For with God nothing will be impossible.
Luke 1:37 NKJV
Earlier today, I was talking to another prisoner on how there are no limits to what God can do...
Luke 1:37 NKJV
Earlier today, I was talking to another prisoner on how there are no limits to what God can do...
We had been discussing possible ways to share our faith in Christ with others. His specific concern, however, was how to reach his family with the gospel message of salvation. He felt they were "very worldly" and would not be interested in knowing Christ for themselves. So I told him about my experience at trying to share the gospel with my father. My dad was a proud, hardworking man who never expressed an interest in God, nor in spiritual matters.
So I told this younger brother in Christ how I prayed for many years for my father to become open and receptive to the point where I could talk to him about Jesus being the Messiah. How it was a long wait of more than twenty years before he and I could even talk about God and the Bible. But what the Lord did was to send a few of my friends his way. And being that he liked them both, he would let them
share God's word with him, but in low-key ways. How that, little by little, my father was finally hearing the Scriptures.
Harriet was one of those friends whom the Lord sent his way. My dad loved Harriet. So on occasion she would read to him from the Bible, and would talk to him about Jesus being the Messiah of the Jews.
And then came Tony Loeffler. Tony, who oversees a successful prison ministry in Florida and lived near my dad, would visit with him every so often. As things would go, when my Dad was nearing his final days, Tony happened to drop by my father's apartment. Seeing my dad’s deteriorating condition, he offered to pray for him. To Tony's surprise, my dad, who was too weak to speak, nodded okay. So he prayed for father, and Tony believes my Dad received Jesus as his Messiah and Savior right at that very moment.
My friend smiled and nodded okay as I shared this. I knew, too, that I struck a chord within his heart. He looked at me and said, "Now I get it. I gotta keep on praying for my family's salvation, and never quit praying for them." "That's right!" I replied. From hereon he was to pray for his family every day, and never stop praying until each one comes to faith in Jesus Christ.
"The Lord has no limits," I said. "He's an unlimited God who longs to see people receive salvation, along with the gift of eternal life." My friend was content to know this, and I reminded myself of this truth, as well.
D.B.
So I told this younger brother in Christ how I prayed for many years for my father to become open and receptive to the point where I could talk to him about Jesus being the Messiah. How it was a long wait of more than twenty years before he and I could even talk about God and the Bible. But what the Lord did was to send a few of my friends his way. And being that he liked them both, he would let them
share God's word with him, but in low-key ways. How that, little by little, my father was finally hearing the Scriptures.
Harriet was one of those friends whom the Lord sent his way. My dad loved Harriet. So on occasion she would read to him from the Bible, and would talk to him about Jesus being the Messiah of the Jews.
And then came Tony Loeffler. Tony, who oversees a successful prison ministry in Florida and lived near my dad, would visit with him every so often. As things would go, when my Dad was nearing his final days, Tony happened to drop by my father's apartment. Seeing my dad’s deteriorating condition, he offered to pray for him. To Tony's surprise, my dad, who was too weak to speak, nodded okay. So he prayed for father, and Tony believes my Dad received Jesus as his Messiah and Savior right at that very moment.
My friend smiled and nodded okay as I shared this. I knew, too, that I struck a chord within his heart. He looked at me and said, "Now I get it. I gotta keep on praying for my family's salvation, and never quit praying for them." "That's right!" I replied. From hereon he was to pray for his family every day, and never stop praying until each one comes to faith in Jesus Christ.
"The Lord has no limits," I said. "He's an unlimited God who longs to see people receive salvation, along with the gift of eternal life." My friend was content to know this, and I reminded myself of this truth, as well.
D.B.
