:: Divine Appointments and Praise Reports ::

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Can we have a new thread here where we share praise reports to the glory of God? ...what He is doing and how He is moving in our midst. I know whenever I read someone else's testimony of what God has done and is doing, it is always so uplifting and strengthening in faith.

Even as I type this I remain in awe of the Lord and the miraculous way He does what He alone can do. This morning I took our daughter, who just turned 8, to pick cherries at an orchard outside the city in a rural area. Before we pulled out of the driveway I prayed not only for safety but that the Lord would keep us open to His kingdom purposes. I had been keeping some pocket sized New Testaments in English, French, Spanish, and Russian in my diaper bag for a while and was waiting on the Lord to lead me in giving them away.

When we arrived I wanted to lighten the weight of my bag and so removed a copy of Streams in the Desert and a Gideons Russian New Testament pocket Bible because I thought, "What are the chances that I will meet a Russian speaking person here in this orchard in the middle of nowhere in New Brunswick.” I did however keep with me a book of testimonies of Jewish believers in Jesus and how they came to faith. I had been carrying it with me for some time praying the Lord would bring a Jewish person across my path, one whose heart He had prepared beforehand.

My daughter and I checked in at the orchard. The cherries were all gone for the season and after a brief attempt at looking for ripe raspberries to pick instead, I decided to call it quits and take her to the on site playground.

As we walked back to the checkout booth to return our empty cartons, there were two women ahead of us with a little boy. My attention was very drawn to one of them in particular. They too headed to the playground. I prayed and asked the Lord to lead me and also said, speaking in my heart, "Holy Spirit, I don’t know what to do or say but I am available for you to use me as You will.”

As I sat down on a tree stump chair, I could hear the women speaking a few brief words in what I thought was French. :) I thought, "Wonderful! I have a French New Testament here.”

I then asked what language they were speaking. "Russian,” one of them replied.

I immediately knew this was a divine appointment. My heart leapt with joy as I recognized the Lord at work in a special way. I expressed my surprise and explained that I had left something in my vehicle that I had been waiting to give to a Russian speaking person! They could not believe it and were delighted.

I then noticed the red Kabbalah strings on their wrists and inquired about their religious background and the women who I had felt the Lord drawing my attention to said, "Jewish.” GLORY TO GOD.

By the grace of the Lord and His Spirit I was able to share not only my testimony, but also the Gospel with this woman. We walked back to my vehicle and she gratefully accepted the Russian New Testament as well as the book of Jewish testimonies. I then felt led to ask if I could pray for her. Throwing social distancing to the wind, I took her hands in mine and prayed and she agreed wholeheartedly with the prayer. As I hugged her and turned to walk away the Presence of the Lord suddenly became so tangibly strong and I knew with every fibre of my being that the Lord had indeed gone ahead this day and arranged this divine appointment.

How great is our God and how greatly to be praised!!!

I, too, was so blessed by this testimony! I am asking God to give me a testimony to share here as well :)

"I am rejoicing in the Lord with you! May those well planted seeds be watered and bear much fruit! 🙌🏼🙏🏼"

Thank you Caleb! Amen!! I think I forgot to mention this, but her name is Kate.

"I am asking God to give me a testimony to share here as well :)"

Amen. May He give us many such testimonies in the days ahead for His glory! :)

"Jesus the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8

Good morning everyone! ✝️

Started reading a short book by A.B. Simpson called "Walking in the Spirit" and wanted to post a testimony he shares in the book...

"Before we can speak God's messages we must learn to listen. The opened ear comes before the opened mouth. It is very hard sometimes to die to our own thoughts and elaborate preparations for service, and to be free and open for God to use us as vessels meet for the Master's use. Sometimes He has to humble us by showing us the barrenness of all our best intellectual work, and then lead us to receive the living messages of His Holy Spirit. Sometimes we may think the message very unworthy and almost unsuitable, but God loves to take "the things that are not to bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh may glory in His presence."

A saintly spirit whom God has greatly used in personal messages, tells how once she was distinctly sent by the Lord on a certain train; but when she arrived at the station the train was crowded and the guard told her she could not go. Still she waited, having learned that a point-blank refusal is often the best evidence of God's working; but just as the train was about to leave, suddenly the guard came to her and hurried her into a carriage which had just been put on.

