Honeymoon prayer

[Servant89]

The God that I serve…
It was my honeymoon. Cancun, Mexico, 1989. We were told that if we stayed in Cancun (they boil the water there), we would not get sick (Montezuma’s revenge, a local stomach virus). So we left the sightseeing outside Cancun for the last day. And we got sick on the last day. We were at Chichen Itza, a Maya pyramid when it hit me. There was no restroom there. I had to go to the jungle. I went deep into the jungle until I saw a clear area with nothing but short grass about the size of a very small car completely surrounded by a row of bushes about 3.5 feet tall. I forced myself through the bushes and entered the enclosed area. I squatted down facing my wife and when I did that, I could not see my wife nor any of the other tourists there …It was perfect! But then I remembered that when I was a child, I used to play with wild tarantulas (big spiders) and I knew they lived in holes in the ground and sometimes vibrations would trigger them to come out. I was older now and afraid of spiders. So, before I did my business, I started combing the grass with my foot, side to side to see if there were any holes in the ground. I covered and inspected about 70 percent of the enclosed area. I covered it all except the two extreme sides on the left and right (when facing my wife). At that time, my body let me know it was going to do what it had to do, with or without my permission. Facing the direction of the tourists, I squatted and I hurried up to pull down my pants and I was barely successful in pulling down my underwear (barely!). The best word that I can use to describe what happened next is…. explosion. Never before, and never after that moment, have I experienced anything like that. My whole gluteus area and part of my thighs were covered with liquid excrement. I could not believe my situation. I thought to myself: “This is my honeymoon, I am supposed to be Prince Charming,” I looked and smelled anything but charming. I also said to myself: “I have to take a bus back to the hotel, I can’t return like this.” What a terrible feeling. As I was finishing my business, I closed my eyes and I started praying to God. I said: “Lord, you are worthy of praise, there is none like you. Look at me Lord, I need help. I am extremely unclean and this is my honeymoon, I need help Lord, help me Lord.” As I said those words, I was thinking that when I open my eyes I was going to see a plant with large absorbent leaves that would solve my problem. I knew a single set of underwear would not be enough to clean my mess. I needed at least 8 sets of underwear to clean that up. When I opened my eyes I was greatly disappointed. The bushes in front of me had small (shinny, waxed-covered leaves) with pointy borders that clearly could not be used for that purpose. I looked to my right and my left, and saw the same kind of bushes. I was so disappointed. I thought for sure God had heard my prayer, but there was no answer from Him. Then I looked behind me and right there, within an arm’s length, was the solution to my problem. I picked up one brand new roll of toilet paper, removed the wrapping and took a lot of paper in my hand and I was about to wipe myself clean when I stopped and froze. It had just dawned on me, I realized right there that I had just finished inspecting the area behind me with my foot looking for spider holes in the ground. I became aware I had carefully inspected that same area for about 90 seconds, moving my foot side to side to make sure the ground was free of holes. While looking at the area I inspected behind me (within an arm’s length, I did not have to move to reach for the toilet paper) I said really loud: “Wait a minute! WAIT A MINUTE! This was not here a minute ago! I just inspected this area!” I could not believe my eyes, right behind me was a mountain of rolls of toilet papers about 18 inches high, about 4 feet wide of about 60 to 80 brand new rolls of unmarked toilet paper, inches away from me. I did not clean myself for about 5 minutes taking in what had just happened. These two verses came to mind immediately:
Phil 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
And that was a need for sure, that was not a want. And when I saw all those rolls of toilet papers this verse came to mind:
Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
As I contemplated that mountain of rolls of toilet paper, I thought about that verse and said: “That is an understatement!!!!
I felt humbled. I closed my eyes again and I prayed these words: “Lord, why are you so real to me? I am a sinner, I am not a prophet, why are you so real to me?” And I waited for his answer. I did not understand and I wanted to understand why. The Lord did not answer that question. Instead he told me: “The next time you feel unclean and what to feel clean, call on me. I am the one you need to call when you feel unclean and want to be cleansed.”
That is the God that I serve. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ and he is the Creator of the Universe. Praises and glory, dominion and strength belongs to him forever and ever. Amen.

