A CONVERSATION

Several years ago, I was talking with a brother in Christ about other world religions. He mentioned to me that he thought what separated Christians from other religionists were our good deeds. And while I understand what he was trying to say, I politely disagreed with him. I told him the following:

"Because Old Testament tells us God would one day write His laws upon our hearts, everyone - be they atheist, agnostic, Buddhist or other religionist - would know it's wrong to lie to each other, to steal from each other, and to kill each other. They would also know it's good to tell each other the truth, to give to others, to help each other, and to save lives. So, the good deeds we do can be done by others, irrespective of their religious beliefs. However, what I believe truly separates Christ-Followers from other religionists is this: Answered prayers!"

With that, we ended up having a very interesting conversation about what prayer is, how God is not our Cosmic Genie who does our bidding any time we ask, the mechanics, its purposes, etc...

THE THIRD MIRACLE

Now, I wrote all of that to lay a foundation for the third miracle: My First Answered Prayer!

Very early in my walk with Christ, I prayed:

"Lord, You know how I hate to read. You know I'm not very good at it. Help me - for I now realize how important it is to read and study Your Word."

The very next day, I woke up with a voracious appetite for God's Word!

Now, had I become very good at it overnight? No. I think I still read at around 120 words per minute. But, the desire to read and learn had intensified greatly! How much, you ask? Well, I read the entire King James Version of The New Testament - all 180,565 words - in seven days! That amounted to nearly four hours of reading every day for an entire week - something up until the day prior I had hated to do. And - wait for it - I read the New Testament a second time over the next ten days! And on top of that, I was reading other books as well (e.g., various Bible commentaries and lexicons, Greek and Hebrew concordances, Bible handbooks, The Quran, Book of Mormon, Word of Wisdom, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines & Covenants, The New World translations, The Bhagavad Gita, numerous other books on Christian living, etc..). Keep in mind, I was living a normal life during this period of time (i.e., working full time; going to church three days a week; playing basketball, football, chess, and golf with friends four days a week; etc..), AND reading all of these books!

So, while this may not seem like much to others, it was monumental for me! And I'm not just talking about the new reading desires. I'm talking about THE FIRST ANSWERED PRAYER in my life! This was HUGE!!

For those of you who are Christ-Followers, do you remember your first answered prayer? Also, in recent weeks/months, what was your most recently answered prayer?

See, answered prayer - especially when we pray for other people - is the kind of stuff that separates us from other religionists. They validate what we believe and in Whom we trust!

A RECENTLY ANSWERED PRAYER

Let me tell you my most recent answered prayer:

For several years now, I've been praying for a Wayward Believer to return to Christ. I know they used to follow Christ many years ago but because of bad experiences within the church, they began exploring, following and trusting in "other" religious ideas.

Fast-forward to recent months...

This person started reading their Bible again, exploring local churches, and asking many questions. Independent of me or my influence, this person returned to Christ on their own. And, in a recent conversation on "Biblical Fasting" - which is different than traditional fasting - I shared with this person how a Biblical Fast can draw us closer to God faster than anything else. Well, this person took our conversation to heart, fasted for The Lord, and woke up one morning with a joy they'd never experienced before! Also, their life has made several recent changes - all for the good.

For me, to watch this person from draw closer to our Lord and experience the things they experienced, I am ecstatic beyond words!

CONCLUSION

The combination of miracles one, two, and three were very encouraging and exhilarating for me! Wait until you read about or listen to miracle #4! When it happened, I was elated and called a friend at midnight to tell him what has just happened! I'll share this with you in My Journey Part Eleven.

I pray this article has been insightful, and that you have learned something of value. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me here.

Thank you for your time.

In His Name,

Roy