...cont'd

Tonight Pastor finished up the series he has been doing from 1 Kings. It was on the widow of Zarephath and her son. Her dead son. The one that had been sustained for about 18 months from the empty barrell that didn't run out and the empty jar of oil that always had just enough. He said sometimes prayer isn't enough, because it can be cold, impersonal. God is waiting for us to take the dead one or thing from the one holding onto it and stretch out over it. God is waiting for a warm body to accompany those prayers. I was reminded of something the Lord told me several years ago just after we had come back to the States from Iceland, and visited the church we had attended while we lived in S. Carolina. I was so saddened and burdened for the struggle and shrinking of that little church in the time we had been gone, that I just started weeping and praying for it. God stopped me, saying, "Don't pray unless you're willing to be part of the solution." Kinda just halted me in my tracks.

I think that's where we still are. Pray, yes; but also be willing to get your hands dirty. Take that dead thing out of the person's arms and lay hands on it, calling out to the Lord. The prayer of faith will heal the sick, raise the dead, and change a life. The miracle of the meal and the oil wasn't enough to bring a full realization of God's love for her to that widow. It took the death and revival of her son to help her grasp the fact that God loved HER! We don't have to accept Satan's verdict. God is a restorer of all good things. But He often uses us to do that. What an honor He offers us, encouraging us to be part of the miracle He performs.