[Servant89]

I found myself in front of my atheist friends. As the casual conversation went on, I asked myself, “what could I say (concerning talking about Jesus) that would not send them away.” What could I say that would not prompt that (previously seen) body language that announces they are uncomfortable and wished I would shut up… What? And right there, I had a silly (unbiblical) idea. I interrupted the conversation with this proposal: I’ll make a deal with you two. If you let me preach to you for one hour and honestly pay attention to every word I say for one hour… I will not preach to you about Jesus ever again. What do you say? They looked at each other and after two seconds responded in one loud accord: Yes, let’s do that!

I started the message with this question: What would it take for you guys to believe? How big a miracle is needed to cause you to give your whole life to Jesus? I wanted to know if there was hope. They both said: “I do not understand”. I said: If I tell you God told me he is going to hit that tree (pointing to the backyard) with lighting in ten seconds and we all count 10, 9, 8… and the tree gets hit with lighting exactly at zero… would you change your ways? Would you believe that God is real? They said: That is not going to happen. I said: I am not saying it is going to happen, this is a hypothetical situation, I am asking, if it does happen, would you believe? They said: That is not going to happen. And for 15 minutes I could not get them to respond to the hypothetical situation. They could not answer the question. They kept repeating the same thing: “That is not going to happen”, again and again. So I left that approach and told them the message of the gospel. I got no response from them. That was 1 July 1991.

Four days later, 5 July 1991, I was sitting by myself, in my home, when I got this idea in my head that God was telling me to disconnect the electrical appliances in my house because the tree on my backyard was about to be hit with lighting. I consider the concept for 5 seconds and reached the conclusion that I was reading too much Bible. But the idea would not go away. Instead it became stronger and stronger, but I kept ignoring it. Then I noticed it started to get dark and I now could hear thunder, far away, and they were getting closer. Finally, I unplugged the electrical appliances in my house. When I was done, I went to the kitchen, faced the tree, closed my eyes, lifted my hands and prayed this short prayer: Lord, I do not know if you are talking to me or not, but if you are, and if you are going to do something, make it a big one, in the name of Jesus I pray, Amen. Half a second after the “amen”, the tree on my backyard was hit with lighting with the loudest BANG I have ever heard in my life. The bark from the tree was all over my yard (front and back). The bark from the tree had sort of exploded in all directions and the tree had a bare band in spiral from top to bottom.

I called my atheist friend right away and I told him what had just happened with unbelievable excitement in my words. I asked him: Do you remember what I asked you four days ago, about the tree? He said: Yeees? And I responded with: “It happened here!” I told him every single detail (many things not included in this email). I also told him: You need to come here, I have a tree to show you, you need to see this tree! His answer was: I don’t need to see the tree, I believe you. And from that day, he started coming to our Bible studies and received Christ as his Lord and Savior within a couple of months. To this day, he has never seen the tree. He was right. People do not need to see a tree, all they need to see is Christ alive in you. It is written:

PSA 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

[Diggindeeper]

AMAZING story! I would not believe it, except that God has supplied MY needs in extraordinary ways too. Not toilet paper...but, well, too long to go into now. But your story is nothing short of amazing, and truly, that's the word that describes the God we serve!

[Servant89]

Praise God ! Bless his holy name. Peace.

[Servant89]

A prayer for my boss ...

Back in 1991, my wife and I had been trying to become parents unsuccessfully for 8 months. My wife went forward at the end of one service in a Pentecostal church to have the evangelist pray for her to get pregnant. The evangelist said he had to go and all he did at that time was laying hands for less than a second (touching the head of the people in line) one by one. She had no time to tell him what she wanted. When he touched my wife, my wife fell down and later she told me that her belly vibrated when the evangelist touched her. A month later, in January 1992 we found out she was pregnant. A month later (19 Feb 1992) I was on travel with my boss to Rock Island (ARMY Command) and while I walked to the airplane with my boss, my boss told me that he was trying to get his wife pregnant for 2 years unsuccessfully. When I heard that, I decided to pray for him in silence while we walked to the airplane. About 10 seonds into the prayer, I felt the Lord was telling me to tell my boss that his wife was going to get pregnant, but added, to make sure she did not have any alcoholic beverage during her pregnancy because if she did, the child was going to be born with a birth mark. I thought about that message and I did not find it in me to tell him. I was wondering if it was my imagination talking to me. Six months later, he told me his wife was pregnant. I asked him when was the due date and he told me Dec 16. I looked for the travel claim to Rock Island and calculated 42 before the due date was the day that I prayed for him. My son was born in October 1992, his son was born on December that same year. Two years later, there was a party at the house of my boss, he now had two boys, the eldest was 2 years old and he came walking and stopped right in front of me. He was wearing shorts. Great looking kid! I noticed a big birth mark on this leg (right on the side of his calf) about 3 inches in diameter. My eyes opened wide as I contemplated the birth mark and I realized the Lord had spoken to me and I did nothing. At that time my boss just happened to see me and stopped right next to his son (as he saw my eyes fixed on the birth mark) and told me: "Oh, the doctor said that was just some wine that my wife had while she was pregnant". If I had any doubts about the Lord speaking to me, that made it go away. I was speachless. To this day, that man, who still works with us, has not heard this story. I still retain the travel claim of that trip to Rock Island. I know I stink. But even though I stink, by the grace of God, God speaks to me. Lord Jesus, you are worthy of praise and adoration, there is none like you. Don't give up on me. Remember I am dust. Thank you for your faithfulness and for being so real to me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

