Have you ever wondered, "Does God see what's going on"? You probably have, as I have, and many others have.
I remember years ago sitting in church hearing a Minister preach about God who "sits over the circle of the earth". He said, "God sees the whole picture". This fascinated me to consider how God sees everything and works all things together for our good, as he highlighted in Romans 8. But's it's not always easy to see at first how God is working all things together for good. Fast forward some 10 years or so later, I encounter the "God Who Sees" in a more real way than I ever had before!
For years I had desired to take missions trips, visit people of other nations, and share God's hope and love with them. But I put it off, because of work, because of family, because of ministry, because of lack of experience, because, because, because! But in the spring of 2015 I started getting a strong desire to look beyond "because". One Sunday morning during the before-service prayer time, I started getting an impression to launch out into the deep. I had studied this in God's word before, so I knew He was calling me to go somewhere to do something for Him. But where? And to do what? I began praying about this and even at times asking God did He really need me? After all, He's God!
I continued for months praying, asking God what it was that I was supposed to do. I was clueless, and unable to do anything without God. Then in December after months of prayer I heard from God "Filipe" and "Sao Paulo". Pastor Filipe Guimaraes is a missionary from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who visited the United States a few years earlier and did outreach with our church. I began praying and soon reached out to him about potentially coming to visit and do missions work. He welcomed the plans to come visit and we began praying about doing missions work together.
I now knew where, but why did God want me to go? Maybe to gain training in missions I thought, as Pastor Filipe is experienced in planning missions and leading a missionary organization. We setup a time of April for the missions trip and I continue to pray about the why, God's purpose. Again God spoke to me during a Sunday worship, this time that I was going to Brazil for revival! Alright I thought, excitedly! Somebody's going to be healed, somebody's going to be delivered, somebody's going to be.....oh wait. After just a few moments of praising God for the His purposes reality set in. "I can't do that." I can't get anybody healed or delivered. But that's what God said, so I began believing and praying in this direction, that God would do the impossible which I could not do. He even gave me a sermon to preach out of Luke 5 about the people who gathered at the pool hoping to be healed.
Then the battles came. I battled to continue believing that God would do something I had not personally experienced before, and I battled to get all my Visa paperwork approved in time for the trip. With God's help the paperwork did come, just days before my scheduled flight! I arrived on a Sunday morning and Pastor Filipe let me know I was to begin ministering by preaching that night's Sunday service. Later that day I shared my sermon plans with him so that he could prepare to help translate to Portuguese. He paused to consider the topic of the sermon, but did not say much.
That night I ministered my first sermon on a mission trip, in a foreign nation, with a translator, asking a crowd of people in a community hall "Will You Be Made Whole" by putting faith in Jesus Christ. At the conclusion of the message I gave the request for those to acknowledge who would like to put their faith in Christ. Several persons acknowledged their need for Christ and we prayed with them to accept Him.
Then we asked the people there who needed to put their faith in God to heal their bodies? There was a woman sitting in the front who had never attended the Pastor's services before. She came forward requesting prayer. To this day I don't even recall what her ailment was, but after we prayed for her in Jesus name, she was better. Seeing her example of believing, others started to come for prayer. And one by one, God started to heal them all! Foot pain, knee pain, back pain, regulation of blood sugar levels, problems sleeping. Pastor Filipe would interpret, then we would pray together and believe God for healing. One person came up and we heard God say "exercise". I asked, "Have you been exercising" to which she said, "Yes the doctor said I am supposed to be exercising"!
What I didn't know, was that all these months leading up to the visit, Pastor Filipe and the church had been praying for physical healing for their bodies. He never told me their prayer request. But the God who sees, knew what they needed. He knew what I didn't know! The last to come up for prayer was the Pastor's wife. She was pregnant and also suffering from back pains. As with the others, God healed her of the back pain. The next day the Pastor Filipe and his wife went to the doctor to get something checked out. At dinner that night he explained that his wife also had been having some inner problems in the stomach area. The doctor confirmed that she was now healed with no sign of problems! When we prayed for her back, we never prayed for her stomach. But the God who sees, answered their prayers to be made whole.
