Those of us in the stands have been invited to be in the stadium as prayer warriors for friends needing the support of prayer in the midst of their life experience.
Throughout the summer and into September I was privileged to be in the Stadium of Prayer. I wasn't on the field directly in the middle of the game, not yet anyway. I was there as a prayer warrior. The teams playing were "Life" and "Death" and as the game unfolded, both teams won.
"Life" was extended to a friend's mother who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Six doctors confirmed the diagnosis. She spent one year treating the tumor before surgery. Her friends were bold with God and prayed for His will in the outcome, but please Oh Lord, heal her until she comes to know you more personally. Heal her to lead the family to Christ. You are the great physician.
God is so good and so God. We never know what He'll do and why. But we trust in the outcome because He sees the big picture. God, through my friend's mother at the time of her surgery, clearly showed a miracle. NO cancer. None. They took 10 biopsies of the area just to make sure and each showed NO cancer cells.
The crowd sat silent in awe of His greatness. No one dared breath for the moment would pass too quickly. In the stands we knew we had witnessed a miracle. Been apart of something beyond what most of us could even humanly comprehend without the presence of God in our lives. All feeling humbled and privileged to be a prayer warrior at that moment. God chose to reveal Himself in the way of removing the cancer. Tears, then cheers arose throughout the stadium. Life won the game. WE praise you Lord for the gift of a miracle!!
Life also won in the death of another friend. Yes, life won in the midst of death. This friend lived his faith and by that faith drew others to want to know Jesus. From the moment his pancreatic cancer was diagnosed, he put he trust and life in God's hands and let everyone know that he was certain in the outcome. He was "a believer" and disciple of Christ for a number of years and as such life would be his future whether he lived or died. He spent the next year with a positive attitude through the chemotherapy treatments. And he continued to live and love on those around him. He was always interested in the life of the person he was talking with, more than talking about his own battle with cancer.
The message during his memorial was very clear, Jesus loves you and wants to be with you. Believe in him and have eternal life. For this friend is in heaven and has been made whole and lives with cancer no more.
While signing the greeting book, mourners could take an over-sized business card with this friend's picture. On the other side was this verse my friend left in hope for us all :
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and mometary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Someday all of us will be on the field facing life and death. I urge you to pray to Jesus, confess your sins, ask Him into your heart, your life, your mind, and He will be faithful and will forgive your sins. God's promises are real and He can be trusted to fulfill those promises.
"This is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12
One final thought - it is easy to look at Christians and their actions and judge what they do and why and say to yourself "I don't want any part of being a Christian after experiencing that person". But being Christian and believing in Jesus is a one on one relationship. It involves no one else other than yourself and Jesus and how YOU live out that relationship. Keep your eyes clearly focused on God's word and what it says to you. Your walk with Christ is yours. Theirs is theirs and they'll answer someday to God. As will you.
I have several people in my life who purposefully try not to live out their relationship with Jesus because they use the excuse of judging how others live out their faith. Please search your heart and look to God, not others. For at the end of the game, no others will be on the field, only you. And you can choose the outcome while alive - will you choose life, or will you choose death?
Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid, just believe." Mark 5:36
Yours in Christ - DIG (Discovering Intimacy with God)
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