake a search of an “old world” woman , particularly from the Russia area. For some reason I was attracted to them. In March of 2009 , about seven years ago I met Lira.

She was nice looking and seemed quite personable. But being freshly converted in making the Lord’s way my desire, I wanted to use the Biblical principles such as no divorced women and only those who truly were Christians. I knew that many of the eastern women (or most other places) can “play the game” where they declare they are Christian but not have a clue who Jesus was.

So I had email and phone conversations with Lira for a while. But the most important thing I did was to consult the Lord in any final decision on a lady. This I did with Lira.

After a few weeks of correspondence with her, I knelt down one night and prayed the following.

I told the Lord that I had not been a good selector of women during my life and that I needed to let Him make the decision on any woman I was interested in. So I asked the Lord for His answer to Lira.

The word says–

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

I knew that our part in prayer is to ask, and to ask in a correct way. But just as important was to believe and to –watch. So after this prayer  my job was to be on the look out for the answer. Our Lord has always used signs with His people and likewise it is still today. Trouble is that few are truly a believer in His signs. They miss them because they don’t believe He is in that business anymore.

Our Lord Himself told us how important His signs are–

“If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” (John 10:37-38)

So after a couple of weeks the Lord sent me a dream. In it I was observing what I thought were many circular small white clouds and it was over our local big mountains. There appears many of them. I awoke and thought how strange the dream was. Later I mentioned the dream and what I saw to Lira. She quickly responded, “Those were not clouds they were silver rings.” Wow! I immediately could remember what I saw and they were rings!

The answer had come and it was–yes! For only the Lord could have given her the vision of that dream. At that point there was one last thing for me to do–act upon the Lord’s approval sign. So I then began to get serious about Lira.

This idea of going to the Lord to 1) request His help in authorizing or disproving the marriage 2) waiting for the answer, is solidly backed by His last message of Elijah–

“..the only marriages that God can honor are those which are entered upon only after both parties inquire of Him and receive His sanction.” (Symbolic Code, vol. 3, no.2, p.7)

This is where faith comes into play. Once we get  a response from the Lord we must act with faith upon it. Other wise we are just play acting and not really living out our faith.

So soon I proposed to Lira, and she accepted. Being in  far away country in between Russia and China I knew that certain logistic problems would come up. For instance in order to get a visa to have her come to USA I had to fly around the world and get some pictures together first before we applied for the visa.

Just one small problem, I have Aerophobia–fear of flying. This stemmed from a bad plane ride I had years ago in which the turbulence was quite dramatic. To make the long story short I delayed and delayed with Lira. Soon after 2, 3 then 4 years went by she understandably began to doubt my intentions. Still   I came up with one excuse after another and still she remained committed. Looking back her faith was very solid.

After about the 6th year of our online relationship, and realizing it was a now or never situation, I began to get serious and discovered that there was only  a few ways to get a waiver of the meet in person rule, and one of them was Aerophobia. We found an attorney and hired him. The Lord certainly knew all this and gave us strength to continue the long process. Many times Lira  and I had some serious arguments and it all looked over, yet something held us together.

I remember one time after a couple bad days of arguing and then thinking “why go on with her?” the Lord sent me another sign only he could show. We had this favorite saying which we would often sign off with, we’d say “love you madly” before ending our conversations. After about a week of not communicating with her I drive to the store one day and in front of me is a car license plate that says “Small heartUMADLY.” It was just one of many reminders that the Lord was guiding and telling us  not to give up.

Finally in November of 2015 we got an approval for the waiver visa. The attorney said this was a very unusual approval as many cannot  qualify for the waiver for one reason or another.

In February of this year Lira boarded a plane and landed in our city late one night. I picked her up at the airport and was very happy and excited to finally meet her and begin our life together. She was all I had hoped and more. The Lord did not disappoint, does He ever?

In our seven-year relationship I made sure that she knew how important God was to our life and that He required honor, respect and obedience. She was a willing learner and has accepted, among other things, the Sabbath, the proper dress in His sanctuary, etc.  Sure, we have much to discuss in God’s plans and lessons but importantly she has agreed to listen.

She knows about the soon to come kingdom set up in Israel and is prepared when the process starts.

