The Reason Why

The Lord blessed my wife and I with a daughter on December 18th, 2001. Her name was Elizabeth. She was born with Downs Syndrome and was also born missing part of her heart. Because of this she only lived 23 days. In that time she had 4 surgeries, the last of which was an open-heart operation. During that time of trial and difficulty the Lord showed me a deeper level of who He is as he dwells in us. One, he desires to speak to us to prepare us for things that are before us. Two, his level of power and grace is always sufficient for the trial we are in. Three, when the Body of Christ pulls together and bears one anothers burdens and prays for one another this measure of Grace I am referring to will always be there for us.

Some months before Elizabeth was born the Lord spoke to me about her specifically. I was off of work just laying on the couch at home attempting to take a nap one afternoon. The Lord spoke to me as I was staring at the ceiling and told me that the baby we were going to have would be born a mongoloid. For those of you that are not familiar with what I am referring to, mongolism is an antiquated term for Downs Syndrome. When I heard this I just kept it to myself as I was really hoping that I had not heard what I thought I had in fact heard. I never told my wife or anyone else for that matter.

As time went forward and we were close to our delivery date I had an encounter with the presence of the Lord while in prayer one morning. It was December 7th, 11 days before Elizabeth was born. I went into the dining room at 5AM to spend some time in prayer and as soon as I sat down at the table the presence of the Lord filled the room. His presence was so thick and so powerful that the only way I could describe it was that I was being pressed on and squeezed by an unseen force. It caught me off guard and scared me because it happened right as I sat down in the chair. I sat very still and just scanned the room with my eyes expecting to see something or someone appear in front of me. His presence lasted for a few minutes and then everything just dissipated and went back to normal, myself included.

After this occurred I simply asked the Lord if that was in fact him. Well, that same day I noticed that two things had occurred in our home. One, our dog George stopped acting weird. When I say "weird," I am referring to the fact that every time Christine would be pregnant George would always get "under foot" as we say. He just acted weird while she was pregnant, like he was disturbed about something, and he would not leave her side. Well, after that day he never acted that way again. Also another thing occurred. Up to that point we were having a hard time getting our youngest son to sleep through the night in his own bed. From that day forward we never had an issue with it again. There was a greater level of peace over our home from that time onward.

As some of you know the story, Elizabeth went to be with the Lord almost three weeks later. But what I learned in the whole process on a much deeper level is that the Lord prepares his people for things in advance by speaking of things to come.

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what it yet to come." John 16:13

He tells us about things in advance and then he prepares us for those things by bringing forth his refreshing presence and gracing us for the task at hand.

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." Acts 3:19

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9

So the Lord tells us about things in advance and then he empowers us for the task at hand and the trials that come with it. During those 23 days and in the days afterwards we felt power. We felt fresh.

Also during that time the Lord showed us great love through the Body of Christ. It was probably the one time in our lives that we could feel the lasting tangible presence of the Lord carrying us through hardship simply because so many people prayed for us over a protracted period of time. I know of at least three church bodies that were diligently interceding for us in that time. And the feeling of it was very tangible in the physical realm. Our hearts were strengthened with grace because others were bearing our burdens in prayer.

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Gal 6:2

"...always keep on praying for all the saints." Eph 6:18

We are grateful for who the Lord was for us through the Body in that time. The experience taught us another level of the need for corporate intercession in times of great need.

I write all of this to say the following. The reason why we are covering the topics we are at this time is not because I am engaging in what I refer to as shock-preaching. I have seen ministers in the past (I am sure I have done it before to) try to preach from their souls and shock people emotionally to get some type of response from them. This type of ministry is different from the kind of ministry we are called to in the Lord. Shock-preaching is soulish, manipulative and doesn't cultivate righteousness in a man's heart. That is not what we are called to as we minister to one another.

But people within the Body of Christ need to have revelation of that which is in front of them, both in America and in the rest of the world. We need to have revelation in advance of what is coming. If we will acknowledge truth and turn towards the Lord, his presence will strengthen us for the tasks at hand. He will equip us for things to come. He will give us sufficient grace to endure all things if we will only ask of him. We need to know things in advance. We need to ask of Him. We need to be empowered in the Spirit and pray for one another. America is falling off a cliff and the rest of the world will go with it. We need to be spiritually prepared for that.

I have had several conversations in past months with Mexican businessmen about what would happen to Mexico if the U.S. economy collapsed. Their response to me every time is that Mexico would go down with America because Mexico is heavily dependant on American consumption of goods manufactured in Mexico. The Mexican economy is also supplemented a great deal by Mexican nationals working in the United States sending huge sums of money back home. It is currently estimated that Mexican citizens receive roughly $23 billion per year in wire transfers from family members who are currently migrant workers inside the United States. That is alot of money for the Mexican economy each year that will be lost in the future.

We need to ask the Lord for revelation of what is in front of us, ask him to strengthen us and prepare us both physically and spiritually, and then we need to engage in prayer for each other so that we can feel the exponential effects of corporate intercession. Remember the following words:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Ecc 4:9,10,12

"How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless the Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?" Deut 32:30

That is the reason why we have covered these topics. Be aware and prepare in his grace with corporate unity. That is the reason why we discuss these things. That is the reason why.

In Christ,

JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/.