[Servant89]

My church asked for examples of testimonies to put in the Church letter. I sent them exactly what I posted here in honeymoon prayer (the first post). I was told they could not put it there because "the pastors thought it was inappropriate to talk about human excrement in a church letter". I feel special.

[Servant89]

God is real to me, in spite of me.

I used to minister to migrant workers in farms in Maryland. One of them (Nicasio) came to my house asking for something (I forgot what it was). But as he turned away to walk back to his car, the Lord told me he was going to be falsely accused of raping a woman. I thought for a moment, considering telling him that, but I didn't. Oh, don't I wished I had the guts to do it. But I was wondering if the Lord spoke to me or not. About a month later, I got a phone call, it was Nicasio. He was in jail in North Carolina. He told me a woman was blackmailing him asking him to give her $2,000 or she would report to the police that he raped her. He did not give her any money and she reported him. If I had told him the word of knowledge from the Lord, he would have been impressed, instead, I was the one that was impressed and ashamed of my failure to tell him. I drove to NC to help him, we gathered $10,000 to bail him out. When the woman heard he was out, she fled the state. She did not show up for the court appointment and he was set free.

God is faithful even when I am not faithful.

Shalom

[Servant89]

I was 18 years old. I just got my high school ring, it cost $29 back in 1973. My mother told me not to lose it, to take care of it. But two weeks later, I was at the beach, in the water, where the surf breaks and right there, it fell off my finger. I lost my two weeks old ring. I was sad, real sad. I walked to the palm trees and sat down there, about 200 feet from the shore thinking about how to tell my mother I lost the ring. About 15 minutes later, I took a diving mask I had and head back to the shore to look for my ring at the bottom of the surf. I went more or less to the area I thought I lost it (I did not mark the place. I stood about waist deep, right where the surf breaks. The waves will hit me and move me while I put on the mask. My family did not go to Church those days. But I was sad and before I went in the water, I stopped and prayed to God to help me find my ring. After I prayed, I put on my mask and went deep (close to the sand) because the visibility was about 5 inches (too much sand in the water where the surf breaks). As soon as I saw the sand, there it was, I saw my ring about 3 inches from my mask, dead center. I grabbed a fist full of sand around it. When I stood up, I opened my hand and there it was. I could not believe it. I spent a whole second and a half looking for it before I found it. I immediately looked up to heaven and I remember saying to myself: There is someone up there! There is someone up there that listens to prayers and answers prayers. I kept looking to heaven for about 40 seconds, then I put my ring back into my finger and told no one about it for years. But I never forgot it. Before I went to Church as a saved Christian, God had his eye on me.

Shalom

[Moxie]

That's neat!! The Bible tells us that He reveals Himself and He does so in ways that we will know it is Him.

[Servant89]

I went to a Chinese restaurant to have the lunch bufet with two other Hispanic friends of mine. The owner came to serve us and asked if we wanted something to drink. My friends ordered a soda. I ordered water. The owner said to me: "Water? No coke?" I said: That's correct, just water. He got upset and said to me: "You cheap!" I could not believe my ears so I asked him: "Excuse me? What did you say?" And he said: "You cheap" Com hea no mo!" and then he left us. My friends could not believe it either. We went through the line, had the bufet and left. When we left, I told my two friends (which I have been teaching them about Christ), to return the next day. They protested saying, but you heard him, he does not like us, they treated us bad in there. I told them, the Bible says that if someone forces us to carry something one mile to go two miles. We returned the very next day and ordered the same except I ordered a Strawberry Daiquiri (virgin), for $5.95 plus the bufet. To my surprise, he did not charge me for the daiquiri, he just would not charge me for it. I returned about 5 times that year and he never once charged me for my drink. We need to treat people the way they want to be treated (love thy neigbor as thyself) and God will take care of the rest. The Bible is a powerful weapon when we use it and follow its instructions.

