News
of Tony: This Sunday morning, the deaf
will meet with Tony visitation and devotion time. The driver will come at 10:50
a.m. to take him into the mobility van to Logan Restaurant so Tony could enjoy
the nice change and join with us for lunch and back to BLM Rehab and pay $50.00
to the driver. Last July 23 on Sunday noon, with permission to take Tony out in
his wheelchair (for safety), David and I would “wheel” Tony to a half block to
Tony’s Diners which is close to Blm Rehab. It was great and it means a lot to
Tony.
Acts
1:14 “. . . all with one mind . . . continually devoting themselves to prayer.”
A
deep devotion to prayer was always connected to the success of the New
Testament church. Before the Holy Spirit
came down in power of Pentecost, the followers of Christ were “all with one
mind . . . continually devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14). The word devote carries the idea of insisting on something and clinging to it. It’s the picture of a soldier staying close to
his commanding officer. Faithful.
Steadfast. Loyal. Standing guard.
After
God’s Spirit fell upon them, leading to thousands being saved, the believers
were again, “continually devoting themselves” to prayer, among other things
(Acts 2:42). Even when problems arose in
the church, such as the widows feeling neglected, the apostles quickly
delegated the responsibility to qualified deacons, adding, “But we will devote
ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
They
just kept sticking to it. This same
priority was instilled in the new churches that were being started, and it
remains God’s Word for us today in our lives and in our churches. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love .
. . rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer” (Rom.
12:10, 12). “Devote yourselves to
prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the
same time for us as well” (Col. 4:2-4). [Some part of chapter 3, The Priority of
Prayer are quoted from “The Battle Plan for Prayer” by Stephen & Alex
Kendrick.]
Dorothy: “Be devoted” really hit a
“home run” for me, personally. God helped me to realize the value of devoting
my time to prayer. I confess: I had become weary because my thought was, “What’s
good is it if there isn’t any instant healing as I would have like to see it
happen?” After reading chapter 3, the part
about “Be Devoted”, I realized that God is encouraging me to continue devoting
myself to prayer.
Acts
2:42 impressed me that “they were continually devoting themselves to the
apostles’ teaching . . .” (Translation from KJV quoted, “they continued
stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine . . .) From this I understood the value of apostles’
writing the New Testament Bible that we continue to study from apostles’
teaching the Word of God.
On
introduction part of the book, it asked to write down your biggest needs so in
my Journal #2, I wrote some, but I ended up with 16 lists of needs including other’s
needs. But somehow I wasn’t satisfied.
So I asked God, “What is Your dream for us?” I received a startled
answer: “Tony is a brand new man!” I wrote down Tony’s complete healing as a
priority, but what God spoke to my inner spirit, seems a different prospective
in my mind. It threw me off.
Then
Holy Spirit brought up 2 Cor. 5:17 “… if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW
creature (a new person): old things are passed away; behold all things are
become new.” I said to myself, “Oh ye of little faith” because to me complete
healing means a big improvement for Tony.
BUT God’s view was different than my view on healing basis. As Isaiah quoted
on 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts . . .” God’s thought is not the
same as my thought. I thank God for
stirring up my heart and revived me. He
is a faithful God who cares enough to lead me to read the “War Room” book and
stirred up my spirit.
God
bless you.
Dorothy
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