With a mischievous twinkle in His eye He said, “Now Sarah, you’ve been dead for less than an hour; the staff at the Manor doesn’t even know you’re gone. If you’d like I can easily—”
“No, no, a thousand times no,” she shrieked, throwing her arms around Him. “Now that I’ve seen Your beauty face-to-face, I never want to leave You, ever, ever. Returning to earth, even in perfect health, would seem like dying a thousand deaths to me.”
Thirty pages of explanation later, Sarah was beaming at the way the Lord had used her to touch every person on her prayer walk route. “Over half of your neighbors who didn’t know Me will get saved because of your prayers. Also you averted a commercial airline disaster with 237 people and seven dogs on board.” Jesus and Malta smiled at Joel.
“An airline disaster? But I just—it was such a simple prayer!”
Here you are wearing that colorful blouse and remembering to pray for the women in India. Not only have many of them gotten saved, but they are teaching their children what the missionaries are teaching them.
The next page was the Wednesday prayer meeting. The stinging emotions were gone and Sarah laughed as she watched Joel and Malta holding her up as she walked to the microphone. “Oh, Lord. I was terrified, but the worst one was at the Elk’s club.” Malta quickly flipped to that page. Sarah was surprised to see Joel and Malta holding her up again. “You two were really on the job. It seems funny now, but it sure wasn’t then.”
“Every time you obeyed Me, especially when you were scared, it was like sweet incense coming up before My throne. From the incense came your little frightened voice, and do you know what it said?” Sarah nodded no.
“It said, ‘I love You, Lord. I love You more than I love my reputation. I love You more than my rank, position, standing in the community, or my status. I love You, Jesus, most of all.’ Sacrificial obedience is the sincerest form of worship.”6 A tear trickled down His cheek and Sarah gently wiped it away.
“Sarah,” said the Lord, “not only did your prayers bring about many wonderful events, but your prayers were responsible for thwarting many of the enemy’s plans.” Sarah watched herself praying while she read a magazine. Her prayers stopped a drunken husband from beating his wife and child, averted two auto accidents, and kept the spirit of Suicide away from a former satanist who was still being severely harassed.
Malta turned another page, “Here you are praying in tongues while you drove to the grocery store.” Sarah saw a man with an oxygen mask on his face and hooked up to tubes in the back of a speeding ambulance.
“Lord, is he? He looks dead.”
“Well, he did die several times on that ride, but he’s fine now. This is Micah Burris, a pastor in Pennsylvania. He almost took himself out way too early through stress, workaholism, unhealthy diet, and no exercise. He repeatedly ignored My conviction and his wife’s pleas. After his heart attack, I healed his damaged cardiovascular system. The doctors said it was a miracle.
“He’s a totally changed man. He spends time with Me each day and has learned to cast his cares on Me. He also makes family time a priority. He’s setting appropriate boundaries and learning to delegate. He eats healthy food and exercises regularly and has lost 54½ pounds. He’s so excited that he’s writing a book that will help thousands of pastors learn the same things. I have so many good things planned for him. Now he won’t get here for 23 years, 2 months, 5 days, 6 hours, and 45 seconds—right on schedule.”
He flipped the next page. On it, Sarah was praying as she was pushing her cart down the produce aisle. “Your prayers helped conceal an underground church in Albania, saving them from persecution and saving the pastor from prison. Now look here; revival broke out among the villagers of a small Polynesian island. Now here your prayers enabled Me to release finances to pay the rent on the medical building where missionaries were healing physical and spiritual wounds in Uganda. That all happened while you grocery shopped.”
Sarah collapsed into His side and buried her face in His robe. Tears poured down her cheeks. “Lord, I’ve never seen any of these people. I’ve never been any of these places.”
“You didn’t have to; you just had to pray.”
“Oh, Lord, if I’d known it was so easy, I’d have prayed so much more!”
“Not one has ever stood here, Sarah, that didn’t say the same thing.”