I realize that marriage is a lifetime commitment, and with this understanding our life begins as a couple. We ask for your prayers as we embark on this path.

“And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”(Genesis 2:22-24)

Posted in Christian faith, Prayer's answered | 8 Comments »

The Lord Cancels Chess

October 13, 2012

As some of you are aware, I am a big believer in the following prayer. “Lord help to keep me on the straight and narrow. If I go off it , please let me know. Yell it out to me if you have to. Keep me walking righteously before you.” And as I often pray this prayer, I am aware and watching for His guidance. I fully expect He will do what I have requested.

When Jesus heard about the young dead girl, He said “Do not be afraid, only believe.”(Mark 5:36). Those two little words -“only believe” really nail our whole Christian experience. Because if we can’t believe, we’ll lose faith as Scripture says. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”(Hebrews 11:6).

It all started about 10 years ago. One evening, while bored, I went on the computer and saw an advertisement for pogo games. I joined up and saw chess. I had been not at all interested in this game,  only playing it maybe 4 or 5 times in my life. Ofcourse it was the actual table game I had known up to that point. Anyway, I join up and get into the “chess room”.

Online chess is the same as regular table chess, except for its format. This pogo system had regular ratings for all players (the standard international chess rating system). I started to play. I’m sure my moves were quite unusual and amateurish (not really knowing what I was doing,lol).So I played a couple of games that night, but something clicked in me. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had entered into a powerful magnet, that would take hold of me for close to 10 years.

After that night, I played again the next night after work.  And so it went. Night after night I would be on the computer playing chess. In this pogo system, you get to play chess players from all over the world. So while you play , you can chat with them on the side as well. Soon I found myself not going out of the house much in the evenings or on Sunday, to play more games of chess. I was fascinated with this game because of the utilizing of your mind and it’s requirement of foresight thinking. I even bought Bobby Fischer books to learn more.

As the old saying goes “the more you practice the better you get” and it was true. I steadily climbed up the ratings scale. They rate you as follows. Blue players are the beginners (the bottom skilled players). Green players are intermediate. Orange is the advanced rating. Purple is the expert rating. And the rarefied rating is called Master. Believe me the “masters” are in a class by themselves. Their moves are so advanced, some thinking 10 or more moves ahead!

In my chess “career” I was able to advance up to expert, with my two big games of my life coming about the 2 year of my playing. Beating  master players. But as the years went on I was up and down like a yo-yo. From expert to blue and back again. But regardless, I enjoyed the fascinating moves and how there was always a different challenge on each game. I thrilled when I was way behind and somehow mated the opposition against great odds.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago. When the Lord changed my life and woke me up. It started with my obeying the Sabbath. As  this blog has  told, my experiences gradually changed and my values as well. The Lord took control and I happily consented.

As He was guiding me in the walk, I learned all the 10 Commandments, and started to put each one into action in my life. I called my Dad, who I had not spoken with for several years (Honor thy Father and Mother). I started keeping the Sabbath “holy”. I started watching carefully how I charged my customers (appliance repair) (Thou shall not steal). And so on.

But then after I converted, I started to hear from the Holy Spirit, about my chess playing. The 2nd Commandment forbids us to have “idols”. It became clear chess was indeed an idol. I played everyday and it was taking up precious hours of my free time. The Lord was keeping His part of the bargain, He was warning me where I was off the path.If there was any doubt about a certain aspect of my walk, I took it before the Lord.

So I went in prayer before the Lord. I told Him I would cut down the playing to two days a week . This went on for about a year and a half. Then I began to feel I needed to cut it back to one day a week (Sunday). For the last year this was my routine. The Holy Spirit was still working on me as I was becoming aware that  chess was something I shouldn’t be doing at all. In (James 4:17) we read “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  I began to know that,  for me,  playing chess was not “good” and staying away was good.

So even  down to just one day a week (Sunday) I began to feel more and more guilty about it yet I did not want to leave it out of my life, I still enjoyed the games. But the Lord came first, and I knew I had to clear this issue.  So finally, recently,  I went before the Lord and said  “Lord if You want me to give it up for good, let me know”. I have learned that there is nothing more precious than the close feeling with our Lord, and I didn’t want have anything in my life that was separating me from Him.

