Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A Father's Life Giving Prayer!

  
I have a business friend who brought a mutual contact of ours to church once. He had never been in a life giving church before and was caught off guard in a good way. After attending for a few months, he soon gave his heart to God and became a Christ follower. One Sunday after church service he found me in the crowd that was hanging out chatting and with tears in his eyes asked if he could speak with me alone. I obviously said yes.

We stepped to one side and as he slowly gained his composer, he began to tell me about his son. This man was a very successful business man but very harsh in his demeanor and relationships. So for years his son who was an adult lived with his father after his father divorced years ago, but due to the fathers harshness had no real relationship. The man actually said that his son only lived with him because he financially took care of his son, of which later the son actually admitted.

As the love of Christ began to melt this hard businessman’s heart he became life giving. He wanted to mend relationships from his past and began the process with many family and friends, however his son hated him no matter how life giving the father acted towards the son. As he told me this story my heart broke for him and his son. I asked him what I could do for him and he asked me if I would pray. He knew that God always answered my prayers and wanted me to pray for his son to become a Christ follower and to build a relationship with him that they never had.

I explained the basic principles of God always answering our prayers and he understood them. Then we prayed, once.

Over the course of the next six months another young man began to visit our church from another city about 40 miles north of the church through the invitation of a young lady he was interested in. After coming to our church for a couple of months, he became a Christ follower. Within a few weeks he had invited his best friend to come to church with him. His best friend also became a Christ follower.

His best friend was the businessman’s son.

Fast-forward 6 years. The son of the businessman not only reconciled with him father, but also when to college and became a missionary to South American and his work is funded by his fathers businesses. Their relationship is fantastic, because a father became life giving and believed that even though his son hated him at the time, God would always answer his prayers. And God did!

So what miracle do you need? Be life giving and believe that God always answers your prayer?

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