She couldn’t speak; she was too overwhelmed.
The Lord gently held and comforted her while this reality set in; then He turned her back toward the book, “Look at the next page. Here you are at Reverend Templeton’s grave. I invited you into the fellowship of My sufferings when I asked that you sell your land. You accepted My invitation.
“Most who profess Christianity want the mountaintops, but they don’t want the valleys; they yearn for the power of My anointing, but they won’t enter the wilderness voluntarily. They long for a deeper relationship with Me, but they won’t take up their cross and die daily. Because they refuse those experiences, they never mature; they remain self-focused. Tested integrity is what I desire. You, Sarah, persevered with right choices. You endured isolation and hostility for My sake. I watched you love Me by making the hard decisions.”
“How could I not love You, Lord? You saved me and showed me such great mercy when I deserved Hell.”
“Here’s another time you had to push through your fears. Here’s the first day of visiting inmates at the jail. Your obedience just makes Me smile. You were so scared that your sweat glands were working overtime, but you obeyed anyway because you knew it was My will.”
“I wouldn’t have been nearly as scared if I could have seen my angels sitting next to me in the car.”
“Sarah, My Word clearly states that all believers have a guardian angel with them; unfortunately, very few ‘believers’ really believe the Bible. If they did, life on earth would be totally different.”
“Look at you with your cookies and your sweaty armpits, shuffling up to the jail that first day. I was so proud of you! Even though you were only able to minister there for a short time, you made a bigger impact than you know. Even the men who never seemed responsive wondered what motivated you to keep coming back. During the day they were macho braggarts fighting for dominance among the other inmates, but at night when the lights were off, they were scared little boys looking for answers to make their pain go away.”
“Lord, who will be the chaplain now that Paul’s gone? And what about
William?”
“I’m moving Ricky Beech from Kansas to be the new chaplain. He’s a former inmate himself so he understands the men. Most importantly, He understands My love for Him so He can effectively share My love with them. He will reap the harvest from the good seed you sowed with your cookies and prayers. And yes, William will be saved.” This news caused Sarah to let out a big whoop and leap for joy.
As the pages continued to turn, the Lord stopped to comment. “Sarah, here you are at the Manor, in your wheelchair. You were looking out the window, wondering if praying in tongues was having any kind of an impact.” She saw Bob riding his motorcycle in Oklahoma.
“Sarah, you thwarted the enemy’s plans to take his life. He did receive My salvation that Sunday. Look deeper into the page.” Sarah watched as angels appeared behind an elderly woman shuffling down the street, protecting her from a mugging. Sarah was too stunned to speak. “Look deeper. Because you prayed in tongues, a premature baby survived and a grandmother, who was raising her three grandchildren alone, was healed of cancer.”
“Lord, did that all happen in that one day?”
“Praying in the Spirit is powerful; all that happened in that one 20-minute session in your wheelchair by the door.”
The last few pages concluded Sarah’s time at the nursing home. “Sarah, having a good attitude during adversity is something you can only do when you totally submit to Me. Many of My faithful servants descend into anger toward Me at the end of their lives. They accuse Me and fall right into the enemy’s trap.�
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“It took me a little while to understand that, didn’t it?”
With a huge smile on His face, He grasped her around her waist and threw her up in the air like a father with a toddler. He shouted with joy, “It’s all forgiven, Sarah; everything you confessed is forgiven. I have unlimited mercy, and I love, I LOVE, to lavish it on My children.” Sarah’s mind no longer rejected truth, but absorbed it immediately. She celebrated this revelation.
“Now look at you on the day you said yes to the Holy Spirit and surrendered the last of your pride and resentment. The impact of your life and your prayers exponentially increased. You started stepping out into your prophetic gifting again, in spite of past hurts. I was so proud of you. You encouraged so many at the Manor with My loving words flowing through your mouth.”