So I was on “lookout” for the answer.  I was expecting  communication from the Lord, His clear answer to me.  This has been our relationship since  observing my very first Sabbath about 3 and half years.

 See our posts under the heading “God’s signs” for an examples of inspiring signs given from the Lord.

As we’ve posted many times before,  the Lord has promised to reveal Himself to us when  He said,  “He who has My Commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves me will be loved by the Father, and I will reveal Myself to him” (John 14:21).  Revealings certainly come in the form of signs.

So on Sunday morning I awoke, and as usual I was soon on the computer playing chess. I played a few games then went off and did some other things. Then as my custom was I took a short nap in the afternoon. After the nap I woke up and wanted to get in another chess game. So I click over to the chess site and WHAT? What happened I thought? The chess system had been removed! At first I was bewildered, but then it hit me. The Lord has answered my prayer! I looked up and said “Thank you Lord”. I went into my room and we talked.

The Lord will always be faithful in this regard.Draw close to Him and He will draw close to you (James 4:8).

So the Lord’s answer came, chess would be forever history.   I was content to know my Lord’s will and follow it. The Lord knows each of our walks, what is right and what is not,  individually. The straight and narrow path will be shown to each of us, if we humbly ask for it. 

 If you have any area in your walk that you’re not sure about, take to the Lord! Ask to be guided, and He will answer you in a way that you will know. Do this frequently and your walk will bring you closer and closer to our Great Lord.

Posted in Christian walk, God's signs, Prayer's answered | 4 Comments »

Looking For Signs and Wonders

December 24, 2011

There can be no doubt that to a Christian, one of the most exciting parts of this life is the interacting with our Lord through signs and wonders. Our walk takes on a whole new level when we actually see such signs and wonders and know beyond doubt HE SENT THEM! In (John 14:21) we read “He that has my Commandments and KEEPS THEM, he it is that loves me and shall be loved by the Father, and I will love him, and WILL REVEAL MYSELF TO HIM.”

In the above quote we find a great promise. That is once you show God you are sincere and “love” Him as He has asked, He then in return shows you Himself  by  revealings. These revealings certainly include His signs and wonders. They are given us to see Him through them, to know He is with us, to strengthen us.

You see our Lord likes to be held accountable, He wants so much to answer us  but He is stopped cold, because we don’t believe He will, or fail to “look” for them. We remember when He went down to Nazareth, His hometown, He was unable to do miracles because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5). So my question is –Why do so few Christians experience direct signs and wonders from our Lord? Is it because they are just like the people of Nazareth, they don’t believe? He is just as willing and able to give them TODAY as He was yesterday. Only believe.

While it is true that the Lord is holding back right now, to release His power collectively through the church, due to the sinners among His professed people(His church), He still hears His Commandment keepers and  as such they can call upon Him and receive His revealings for “refreshings and guiding” in our walk.

Now I shall do as Nebuchadnezzar did and say “I thought it good to show the signs and wonders, that the High God has done towards me”.(Dan. 4:2) Recently God has been gracious enough to answer some prayers of mine, that may strengthen your belief that HE DOES communicate through signs.

Awhile back I had planned on going on a long trip overseas but decided to go before the Lord in prayer, asking for His blessings. Let me stop here and say that in many of our more important plans (getting married, moving out of town, big trip, new job, etc.) we should ALWAYS go before the Lord  for His ok. Otherwise you’re on your own and good or bad will befall you without any warning from Him. You’re like the sea captain charting your own course, and maybe that big bad iceberg will be hit head on, due to your own planning.

Anyway back to the story. So I prayed, “Lord I am about to make plans to go overseas, please let me know if it is ok, give me a sign to know whether I should go.” I don’t remember if it was the very next day or the second day, but a good friend of mine called me in the morning. I had told him a few weeks earlier of my plans. As we start talking, soon he says OUT OF THE BLUE–“Hey, I got a real bad feeling about your trip, I just wanted to tell you that.”  Wow. I immediately looked up and said quitely “Thank you”.

As some of you know (who have been following this blog for the last 2 years) I have posted this year about the “Shepherd’s Rod”. After being led by God to delve into these teachings after listening to the sermon called “144,000, who are they?” I have made some posts about what I now know to be the “Elijah to come” end time message. But this was quite a revelation, as it generally has  NOT been the teachings of mainstream Adventism. So I was going into unchartered waters, but convinced by God’s leadings it was true.