[Servant89]

Thank you Moxie for editing my story. I appreciate that. Servant89

[The Mighty Sword]

The God that I serve…
The best word that I can use to describe what happened next is…. explosion.

Explosion........

[JesusMySavior]

Amazing stories! I want to hear more!

[Servant89]

It was midnight, I was rehearsing my testimony (in my mind). My Pastor had asked me to share a few words with the congregation the next Sunday. As I was describing to an imaginary audience in my mind what happened to me the day I got filled with the Holy Spirit… it went like this:

I had asked the Lord to fill me with his Spirit twice that week (a year before). The Pastor came to me and put his hand on me and prayed that I may receive the Holy Spirit, but nothing happened. The next day, during Sunday Worship, while they were singing “We Exhalt Thee”, I became aware of His presence. It was like standing in front of a Giant all the time and not being able to realize it, and suddenly I got eyes to see. I did not see anything different physically. But in the Spirit, I perceived him, I became aware of his awesome presence. And after 10 seconds or so, He hid Himself again. I kept watching and telling myself: “Keep looking, He might do it (show Himself to me) again.” But He didn’t. At that point, I said the word “doma” and as soon as I said it, I stopped talking, and wondered why I said that.

I stopped rehearsing in my mind my testimony and planned to say to the audience that to this day I do not know what that word means, when the Lord interrupted me, and pointed to the Greek Dictionary that I have. I looked it up. I found out the word “doma” in Greek means “gifts” and that it is in the Bible. That word appears in the Bible in one occasion where Jesus said:

LUK 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts (doma) to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

After I shared my testimony to the church, I went home. My wife had never come with me to my church. And when I got home, I told my wife the church had a pot-luck activity that I wanted to go. My wife started crying because she did not want to be with me anymore. She had a hard time adjusting to my relationship with God even though, before we got married, I had told her I loved God with all of my heard. I told her not to cry for me, that I was going to be fine. I did not ask her to stay (Jesus never begged anyone to stay with him, and I should love my wife like Jesus loved the church). I asked her what was that she needed to be happy. I told her that if she was not happy with me, that she should go and find that place or person where she could find that happiness. I also told her she could keep the house, the savings, whatever she needed to be happy, that I was going to give it all to her. Then I told her, "But you are a fool to leave me. No one will love you the way I love you (with abandon, unconditionally, and never letting go of my first love). At that point the door bell rang, it was my Pastor. He came to my house after I had given my testimony and said to me: “Do you see yourself as part of our church? Because I do not see you as part of my church.” I told him I wanted to stay in that church and after a while, he left. I went to the dinning room to talk to God (my wife was upstairs crying). My church did not want me because of my testimony, my wife did not want me because of my testimony, it seems the whole world did not want me… because of my testimony, all within 5 minutes. And yet, I was not lonely. I had peace. I remember looking up the window and pointing my finger to the heavens and saying in a low voice to God:

“You created me and you made me, you can do anything you want with me, I am yours and you do not have to explain yourself to me. There is no unrighteousness with you. You are holy in all your ways. Whatever your plan is, that would be fine with me. And I love you Lord, I love you!”

I had peace that could not be explained (it passed all understanding). A minute later, my wife came down crying saying she loved me and that she was sorry she said those things and from that moment on, she started coming to church. She was filled with the Holy Spirit a few months later and today she is a solid Christian. Glory to God! She used to be stingy with money, but now she is more generous than I am, what a change! Twenty years later, I am more in love with my wife than never before.

We now go to another church. That Pastor is no longer in the ministry.

Shalom

[JesusMySavior]

This thread is such a blessing. I give so much glory to God here for what He has done, just in your life! Imagine the stories we will hear when we get to meet our Lord Jesus face to face...like a grandpa sitting with His kids around the fire... telling story after story of how He intervened...

Heaven will be wonderful - but Christ is just...so incredibly amazing! I love You Lord! I love You!