She looked into the page and saw herself reaching out to lay a shaky hand on the shoulder of the woman at the breakfast table beside her. “Sarah, every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, when the aide was rolling you back to your room, you reached out and patted Ethel. Her disease would not even allow her to respond with a smile. Since she was so nonresponsive, all the staff and patients totally tuned her out, but she still hungered for and needed love and companionship. The only thing she looked forward to each day was those three pats from you after meals. You were truly My hands reaching out to her.”
“Lord that was such a little thing. It took absolutely no effort.”
“Did you read in My Word that God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love which you showed for His sake?7 You fulfilled all the works I had for you to do while you were there. You encouraged patients and staff alike. You led many patients to Me who will soon be joining us, and your prayers ensured that a witness will continue at the Manor for years to come.
“And look here,” He said, His voice climbing in excitement. “This is My faithful, but discouraged Bible translator, Lori Garcia; your prayers gave her the stamina she needed to continue translating the New Testament for a northeastern Iranian minority tribe. Up until this time, the Jamshidi had never had a copy of the Scriptures. You’ll share in the reward for the transformation of that village.”
Malta turned the next page. “Look at you in bed at night, unable to sleep because of the pain. You turned those times into sweet intercession instead of complaining. You could have been angry with Me because I didn’t respond the way you wanted, or you could have easily worked yourself into a severe depression. Instead, as you prayed by your rotating globe, the flames of Holy Spirit fire settled onto the different countries you prayed for.”
“Sarah, you still don’t really realize that your prayers had an impact not just in Bradbury, not just in Missouri, not just in North America, but all around the world. In some way, sometimes little and sometimes big, your diligent intercession touched every continent. And the best news is that your impact is still being felt even though you aren’t on earth anymore. People who accepted My gift of salvation will lead others into a relationship with Me. The benefits and blessings of your prayers will just keep going until I return to earth.”
“Now let’s see how you spent your money. Most of my children don’t realize that I prosper them to raise their standard of giving, not their standard of living. You altered your spending to live a simple lifestyle and sent most of your money to the poor. I know you toyed with having the inside of your house painted and purchasing new kitchen appliances. Instead you sent the money to organizations that helped orphans, child soldiers, widows, the persecuted, and the poor—the very ones who weigh so heavily on my heart.”
“Oh Lord, I’m so glad I made that decision. What difference does it make that my refrigerator wasn’t stainless steel or that the oven light didn’t work? I left it all back on earth.”
“As you can see now, it makes no difference. You did well when you chose to love people, not things. Here you are ready to buy a beautiful peach-colored orchid. You decided instead to send the $30 to India where it established a healing room. Because I will heal their bodies, many Hindus will find true healing of their souls.”
Matla was still grinning ear to ear. He flipped to the next page.
“Here you are at the department store putting back all the clothes you just tried on. You went to the Salvation Army instead and found what you needed for much less and sent $100 to an orphanage in Myanmar. They rescued this precious nine-year-old, Titux. His parents gave him to the army where he was taught to be tough, to hate, to kill. He will be loved well by my faithful workers at the orphanage.
“This page is interesting,” said Jesus pointing to Sarah sitting on her couch holding her check.
“Now that was tough. Fifty thousand dollars was more money than I’d ever had in my life! It was pretty easy to give the tithe, but the more I gave the less I had and the harder it got.”
“Where is that money now?”
“You’re going to show me aren’t you?”
“Let’s see how it was used.” Sarah leaned over the page, “Bancock, this elderly woman has rescued 18 women and children. They all live together in her two-room house. She’s not a missionary; she is a widow who lives by faith caring for those discarded by traffickers to die on the streets. She just keeps bringing them home. She was discovered by a missionary who will move this group to a dormitory-style facility built by your money. They and others will be rescued and restored through My love.”
“I meant for my children to run and play and be totally carefree, instead they are abused and exploited in the most horrendous way. Your money will provide everything needed to restore these beautiful ones to wholeness.”