Neverthe less, I doubted and struggled. I now know as propheticly shown by EGW (Early Writings, page 269), that the last day messengers of the Davidian truths will be attacked spiritually as the devils know that this last message must not be spread to the people. So as I was discovering these truths, serious doubts came. I needed God’s assurance on this big time! My readers were used to me teaching straight line SDA doctrines and teachings. Would I be committing “blog suicide”? Looked at as a “way out there” guy? God’s power was to come through and remove all doubt through His signs! (The Blog is on pace to more than double the readership from last year, praise the Lord, who divinely guides it!)

So I prayed earnestly to the Lord, “Lord I want to know without doubt that these new teachings are for real, please guide  me, I need your help here”. He KNEW how important this was, I didn’t need to tell Him. I received several signs, let me share the 3 important ones.

After I had made the post on the 144,000. I received  a dream shortly after. In it I am helping a person find a key, as I scroll this large book with much writings I quickly spot a number which I poin t out to the person  that this is the number which holds the key. He is amazed because there were so many pages and I found it quickly. Now, we know dreams are not always completely understood, but I received from it that the “new teachings” I had were a “key” for the people to have. I was real happy to have gotten this dream from the Lord as confirmation.

But even after that I wanted more confirmation. I often tease the Lord and tell Him ” I’m like a  weak friend who needs support all the time” lol. But He smiles and says ” I’m right there for you, don’t worry.” So I continued to pray for more signs as doubts still would creep in. Then soon after another prayer asking for confirmation on Shepherd’s Rod teachings, a direct sign came, that thrilled me.

I went out that morning to go to work, as I pull out of the driveway and drive onto the road, a van pulls up next to me at the light. I look over and it has SHEPHERD’S plumbing. I had never seen this van before. Immediately I recall my recent prayer of asking for more confirmation. This I felt was a sign but it was to get even stronger. I drive on ahead and pull into the shopping center parking lot, and this van follows me and pulls up right next to me!  That was a clincher that it was a sign! God was saying that these teachings are true and they will stay close to you, amazing!

But this last one was the final clincher, and I have never doubted after this. The Lord kind of “cemeted” this issue for me. Let me say here that this spiritual battle was from the dark forces exerting their pressure on me, hence the severe beginning doubts on these teachings. After once again praying for strength and leadings in these new teachings, I got a ‘big” sign. I had been listening to the video called “Daniel’s vision” by brother  Glenroy Matthews on the computer (based on the Shepherd’s Rod teaching of the Daniel 2 vision).

After I had watched a portion of it, I had to stop it, as I was late for work. So I put it on pause thinking I would watch later. Later, after work I came home and walked into the house. As I come in, I hear this man speaking from my back office room. I was a little perplexed. I continued cautiously to walk into the room, I peak in and it is that same video of brother Matthews playing right where I left it on pause! I am in mild amazement as I knew it was the Lord’s doing. I was thrilled to know He had sent His angel to turn back on the video when I got home, confirming it was to be LISTENED TO.

As you can see from the above,  3 important steps are involved in this  “sign”  communication from the Lord. First, I  request HIS GUIDANCE in some important matters. Second, I look for them knowing He WILL respond. Third, I believe that they are FROM Him and I act accordingly.

In these last days many are saying “Oh the Lord doesn’t work like this anymore, that was back in the old Apostle days, you needn’t look for these signs now.”  Let us read what Ellen White said on this matter. (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5 , page 211) “They (the teachers and leaders) had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the MARKED MANIFESTATION of God’s power as in former days. Times have changed.  These words strengthen their unbelief and they say, ‘The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil.”  So the people think then, that God doesn’t move about anymore in this regard, He’s asleep at the wheel! Let that not be YOUR belief.

In speaking of the last days  (2 Tim 3:2-5) we read ” for men shall be lovers of their own selves ….having a form of godliness, but denying the  power thereof, from such turn away.” He we read that the unbelief (denying) of God’s manifested power shall be prevalent among the professed people of God. They do not look for or even want God’s signs and wonders, they care not to know it!