You can trust in the God who sees to hear and answer your prayers!
I remember years ago sitting in church hearing a Minister preach about God who "sits over the circle of the earth". He said, "God sees the whole picture". This fascinated me to consider how God sees everything and works all things together for our good, as he highlighted in Romans 8. But's it's not always easy to see at first how God is working all things together for good. Fast forward some 10 years or so later, I encounter the "God Who Sees" in a more real way than I ever had before!
For years I had desired to take missions trips, visit people of other nations, and share God's hope and love with them. But I put it off, because of work, because of family, because of ministry, because of lack of experience, because, because, because! But in the spring of 2015 I started getting a strong desire to look beyond "because". One Sunday morning during the before-service prayer time, I started getting an impression to launch out into the deep. I had studied this in God's word before, so I knew He was calling me to go somewhere to do something for Him. But where? And to do what? I began praying about this and even at times asking God did He really need me? After all, He's God!
I continued for months praying, asking God what it was that I was supposed to do. I was clueless, and unable to do anything without God. Then in December after months of prayer I heard from God "Filipe" and "Sao Paulo". Pastor Filipe Guimaraes is a missionary from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who visited the United States a few years earlier and did outreach with our church. I began praying and soon reached out to him about potentially coming to visit and do missions work. He welcomed the plans to come visit and we began praying about doing missions work together.
I now knew where, but why did God want me to go? Maybe to gain training in missions I thought, as Pastor Filipe is experienced in planning missions and leading a missionary organization. We setup a time of April for the missions trip and I continue to pray about the why, God's purpose. Again God spoke to me during a Sunday worship, this time that I was going to Brazil for revival! Alright I thought, excitedly! Somebody's going to be healed, somebody's going to be delivered, somebody's going to be.....oh wait. After just a few moments of praising God for the His purposes reality set in. "I can't do that." I can't get anybody healed or delivered. But that's what God said, so I began believing and praying in this direction, that God would do the impossible which I could not do. He even gave me a sermon to preach out of Luke 5 about the people who gathered at the pool hoping to be healed.
Then the battles came. I battled to continue believing that God would do something I had not personally experienced before, and I battled to get all my Visa paperwork approved in time for the trip. With God's help the paperwork did come, just days before my scheduled flight! I arrived on a Sunday morning and Pastor Filipe let me know I was to begin ministering by preaching that night's Sunday service. Later that day I shared my sermon plans with him so that he could prepare to help translate to Portuguese. He paused to consider the topic of the sermon, but did not say much.
That night I ministered my first sermon on a mission trip, in a foreign nation, with a translator, asking a crowd of people in a community hall "Will You Be Made Whole" by putting faith in Jesus Christ. At the conclusion of the message I gave the request for those to acknowledge who would like to put their faith in Christ. Several persons acknowledged their need for Christ and we prayed with them to accept Him.
Then we asked the people there who needed to put their faith in God to heal their bodies? There was a woman sitting in the front who had never attended the Pastor's services before. She came forward requesting prayer. To this day I don't even recall what her ailment was, but after we prayed for her in Jesus name, she was better. Seeing her example of believing, others started to come for prayer. And one by one, God started to heal them all! Foot pain, knee pain, back pain, regulation of blood sugar levels, problems sleeping. Pastor Filipe would interpret, then we would pray together and believe God for healing. One person came up and we heard God say "exercise". I asked, "Have you been exercising" to which she said, "Yes the doctor said I am supposed to be exercising"!
What I didn't know, was that all these months leading up to the visit, Pastor Filipe and the church had been praying for physical healing for their bodies. He never told me their prayer request. But the God who sees, knew what they needed. He knew what I didn't know! The last to come up for prayer was the Pastor's wife. She was pregnant and also suffering from back pains. As with the others, God healed her of the back pain. The next day the Pastor Filipe and his wife went to the doctor to get something checked out. At dinner that night he explained that his wife also had been having some inner problems in the stomach area. The doctor confirmed that she was now healed with no sign of problems! When we prayed for her back, we never prayed for her stomach. But the God who sees, answered their prayers to be made whole.
You can trust in the God who sees to hear and answer your prayers!
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