Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Hello All,


Blessings!

What do you do when nearly dead broke, beaten down, the bills are due, a baby is on the way, and the electricity just went out due to a major ice storm that just hit your community? I grabbed a bottle of lamp oil and poured it into a large heavy goblet, and not knowing quite what to expect, ignited it.

I knew right away what I had done was just plain dumb, but I was really under quite a bit of stress! I looked around for pot holders or something with which to grab hold of the flaming cauldron and dump it into the kitchen sink not 3 feet away. Finding only one, I wrapped it around the stem of the flask, lifted it up, spilling boiling flame on my arm, the floor, and finally into the sink.

Normally, I drank a six pack of beer on the weekend, three beers Friday night, and 3 on Saturday night, but after nearly burning the house down that evening, I opened the frig and drank a six pack. And I drank a six pack for the next 7 nights straight. I had no idea what was the matter with me, no idea how all of a sudden my body chemistry seemed to accommodate what it couldn't before, but it did.

All I could do at that point was cry out to the Lord in my heart for help. It wasn't long in coming, but how the help came was strange, even bizarre, but for whatever reason, I didn't even bat an eye, I just went with it. I didn't drink another drop of beer.

The very next morning I woke up on fire. I was both angry and determined to fight a battle I didn't even know was raging around me. I sat across from my wife at the breakfast table and said, "You are going to sit right there, and I am going to preach the gospel to you and we are going to get teaching jobs.

I got my big ol' air loom Bible out and began writing down scriptures to preach on. I went to the local Bible and book store and purchased 2 spiritual warfare manuals, one full of prayers against the devil, and one full of faith to fight the devil with. That one was by Dr. Rebecca Brown, M. D., called "Prepare for War." I do not remember the other author's name.

I read, I preached, I prayed, 3 times a day, never waivering. Soon my wife was asked to go care for her aging grandmother, as all other family members had taken their turn. I didn't skip a beat, but used her absence to dispense with some unnecessary property like the color boob tube and a riding lawn mower. Such was needed to pay bills. There was still a push mower and old black and white TV.

The ice storm had supplied us with plenty of wood for the rest of the Winter. I worked on cutting that up too.

Then, a friend invited me to a revival. I went. To my surprise, a medium sized Baptist Church in Springfield, MO, had a man in from Texas to preach that to me was far and away more Pentecostal than any Baptist Preacher I knew of or had heard preach. Anyway, the old boy electrified the place, and I went home more lit up with the Holy Ghost than ever!

After a month away, my wife returned, and I kept right on praying, reading, studying, and preaching to her right across the table. I felt like a man trying to bore through a 7 foot thick concrete wall with kitchen knife, but I was determined to get the job done.

I held a few yard sales to keep the bills paid and kept on a keepin' on. Late June came and still nothing. It had been 6 months since the ice storm. I just kept right on praying, studying and preachin', but I had made garden, and quite a few vegetables were ripe, so I picked the very best of what was there, and deposited all of it on my Baptist Preacher neighbor's back door, and walked away.

Then, one morning I had to take our car in to have it serviced. A fellow teacher quite a bit my senior was having new tires put on his car.
Out of the blue he walked over to me and said, "Dennis, I know where you can get a teaching job." (I hadn't told anyone I was looking).

Our conversation pursued that line of thought, and by the time I arrived back home I had the contact information. Gallup, NM. The state had just mandated whole day kindergarten and was in need of lots and lots of teachers. I told my wife. She said no. I kept right on preachin'. But late that night I was working on an exposition of Revelation 17:5, and the Lord spoke to me as clear as a bell,..."Just finish that piece you are working on and you will get your teaching jobs," He said.

Now talk about working hard on something and making every effort to get every jot and tittle right...when the Lord talks to you, you take notice of your work..and so I did finish it with care.

I asked my wife again the next morning..this time she agreed to go..now again, this is before I ever called anyone...but we were both hired within' two days.

A week before we left I received a gift of inheritance in excess of the amount we needed to make the move, enough to replace the items I had sold and then some. When we arrived at our place of work, their health care coverage paid for every cent of Isaac Franklin' Cook's delivery. I did not know of either the gift of inheritance or the health care coverage.
And the school district gave us a nice 2 bedroom home to live in for virtually nothing.

When the Lord Jesus steps in to take care of you, just go with it!

Today, Isaac is a junior at the University of Arkansas, has a 4.0 GPA. He was his home town's first football hero in 15 years. His girl is born again and spirit filled..and scored 32 on her SAT.

So don't tell me I don't know faith! God gave me His one day a while back, and I give him all the glory for the results! I said, I am going to sit right down here and preach...and we will get teaching jobs...but we got a whole lot more..as still the blessing on Ike grows...

FAITH SAYS SOMETHING!!!!!!


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.