In the very near future God will call upon His elect, the 144,000 to do His mighty powerful work. This will include signs and wonders and amazing miracles. He has longed for the time that the “world” will know and see His power. As His servants let us get in the habit NOW of calling upon Him for guidance in our walk, your walk will take on a whole new exciting level when you know He is able to show you His signs and wonders. Let us ONLY BELIEVE.

Lastly, let us keep in mind that when we do receive such revealings  from the Lord, we should SPREAD them. The Lord  said in (Luke 8:39) after performing a great sign “Return to your home, and show how God has done great things for you.”  We must also be ready to speak of His signs and share them to bring glory and honor to Him who is worthy! Amen.

In Christ, Rob

Posted in God's signs, Prayer's answered | 5 Comments »

The Lord turns on the light

September 4, 2010

It was Thursday(yesterday) afternoon and I was driving to a service call, and as the Lord oftens does, He leads me into thinking what my next post would be. The post would be about how so many people today are breaking His Commandment “Thou shall not worship idols or images”. I was jotting notes as I could, getting thoughts put down. Then it all changed(the message)  when I got home!

As I have posted before, I often pray this prayer “Lord, help me to be righteous, lead me in the right path, PLEASE admonish me and warn me if I am doing wrong in your eyes, just YELL it to me if you have to, so I am very clear as to what I am doing wrong”. The last few weeks I had sensed something was amiss. I have experienced a real closeness to the Lord, and of late it was as if my walk wasn’t just right. Somewhere I was doing a wrong or going down a useless path causing this feeling.

So I got home, tired from the day. I proceed to walk into my bedroom and what I saw stunned me!  My bedroom night light was on (next to my bed) and the clock was blinking! I stopped in mid track and just stared at them. I DID NOT leave my night light on as I always turn it off when I go to bed the prior night. “What is going on??” I thought. Then it hit me. The Lord has turned it on! Amazed, I knelt down and tearfully thanked Him after He told me what this was all about.

The Lord was telling me “Rob, you have been spending almost all your evenings watching TV (poker, sports, etc.) and forgetting about reading my word!” The clock was blinking, to remind me, that it was TIME to get back to studying and devoting myself to learning His word and other God inspired writings. He knew that I always read the bible and other God inspired writings in bed next to that light.  At first I thought that maybe we had a “brown out” because the clocks will go off then when the light goes back on,  they blink.  But I had checked the other clocks in house and NO blinking! Plus the time was correct.

Still stunned I walked around the house in a blissful daze, knowing my almighty Lord had spoken to me DIRECTLY. He had answered my frequent prayer and showed His power through this sign. I can’t tell you how elated I felt to KNOW we have such a caring and watchful Lord, able to show signs to tell us He’s with us,  watching our every move.  The scripture (John 14:21) comes to mind “He that has my Commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me and shall be loved by the Father, and I will love Him, and WILL REVEAL MYSELF TO HIM”    Amen!    This “revealing” can do SO MUCH to boost our confidence in the Lord, it staggers the mind!

I have wondered just why the Lord has given me many such signs, and I believe that He wants me to spread His truth with a passion. “Go” as He said “and PROCLAIM the gospel to all nations” And this I will do! I am not unusual in this, because in these last days He is pouring out His spirit and His signs will get even greater as we approach the close of probation.

So please be aware of His speaking to you through many ways, such as dreams, signs, and people. Things are going to come your way from  the Lord, you must be on look out and BELIEVE He’ll speak to you. But don’t kid yourself, take a long look at your life.  Are you “obeying” His Commandments?  If so, you are indeed “loving Him” (1 John 5:3) “For this is the LOVE OF GOD, that we KEEP His Commandments, and His Commandments are not burdensome”

Let us go forth with FULL confidence in His love and power, amen.

Posted in Prayer's answered | 18 Comments »

3 miracles from God

February 13, 2010

This story I read in the paper this last week. A man who had been robbing stores in this small Texas town happened to pick the WRONG store,lol. Late in the afternoon this lady (wife of the owner) was behind the counter in their small grocery store. The hapless criminal burst into the store,  looked around, then approached the counter, he quickly pulled a gun on the lady and demanded “give me the money, now!” The lady stopped for a moment, then looked straight into the man’s eyes and said ” I command you in the name of Jesus! Get out of this store NOW!”  The man stood there alittle stunned, then started shouting obscenities. The lady was getting even more powerful, she said    “I arrest you in the name of Jesus, now get OUT!” as she pointed defiantly to the door.  The man became almost as if he was frozen! Then he quickly ran out the store!  (No doubt with visions of the lady looking like a monster ready to eat him alive,lol)

Wow, if only we “professed” Christians had such faith in the Lord! The Lady drew on the “power” of Jesus and defeated evil! Amen.

