Philippians 4:19-20
But my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto
God and our Father be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
After spending the whole day at our house on Sunday, Thanh, Steve and I did some bible study together. As we began to look at what the scripture said about growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and talking about how we can trust the Lord to supply our needs, it was apparent that Thanh had already experienced this.
Thanh shared how his step father had given him five dollars one Sunday morning. He came to church and as they passed the offering plate, he added one dollar of the five he had to the plate. When he went back home from church his step father was angry with him and wouldn't allow him to eat food from their table. He explained to the step father that he was hungry and was told to take the five dollars and go to the store and purchase something to eat. He went and purchased food to eat but his step father was still angry with him. The next Sunday, Thanh came to church and once again put one dollar into the offering plate and after the worship service we had a church picnic and he was able to eat with us. Thanh was so very helpful and kind with assisting in the clean up, so I handed him a ten dollar bill.
After returning home from church each week Thanh's father would be verbally abusive to Thanh and finally the day came that he asked him to leave their home. He moved to Rowlett with an uncle and found a job at a grocery store but was not able to come to worship any longer since he didn't own a vehicle.
As he was sharing with us about this experience he said,"The reason I realize that the Jesus you speak about is different from Buddha and all the other God's I've learned about is because, when I prayed to Jesus about my problems, I found answers." He said, "When I gave one dollar, God gave one hundred back. When I gave one dollar again, God gave ten dollars back and gave me a home to go to when my uncle asked me to leave." He said, "I was working three days a week and needed more money and I prayed to Jesus and he gave me a job where I can take care of myself now and I can come to church again."
Thanh said before when he prayed there was no answers but when he prays now to Jesus, he finds peace and has found this Jesus hears his prayers even when he prays for five or ten seconds, he knows he's being heard.
He is concerned that his mother and step father have not found Jesus and is concerned because it makes his step father very angry when he talks about Jesus. We shared with Thanh that just as Jesus met his need for money, he can meet this need for his family to know Jesus. This may be something we pray for a long time before God answers but we can be assured that he is listening to our prayers. Thanh also has a passion for others, not just Vietnamese people to know Christ but that everyone know about this Jesus he has found.
Pray for Thanh and for his family that he will be able to share the love of Jesus with them and they might have open hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 11: 1-6
Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen For by
it the elders obtained a good report. Through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed
by the word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear. By faith
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it
he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was
translated that he should not see death; and was
not found, because God had translated him:
for before his translation he had this testimony,
that he pleased God. But without faith it is
impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
No comments:
Post a Comment