Besieged Cities and Beloved Birds
 Cathy Morgan, director of prayer ministry, was quietly rejoicing recently over a wonderful twist in Scripture that caught her attention. She was reading Deuteronomy. Amidst telling the Israelites what to do when besieging a city comes the command in chapter 20:19,
"do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them because you can eat their fruit."
Then, smack in the middle of instructions in chapter 22 about what to do about a straying ox and protecting against people falling off your roof, this verse (6) appears:
"If you come across a bird's nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother ... "
The God who laid out big plans for his people, Cathy says, was also lovingly concerned about the small details of his creation: the trees and birds. And then, later, Jesus teaches us (Matthew 6:26-28) that, if the same creation - the birds of the air and lilies of the field -- is loved by the heavenly Father,
"Are you not much more valuable than they?"
So, when you're walking and praying this weekend, remember details ... and be prepared for awe and wonder.
Photo credit: Paraflyer
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Healing Service
 Have you ever participated in a healing service? If not, be prepared to leave healed even if you are not among the suffering. More …
It's the way God seems to work, says Prayer Ministry Director Cathy Morgan: we focus on a certain outcome, and God often delivers a surprisingly different or additional outcome.
Expectations are tricky, especially for some of us who find the concept of healing prayer a bit troublesome. Should we expect a miracle? Should we lower our expectations and, instead, let God do what he wills? If we lower our expectations, does that mean our faith is shallow?
Ironically and often immediately, when we join in a healing service, we realize that God quiets our anxious hearts and focuses us on what is most important. And what is most important is the fact that all of us, Cathy says, are together bringing the afflicted to the all-knowing, all-loving One.
She points out, "we become a 'cloud' of witnesses' to the power and wonderful mystery of God and, in the act of petition and togetherness, God changes us. We walk away healed in ways that sometimes we cannot describe."
The next time you see an announcement about a church healing service, be sure to go. Bring your expectations; leave with something special.
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