The next one is about our Church’s missionaries in the quake torn city of Diquini, Haiti. Last week we had a Seventh Day Adventist medical doctor come and present his experience in treating the people there. What a disaster it is there. He described the suffering and the hardships. But he told us that the Seventh day Adventist Hospital was one of the few hospitals to come away relatively “unscathed”. Praise God. He knew  to help “save” this hospital. Most hospitals suffered substantial damage or leveled but “Haitian Hospital Adventiste” was preserved! Amen.

 The following is the most inspiring miracle. In the Philippines in a village called Panias. The people there faithfully give their tithes, which the church treasurer keeps in a special bag until she can go into town. Unfortunately the trip is dangerous. Logging trucks and motorbikes are the only mode of transportation. people often risk their lives perching on top of the trucks as they wallow along the muddy roads.

One day the treasurer headed to town. She brought with her God’s money to give to the district pastor. Reaching the dirt road she sat with her daughter at a waiting shed, as they waited for a truck. The church treasurer sat on the money bag to keep it safe as more people gathered inside the shed. Then a truck came and She and her daughter found a safe place on top of the truck. Then the truck headed down the road.

After they traveled about a half mile, the daughter asked ” Mama, where’s the money bag?” With a sinking feeling, the treasurer realized she didn’t have it.  “Mr. Driver, STOP!” she shouted. The truck stopped and they climbed down. They ran as fast as they could, avoiding if they could all the mudpools. As the treasurer ran she prayed “Lord, please keep your money safe”. 

Looking ahead, she could see the waiting shed. Two  men were waiting inside the shed for another truck. Reaching the shed, she saw the bag EXACTLY where she left it!  Grabbing it, she prayed out loud “Thank you Lord, for keeping your money safe”   “what are you talking about?” one of the men asked. “I just thanked God for taking care of His church money” she answered.  “I don’t understand” the man said. “well, didn’t you see this bag? it was right there” the treasurer pointed to the spot where she’d left the money. “I left it behind when I ran to catch the last truck”    “No, we didn’t see it” the men said.   “but a stranger was sitting right there. Where did he go”? the first man asked the other. The other man responded “He was sitting right there where you picked up your bag, but left when we saw you coming”   “Thank you Lord” the treasurer shouted. “Thank you for sending a angel to keep your money safe”

God does use His angels often, but sometimes we just don’t know it or aren’t aware of it. Praise God!  Amen.  This is a story from the SULADS missionaries Seventh Day Adventist in the Philippines.

Posted in Prayer's answered | 5 Comments »

Prayer Answered (Quickly)

January 24, 2010

Recently I was watching a sermon by one of the most spirited filled preachers of our time–Mr. Doug Batchelor , of www.amazingfacts.org . Which by the way, is  a  great site to learn   about the “truth” in the bible and not man’s interpretations.

I click on the archives section of AFPresents and found a interesting sermon called “Ten times wiser”. I thought it might be about the commandments but instead it was about “healthy eating and drinking”. I watched and learned. Then about midway into the sermon Doug shows scripture that says (Isaiah 66:17) They……that eat swine flesh, and the filth, and the mouse, shall perish together, says the Lord” I knew that “Pork” wasn’t really healthy, as it is well know that it contains a greater degree of “bugs” and other bacteria than other meats. But nevertheless I was blown away that our Lord had said that! So I finish watching the sermon.

But the next day when I awoke I still had the thought about our Lord saying He’ll destroy all who eat pork. I thought as I awoke “I need some clarification on this” While I definitely don’t eat pork, I know some seemingly “good” people who do. So I arose from bed and I looked up and asked our Lord “Lord I am really confused, are you really going to destroy people who eat pork? Ok, I’ll wait for your answer”  And that was all there was to the small prayer. I got up and had breakfast.