There she found herself sitting beside a young gentleman, and immediately the thought came, "This is the service the Lord has sent me to do." After a little she introduced the subject of personal religion, but he haughtily replied, "My family object to my being talked to on such subjects." "My dear sir," she replied, "I had supposed that this was not a question for your family, but for yourself." "Then," he answered, still more stiffly, "I object to be talked to on such questions." It seemed as though the way of service was blocked, and yet the unerring Spirit had led her there.

Then the thought came that she should give him a tract, and that God would bless the silent messenger even after they had parted. But as she searched through all her pockets she found she had forgotten all her tracts. Suddenly, amid her movements, her valise fell on the floor, and all its contents were poured in disorder at their feet. With the instincts of a gentleman he helped her to pick up the wreck, when suddenly her eye fell upon a single tract that had fallen out with the other articles; but as she picked it up she felt, why, this will never do, for it was a tract especially addressed to a young man that had just been saved from shipwreck. But the same unerring Guide whispered to her to put it in his hands and ask him to read it.

He took it, having grown a little freer, through their better acquaintance, and as he read the title his face became deadly pale. Before he had read the second page the tears were pouring down his cheeks. "Madam," he cried, turning to her, "who told you about me?" "Why, no one," she answered, "what do you mean?" "Why," said he, "Some one must have told you; did you not know that only last week I was rescued from shipwreck?" It was the arrow of the Infinite One whose wisdom never fails, and the humble worker, waiting His bidding, had not been suffered to err. The message reached his heart, and ere they parted he was saved. This is the true secret of effectual service, and when He becomes to us the Wonderful Counselor, we shall always find Him also the Mighty God."

- A.B. Simpson

I love this thread! In a time where some are really struggling in life, not just financially, but spiritually, we all need this reassurance that God is still in control, and can and will still use us, if we just keep our eyes on him.
Praise Jesus!

I was just reading the transcript from an Art Katz sermon and wanted to share his testimony of a divine appointment that seemed at first to be anything other than:

""I am reminded of the gospel outreach in the City College of New York, which is 85% Jewish. The rabbis took me on and made me look like a fool. They cut me down to size. I was left like a trembling hulk when the word fell out of my mouth limply, dead to the floor, without anointing. I was devastated by the disappointment of God not honoring my fasting and prayer. We had spent months in preparation for that meeting. It was the first gospel outreach in the history of that Jewish institution. We had a vision that the fire of God was going to fall and the Jewish students would take it into their neighborhoods. The only thing that fell was the limp word that came out of my mouth— plop! But you should have heard the ‘anointing’ on the rabbis! Talk about words that could cut a man down!

The most painful thing of all was the disappointed faces of the Christian brethren. They did not say a word. Would to God they had said something! “Katz, we thought you were an anointed mouthpiece. We thought God had given you a ministry of encounter. What’s the matter? Don’t you know how to pray? Did you ever hear of fasting? Is there secret sin in your life?” I could not volunteer any explanation to them, because God was not giving me a word of explanation.

Can we go without explanation? Will we be foolishly used of God without explanation? Will we suffer disappointment without explanation? Are we willing to wear the crown of thorns, that we might wear the crown of glory? We are not going to have the one if we are not willing for the other.

For three weeks, I licked my wounds....I whimpered for three weeks until there was a phone call. A thin voice said, “Mr. Katz, I read your book. I’m a Jewish woman. Could I come over? I’ve got some questions.” She came over. Her veins were all sticking out and her eyes sunken into her skull. She was a nervous wreck and a compulsive chain smoker. She filled up my ashtray with cigarettes and asked me questions, the last one being, “Mr. Katz, what must I do to be saved?” I told her, “Believe on the Lord Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, Jesus the Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house.” So she bowed her skinny little neck and followed me in a prayer for salvation. She had passed from death to life, and consequently spent her time distributing New Testaments, Christian literature, and copies of my testimony, Ben Israel, from her apartment in New York City.

As I was putting her coat on her frail shoulders that night, walking her to the door I said, “By the way, how did you get my book and how did you come here?” “Oh,” she said, “My son was at your meeting three weeks ago at City College. He came home so excited. He said, ‘Mom, a man came to the school today, a Jewish man, and he just simply stood up and spoke of his convictions. The moment he finished he was mercilessly attacked, and he answered his accusers not a word. I’ve never seen anything like it. Here, read his book.’

The eye of God roves to and fro over the face of the earth, seeking that one whose heart is perfect toward Him (2 Chr 16:9)."