Prayer connect - wnop (good)
The pastor that I grew up under was Reverend G.P. Richards. Brother Richards would today be considered an "old-time" preacher. He preached hell hot and did not have a clue how to tip-toe around anything. He called it like he saw it and did not sugar-coat anything. He did not have the most tact in the world, but he did have a prayer life....and it is a good thing, or I probably would not be here writing this article.
When I was 10 ½ months old I had surgery on my ears. Due to complications I was put in an oxygen tent. At 5:30 AM in the morning, Brother Richards woke from his sleep feeling strongly to pray for me. He said God spoke to him to go the hospital. He felt an urgency and knew he had to get there as quickly as possible. Speeding, he rushed to the hospital where I was and burst in my room explaining to my mother he had just awakened that something was wrong because God told him. It was at that moment it was discovered that the oxygen tent had malfunctioned and air was not getting to me. Soaked with sweat, the nurse told him that I would have suffocated and died within a couple of minutes.
Jump ahead about twenty-five years. I was on a plane leaving Boston on a late-night flight and was taxiing down the runway about to leave the ground when all of a sudden the pilot hits the brakes. We skidded across the runway and came to a stop. In all my years of flying this had never happened. The pilot told us something was wrong and we would have to go back to the gate. I turned on my phone and there was a message from my mother than was left a couple of minutes before. I checked the message and with urgency in her voice she said, "Lisa, call me as soon as you get this message." I quickly started dialing her number. When she answered she said, "It is okay, everything will be fine now." She then told me that Brother Richards had called her at the exact moment I was going down the runway and that God had awakened him to let him know my life was in danger. He called my mom and told her to try to find me and then he immediately began to pray. He called her back a minute or two later and said, "she will be fine. I have touched God and He let me know she will be okay." How interesting that I was told by a flight attendant that night there was a major mechanical issue with the landing gear. Her words were "had we gotten off the ground, it would have been unlikely the landing gear would have engaged when we tried to land."
Brother Richards was around 90 when this last instance happened, yet his spiritual ears were still very in-tune with God's voice. His daily prayer life had given him a sensitivity that kept him "in the know" even when he was asleep. I'm thankful for this great man of God who as far as I'm concerned, saved my life twice due to his prayer life and sensitivity to God's voice.
Are you hearing God's voice? Not only do we need to hear for direction in our own life, but you never know when we may need to hear it for someone else.
Blessings,
Lisa Marshall
Strategic Prayer Coordinator
World Network of Prayer
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