After breakfast I decided to turn on the religious TV station (as it was Sabbath) just to see what they were saying. I turn it on and it happened  to have on it a particularly FALSE teaching organization called “camp meeting”. They continually, and I mean continually,  ask for money and their favorite line is “Just send 100 or 1000 dollars to PLANT your seed to recieve blessings from God”   So I knew their words were not to be trusted. Anyway as soon as I turn it on the preacher is talking about EATING PORK! He is just matter of factly saying “we always cut our ham a certain way, blah, blah, blah” Here was a false teacher recommending pork!  WOW! talk about the Lord answering my prayer quickly!  The Lord doesn’t mess around when He wants to reveal something important.  So the bottom line is, If they are serving pork to you RUN the other way! It has been shown to me He meant what he said!   Amen Lord, YOU tell us.

For those of you who doubt this, google “what happens to pork  when you put coke on it”.  The germs and bugs in this meat is truly amazing.

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Prayers answered

November 19, 2009

Recently I prayed and got some results. Aboutsix months ago I received a “red light  camera”ticket. I guess I wasn’t paying attention and ran the yellow light which turned into red. I saw the big flash as I proceeded through the light. I thought “oh no, I’m busted”. Then about 1 week later (they are fast aren’t they,lol) I received in the mail my “bail” for the ticket. I opened it up and WOW! I did a double take –$450.00 I thought “this isn’t right!”  afterall I have been an excellent driver with NO tickets in over 5 years.

I decided to fight it. If nothing else just because I thought it was outrageous. I postponed it as long as I could. But I had to face the music soon. About two months ago I had to appear to let the judge know what I wanted to do about it. I said I’ll go to trial(by judge). So the day came about a month ago.

 That morning of the trial I kneeled down in my room and prayed. I started out telling God I would like Him to help me on this ticket (meaning get me OFF this thing!) but as I prayed I was led to make another prayer. I said ” Lord I will accept ANY decision you make, YOU do the right thing” I was content to live by our Lord’s will.

Then I went to court. There was about 25 people like me waiting in the court to have their cases heard. The judge called about 10 people to start off. ALL were dismissed! Then he calls me. Mine would be first tobe heard. I thought “oh boy this doesn’t look good” I was already thinking I would ask for traffic school to save on my drving record (not money). The cop was there too.

 The Judge asked the cop for the evidence. He proceeded to pull out his laptop complete with all my photos, face picture, truck license, etc. The judge strolled over to the cop’s laptop and watched  the video. Yep, I’m busted I thought. Then the judge walks back to the bench. He says to me “Mr. Peralta look up at me for a minute” I looked up and he looked at me intently. Then he looks at his papers. “I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is Mr. peralta in the pictures, CASE DISMISSED”  Wow!  I was amazed.

It was indeed a divine work of the Lord. I understand normally all the judge has to ask was “was that you driving this vehicle at that time Mr. peralta?” And I would have had to say “yes”. The Lord had set the judge’s mind to dismiss no matter what! I walked out of there 10 feet off the ground. But as I got in my truck I remembered my prayer (the holy spirit reminded me) of my prayer. IT WAS ANSWERED!

 And here is why. it was revealed to me. The 8th commandment says “thou shall not steal”. The city was trying to “steal” from me by way-overcharging for that ticket. It was not right and the Lord knew it. The key I believe is that I prayed correctly by saying YOU do the right thing. His righteousness prevailed. Not my will be done but Yours.Amen!

The second prayer answered was more like an admonishment from  the Lord. I am an avid chess player and I used to play sometimes 10 games a day, every day of the week. it had become like a God to me. The second commandment is “Thou shall have no God’s before me”  After I became a Christian it was slowly being revealed to me about this problem.

So about three weeks ago, I prayed to the Lord and promised Him I would only play two days a week (Sundays and wednesdays) Last Saturday night I was bored, so I thought maybe I could just slip in a few games. I knew before about my promise but I tried to ignore it. I went to the computer. I had about 8 sites up and running. One of them was the Christian station WWW.3abn.com I proceed to pull up the chess site. As I brought it up, IT DISAPPEARED! And the Christian station appeared instead. Wow! I was instantly reminded by our Lord of my promise. I looked up and said “your right Lord, I am sorry” I was thankful the Lord cared so much to show me.   Praise God through our watchful Lord!

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