Acts 9:11
When the Public Security Bureau officer entered the Chinese prison cell, Sister Wong moved away. This heartless man had arrested and persecuted many Christians, and only days earlier had beaten her as he interrogated her.
“Please, Sister Wong, my sister is very ill. She has lost all feeling in her legs. Will you come and pray for her?” Was this the same man who had confiscated hundreds of Bibles and Christian books from her? Now he was asking for prayer? Truly God must have gotten his attention.
Days earlier, as the officer had questioned and abused Sister Wong he received a phone call that his mother had been hit by a car. When he told his mother what he’d been doing, she told him that his harassment of Christians caused her accident. The officer deemed the warning mere superstition.
The next day, he resumed questioning Sister Wong but got another message that his brother had been injured in an accident. The brother also blamed the officer’s attacks on Christians for the family’s misfortune. But when his sister became ill, he asked Sister Wong for prayers.
Sister Wong saw the opportunity she’d been praying for, the chance to witness to her persecutors. God healed the sister, and through Sister Wong’s actions, he changed the officer’s heart. The officer returned all the Bibles that were confiscated and now supports the church.
Most people are strangely drawn to prayer—especially in times of hurt and pain. Barriers against anything remotely religious are dismantled piece by piece when someone requests or receives prayer. Rare is the person who will refuse a no-strings-attached offer for prayer. “I’m praying for you” can be the most powerful words a believer speaks to a non-believer. Why? Prayer is God’s agent of change. It gets results. Sometimes it changes circumstances. Sometimes it reverses decisions. Most often it changes those who are touched by prayer. The Bible says the first recorded action after the conversion of the former Christian persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, was prayer. Who knows the role prayer will play in the conversion of the “Sauls” throughout the world who are presently bent on Christianity’s destruction?
Readings taken from
Extreme Devotion: The Voice of the Martyrs
When the Public Security Bureau officer entered the Chinese prison cell, Sister Wong moved away. This heartless man had arrested and persecuted many Christians, and only days earlier had beaten her as he interrogated her.
“Please, Sister Wong, my sister is very ill. She has lost all feeling in her legs. Will you come and pray for her?” Was this the same man who had confiscated hundreds of Bibles and Christian books from her? Now he was asking for prayer? Truly God must have gotten his attention.
Days earlier, as the officer had questioned and abused Sister Wong he received a phone call that his mother had been hit by a car. When he told his mother what he’d been doing, she told him that his harassment of Christians caused her accident. The officer deemed the warning mere superstition.
The next day, he resumed questioning Sister Wong but got another message that his brother had been injured in an accident. The brother also blamed the officer’s attacks on Christians for the family’s misfortune. But when his sister became ill, he asked Sister Wong for prayers.
Sister Wong saw the opportunity she’d been praying for, the chance to witness to her persecutors. God healed the sister, and through Sister Wong’s actions, he changed the officer’s heart. The officer returned all the Bibles that were confiscated and now supports the church.
Most people are strangely drawn to prayer—especially in times of hurt and pain. Barriers against anything remotely religious are dismantled piece by piece when someone requests or receives prayer. Rare is the person who will refuse a no-strings-attached offer for prayer. “I’m praying for you” can be the most powerful words a believer speaks to a non-believer. Why? Prayer is God’s agent of change. It gets results. Sometimes it changes circumstances. Sometimes it reverses decisions. Most often it changes those who are touched by prayer. The Bible says the first recorded action after the conversion of the former Christian persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, was prayer. Who knows the role prayer will play in the conversion of the “Sauls” throughout the world who are presently bent on Christianity’s destruction?
Readings taken from
Extreme Devotion: The Voice of the Martyrs
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