I Love It When God Shows Off!!!

I love how God is never just concerned about one individual when he shows off. Rather, He is always concerned about performing goodness for all His kids! I have been walking out a struggle with back pain, which has been “diagnosed” as a congenital defect in my lower back. Most of my family has suffered with this issue to some degree, and I have struggled before with the fear of “ending up” like two of my brothers, who both have had numerous surgeries and take strong painkillers to deal with the intense pain that they live with.
So this week in particular, as I have been dealing with the MRI news, and referral to a surgeon in Houston to explore pain relief options, I have battled the fear. My own words that I have spoken over many, “I am healed by His stripes, etc.” kept flooding back into my mind all week. The confessions work, the Word works! The pain, however, was still there.
I have the most wonderful testimony of our amazing God and what He did for me last night at our cell meeting!!! We were discussing the importance of transparency in a cell setting, and reading out of James 5:13-16, just as Pastor has been asking us to do. We were trying to answer the question, “If we as a cell could be more transparent, what would that do for visitors, and each other?”
We broke out into groups of two for prayer at the end, and I gathered myself for prayer with my dear friend and sister, Yolanda R. She was having a difficult time preparing to pray, as public prayer has been somewhat of a struggle for her to overcome. She was self-conscious, hesitating to begin, when I told her “Look, Sis, you’ve got to pray for me, I need a touch from the Lord tonight. You have the same Holy Spirit in you, and you can do this!”
She began to pray somewhat timidly, then grew bolder in her desire for the Lord to hear her and touch me with healing. At some point just a few moments into her prayer, I received full healing of the pain in my back. The radiating discomfort into my left thigh ended as abruptly. I couldn’t believe it right away, so I didn’t speak up. Besides, Yolanda was praying so earnestly at this point, and her purity towards the Lord as she interceded for me was so apparent, I didn’t want to interrupt her!
Right after she prayed that I would “do somersaults the next day because I was healed,” I couldn’t take it anymore! I lifted my head, and told her, “Yolie, there’s no more pain!”
She couldn’t believe it either. We were grinning, and I said, “Isn’t it just like God to show off, and not only heal me, but use you!”
She had been too timid initially to even pray out loud, and God showed her! He wanted her to know that He was in her, and working through her! I just love how He does that. I believe that is what He means about transparency in His body, so that one part of the body can step in and help the other part when they have needs. He has something even greater in store for you. Do you need healing? Agree with just one more believer that you are healed, and pray earnestly to Him for manifestation. I give all praise, honor, and glory to our Heavenly Father, Amen.

Finding our Identity in Christ

Job 1:8 (NIV) says, "Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.'"

Our Confession:
My heavenly Father is very proud of me. I am special to Him and he holds me dear to His heart. I am unique among all of His creation. There is none like me in all of the earth.
It pleases Him greatly that I have chosen to trust Him, shun evil, and live blamelessly and upright before Him all the days of my life.

In this modern day world, where we seek to "find ourselves," may we remember that He already knows us, and He created us to be who we are. Through Christ's work at the cross, we are able to live blameless and upright on earth. We just have to choose to accept this truth and walk in it.