“Oh, Lord, I can’t wait for them to get here. I love them already.”
“Sarah, when you prayed in tongues you didn’t know you were an intercessory abolitionists, partnering with Me to free my children trapped in the web of human trafficking. Some day soon the little children will rest in my arms. I am appreciative of your obedience.”
“Jesus you took my money and used it to help the most destitute, discouraged, and downcast on earth. Thank you for sticking with me until I gave it all.”
“To look after orphans and widows in their distress is what I call ‘true religion.’”8 You invested your money well, Sarah. Your treasure is now in Heaven, not rusting away on earth. I’m so proud of you.”
He winked at Joel and Malta as He closed the back cover on the book, skipping the last page with the picture of the crown.
“Now it’s time to reveal your life’s work.” Joel’s fiery sword ignited her book. After the flames died out, the book was gone and in its place was a large, glistening, golden, jewel-encrusted crown. Sarah gasped; she could not comprehend its beauty. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful on earth!”
The lower circlet of the crown was lined with fur and composed of six gold segments joined together by hinges and set with precious stones that formed crosses and flowers. Four smaller plates showed detailed pictures in cloisonné enamel of the crucifixion, the keys of death and Hell, the resurrection, and His ascension. From the circlet, eight half-arches met at the top completely covered with 142 rose-cut diamonds, 18 brilliant rubies, and 8 large pearls. Behind the arches was the finest quality red velvet, on which hundreds of gems were set. On top, where the arches met, was a large sapphire, supporting a diamond-studded cross.
Sarah was astonished. She was so taken aback that she lost her footing and Jesus steadied her. “This must be a mistake!” This comment caused Joel and Malta to dissolve into gales of laughter.
“Sarah, the first 71 years of your life were washed under My blood when you trusted Me to forgive your sins. Then I gave you My righteousness as a gift. The sins you committed the last 16 months of your life—you repented of them all. We have no record of any sin in your life.
“We do have a record of the many daily acts you did in secret that so pleased Me. Not only did you prayer walk, Sarah, but your life was a walking prayer. Intercession was the tool you used to set many people free
from the enemy’s clutches.
“Sarah, there are a few Christians who truly give themselves to intercession and service, but of those, there are very few who do their good works in secret, being content that I alone know what they do. You were one of those. You truly performed for an audience of One. And as much as you performed kindnesses to the least, you performed those kindnesses unto Me. This is your crown, the crown of life referred to in My living Word.”9
With her heart overflowing with inexpressible gratitude, Sarah, through tears of joy, looked at the glorious, jewel-encrusted crown, the representation of her life on earth. She was ready to lift the crown to cast it at His beautiful nail-scarred feet. Instead, she stepped closer to Him, brushed His hair to the side, and looked at the scars of love on his forehead left from the crown of thorns. As she touched a scar, she saw a vision of the soldier jamming the crown onto His head10 and the blood running down His face. “Oh Lord, look what You endured for me,” she said, gently rubbing her fingers across the many scars. “Nothing I did, no sacrifice I made, is anything. I did nothing, and You did everything. You left this glorious Paradise and died for me.”
“Sarah, you were the joy that was set before Me for which I endured the cross.11 Love hung Me on the cross; desire for you kept Me there. You are My beautiful bride. You are the pearl of great price.”12
“Thank You, Lord. I’m so grateful that You suffered for me and snatched me from eternal torment and gave me eternal life. I wish I had more to give You. I wish this crown was a million times bigger, a million times more glorious than it is. It pales next to Your great glory. Its worth is nothing compared to knowing You.”
In the background she heard and felt sweet music radiating from all directions, penetrating every cell in her body, “All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.”13 She gently lifted the crown from its place on the altar and, on tiptoes, placed it on Jesus’ head. “I crown You King of kings and Lord of all.” She, Joel, and Malta all bowed before Him.
Angels of Humility: A Novel Page 28
