The power of 

 

     community prayer

                  

                      "It is He who will supply all your needs"

 

Many years ago when I first met a sweet girl called Mary, she had just left the convent in Brazil where she had been a nun for twelve years.  I was struck by her transparent simplicity and her gentle manner.   We formed an immediate friendship while we both shared seating accommodation on a bag of potatoes in the back of a vegetable van in Pwales, a place of utter peace and beauty near Saint Paul's Bay. 

 She worked happily as an inspector in a factory which made spectacle lenses, but on the evening we met, she was anything but happy.   This was occasioned by the fact that her three-week vacation was about to begin and she feared the malicious tongues of her neighbours in the village where she lived.    They strongly condemned her for leaving the convent and were loud in their disapproval.

  When I suggested that she spend this vacation with our family in St. Paul's Bay she was overjoyed.    Repeatedly, she has told me since then, that the one aspect of our lifestyle which influenced her most, was the facility with which we invited strangers into our home without investigating the contents of the larder beforehand.    She was fascinated by the fact that the Lord always provided the necessary ingredients and enough for all.   She noted with some surprise the manner in which the family prayed before the meal and the enthusiastic response and receptivity of these strangers who invariably shed a few tears and informed us that they hadn't said a prayer for years.   What amazed her most of all, was the realization of the veracity of St. Paul's words in Phil. Chapter 4, verse I9... 

' It is He who will supply all your needs'.

  Mary was then aged thirty and somewhat lonely and she had never had a boy friend.   We decided to ask the Lord to provide her with a suitable Christian partner to meet this need.  The speed with which our prayer was answered was truly remarkable.   She decided to make a week's retreat where the room was packed except for one vacant seat beside her.    It was subsequently filled by a young Australian called Fred.    They got into conversation, and before the week was out, they were engaged to be married.    Fred had spent six months touring Europe, and Malta where his forebears hailed from, was his last port of call.   Three months later, they were happily married and ever since they have been based in North Queensland, Australia where Aaron and Miriam - now holding excellent positions- were born.   Fred is at present evangelizing in the Solomon Islands and both of them have in fact, evangelized all over the world and still do, now in their middle sixties.

  They share their home and their possessions and their income at all times.  Mary tells the story of the purchase  of the truck which Fred badly needed for his business.  

 It was to cost I7,OOO dollars and just then their capital consisted of I,7OO dollars.  

 Because it was exactly one tenth of the cost of the truck, and the exact amount which they gave of their income each year to the Lord, there and then, they both decided to donate this amount also.   During the following weeks money just poured into their home, from people who owed them money for work done over the years, but who had neglected to honour their bills.  In six weeks that truck was paid for in full.  It would be difficult to meet people in whom faith in the promises of the Lord is so strong. 

  Mary who was born with one leg shorter than the other was miraculously cured of this affliction in front of many witnesses.   I would like to quote from a letter which I received from her in August I99I:   " I myself recently  passed through a lovely healing experience.   Since we came back from Malta in I99O I have been in pain and taking anti-inflammatory drugs.   About a month ago I had six X-Rays and the results showed severe arthritis of the spine and neck area.   Our lovely Chinese group prayed for me and commanded the arthritis to move off my neck.   The stubborn sickness did move off my neck but it went into my arms.   It was a very scaring experience as I was paralysed from neck, shoulders to arms and could do no housework, no driving of the car - nothing really;  I was totally dependent on everybody.

  Somehow the Word of God challenged me to arise from the inside against the spirit of infirmity that had been robbing and stealing my peace and my well-being.   I took  a firm stand and believed God as in (ISAIAH 53:4-8.) "It is our grief He bore, our sorrows that weighed Him down.   And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, for His own sins.   But he was wounded and bruised for our sins.   He has chastised that we might have peace;  He was lashed and we were healed!   We are the ones who strayed away like sheep!   We, who left God's paths to follow our own.   Yet God laid on Him the guilt and sins of every one of us".  

 I MADE SURE

to let the Spirit of infirmity know what the Word of the Lord has promised over and over again.   I claimed the promises of the Bible as my inheritance and, praise God, I am to-day completely  healed.    All pain is gone and I keep singing victory songs.   Joy and peace are overflowing in my heart Praise His Holy Name!"    

  Since Christ took our stripes to the cross with Him, like Mary, we too, can claim the same privilege.

  "If you do these things, God will shed His own glorious light upon you.   He will heal you...and keep you healthy too".    ( ISAIAH 58:II)

  P.S.I would like to state clearly that in this instance, one does not confuse the words

REBUKE and INFORM.   

 One informs the spirit of infirmity by quoting the promises of the Lord and only then can one rebuke it.

 

"Isn't it strange that princes and kings

and clowns that caper in sawdust rings,

and ordinary folks like you and me

are builders of eternity.

To each is given a bag of tools,

an hour-glass and a book of rules;

and each must build, ere time is flown,

a stumbling block or a stepping stone".

 

Anita Kilbride-Jones,

St. Paul's Bay,Malta 

 

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