Monday, January 25, 2010

Did Jesus Laugh?

The Brazilian bride and groom released white doves after giving their vows, signifying there new life together. There was one small problem, that being the ceiling fan the took the life of the groom's dove en route from the cathedral. The quick thinking pastor said, "that is not what I meant by fanning the flames of love," and continued to the next portion of the service.

After the ceremony, fueled by a few cocktails, it became a unforgettable anecdote.

This week, your Kingdom Bloggers are going to relate a funny story from church - which isn't all that spiritual I guess. Please feel free to comment and relate one of your own - this crew could use a good laugh.

Here is an excerpt from my still unpublished book.

Let me begin. In the Spring of 1999 I met a Brazilian pastor who became my closest friend. He invited me to minister at a church where he was the Youth Pastor. I remember struggling in prayer for 2 or 3 hours before the Sunday evening meeting. I just seemed to be fighting with something in the spirit realm, so I continued to press in, and finally I had a vision. I pictured a balding man in his late 50's to early 60's. The picture in my spirit was rather distinctive - a face I would recognize - and I took note. After the short vision I felt the Lord impress upon me 6 things I was supposed to share with this man. Again, I took note, ended my prayer session and got dressed for the service.

That evening I drove to Igreja Baptista, not far from my house. I met my friend there, and we worshiped for a bit. As I stepped to the platform for my portion of the meeting, I saw the face of the man from my vision. What was confusing to me was that he looked younger than the face I saw; having thin, but rich black hair. I thought, I will just wait for his father to come and deliver the message.

After 30-40 minutes of ministry, no one else showed up in this man's row. I decided to take a chance and asked the man to stand up so I could share what I had seen in my prayer time. I told him about seeing his face and I began to share the 6 things that I felt impressed to tell him. I told him that I sensed that he had been in Brazil for a few weeks and just returned. He nodded in agreement. Each of the 6 topics seemed to hit home and he became tearful as God encouraged him.

As I ended, I then told him how puzzled I was about the vision, the age of the man I had seen and the lack of hair; for he had hair. It was obvious to me that the words I had for him were not far in the future - how could he age and lose his hair? As the man sat down, there were some muffled snickers.

The pastor ended the service with a short prayer.

We filed into the kitchen for refreshments, the pastor and a my friend came to me almost laughing out loud. They told me this man I had just ministered to, had in fact just returned from Brazil - where he received a hair transplant!

My friend thought this particular incident was so much fun, that he used the story to introduce me over and over again while we were in Brazil. HERE is that story.

God really does know us, and He has a sense of humor too.

6 comments:

Michelle said...

How funny! :D

Joyce Lighari said...

How do you take the topic of something funny and turn it into a report of an amazing way God used you... :-)
I really don't like trying to follow you on this blog... this week should be interesting!

Tony C said...

I'm sure that last line will be a proven point after this week...maybe by Wednesday!

I don't want to hear it Joyce...trying being last! lol

Joyce Lighari said...

I feel for you Tony

photogr said...

I think the Lord has a sense of humor. But I think he is also hurting a lot too.

~ Jan ~ said...

OK, I have a tendency to call that which isn't as though it were. I'm not talking about seeing things in the spiritual realm and them manifesting. It's more like referring to the mailman as the snowman or viewing a redbird from my window and saying its such a beautiful plane. Combine this with my transposing words and you'd think you were conversing with Porky the Pig.

Since God is merciful, you'd think He'd bind my brain/tongue misconnection when leaving home or at the very least, follow me only when I go to Walmart. But, no - everywhere I go, it tags along.

God, who knows everything I'm going to say before I speak, has a great sense of humor. He chose me as an intercessor. A novice to public praying, I was thrown in with a ragtag team of intercessors, on the entry level of an experimental prayer team, in an outreach program.

I'd leave the center, telling God He was mistaken when He called me to pray for others. He reminded me of Moses' speech impediment - it didn't help. He quoted scripture, "You've not chosen Me but I, you to bear fruit." So I'd give it another try and Oh my gosh, my prayers were sounding more and more like "Porky the Pig" prayers.

"Take no thought of what to say, the Lord encouraged, it will come to you when needed. For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of the Father in you." I wonder if the young man I once prayed for would have consider the words I spoke to be from God. I have my doubts.

Tim came to the center for job coaching but his prayer request was for his girlfriend, Debbie - their names have been changed, not to protect their innocence, but in admitting my forgetfulness.

Debbie lived on her own and was paying her way through college. She lost her job and needed one asap to continue her education. Later, Tim mentioned that they were to marry when Debbie graduated. We agreed to pray blessings for them. The requests were simple so I went before the Lord and was surprised how easily I prayed for Debbie. Now it was time to pray for their relationship.

In my spirit, I heard; "Heavenly Father, bless this union. Help Tim and Debbie to follow the biblical principles of marriage. Give Tim the ability to meet Debbie's needs and to love her as Christ loves the Church. I also ask that Debbie respects the position of authority you've placed Tim in, as head of the household, and to be his helpmate." Oh! it sounded so good.

In my mind, I thought; "Heavenly Father, bless this union. Help Tim to meet Debbie's needs and love her the way Christ loves the Church. Lord, you have placed Tim in a position of authority, as the one who wears the pants in the household, help Debbie to come in line with his authority as outlined in the bible." Uh Oh.

Have you ever heard the saying, It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt? Well, I spoke; "Heavenly Father, bless Tim and Debbie's marriage. I ask that Tim fulfills all of Debbie's needs the way Christ loves the Church and help Debbie to realize that she's not the one to wear panties in the house, Tim is." I then prayed for the rapture or death, whichever came first.

I began to laugh, then Tim and my prayer partner, along with a few onlookers who overheard the prayer. While catching my breath from laughing so hard, I winked at Tim and said, "I bet you liked the prayer where Debbie doesn't wear panties in the house." He nodded in agreement but said he wasn't so sure it was the will of God for him to wear the panties. We all began to roar with laughter again. I guess you could say, we almost laughed our pants off.

Be blessed,
Jan