GC Session 2015: Prayer Seminars

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Joyce Mulligan

Keith Mulligan

Ed Walker

Lisa Walker

Forward On Your Knees- Part 1

Our kind Heavenly Father, just work through us, make this not about us, but your Spirit just working through us to share the testimonies that we have brought today.

Thank you for how you've blessed in the past.

But Lord, we pray that that blessing will continue today and that you will use us in whatever way you see fit.

What I'd like to do today with you is share a series of testimonies where God's power through prayer has broken some kind of chain.

And the first chain that I'd like to talk about him breaking is my personal testimony about something that happened to me and it was about fear.

All my life I've suffered from the fear of glossophobia.

And for those of you that are thinking, what is that?

When I was in high school in speech class, I would be scared to death when the teacher would make me give a speech.

When I was in college, taking speech and then marketing classes, which I took an emphasis in marketing and they would make me speak, I would be scared to death and turn white, heart beating out of control, little sweat.

You know how it is, those of you that have this issue.

It doesn't mean that it's real, you know, but it feels just the same as if you're on something really tall, if you have that particular fear, or something really small if you have that particular fear.

Well, the story that I'd like to relate to you is that because of this fear, I would never take a job in our local church that required me to do any public speaking.

And various pastors would come and go and they would say, we want you to be an elder.

And I would tell them, well, if the Lord wanted me to be an elder, he would have equipped me to speak because as an elder, you're gonna get up and speak from time to time up in front.

And so that would go back and forth and the years passed and I never took a job that required any public speaking.

1 day I was working in my shop on a large piece of farm machinery and it was clear underneath getting all dirty trying to fix something there and I had a pastoral visit.

Our pastor decided to come right at that very moment not when you expect to have a pastoral visit Keith but that's when he chose to come.

So I unwound myself from this piece of machinery, wiped off as much grease and dirt as I could, and we began to chat.

He was a man that got right to the point.

And I said to him, but you know that I can't speak in public.

He looked me right in the eye and he said, it's because of your own foolish pride that you can't speak in public.

I felt like I'd just been whacked right in the chin, you know.

And just as he was leaving, he turned around and he said to me, oh, and by the way, I need you to be the head elder.

How do I know how to be a head elder, the first elder?

Within 3 short months that pastor had to retire because of cancer and as I prayed, actually I should have told you that in a minute, but as I prayed I felt like the Lord wanted me to do this.

So I kind of stepped out in faith and I began trying to do the elder job every week when I would need to be on the platform, I would go through the same thing, sweating, heart beating wildly out of control.

And every week I would sit there and just dread going up on the platform.

And people would tell me, oh don't worry, it's going to get easier.

Has anyone ever heard that, that has this issue?

I got to the point where I dreaded it so much that I would think to myself, I think I have a little sore throat going on here.

Well, you kind of need your head elder to go to church.

Well, 1 day I was sitting there on the platform.

At that time we had a formal service and the elders would march out on the platform and they would sit in their chairs until their particular part of the service started.

And I was sitting in my chair waiting for my particular part of the service.

Same thing, sweat boiling off, veins sticking out of my neck, heart beating out of control, and I thought, I'm gonna stroke out right here on the platform and that's gonna be the end of it.

And the moment that I prayed that, it was gone.

Now for me, this testimony, which I don't share too much anymore, it's very personal because sometimes when we go as elders and we pray for someone to be healed of a certain disease, and those of you that are elders or pastors know what I'm talking about, what do you always hear?

Oh, the physicians, their medicine worked this time and they're okay.

But for me, I know this wasn't getting better.

And when it was just gone in an instant, I know this was the power of prayer.

Such as it was, but a heartfelt cry is a prayer that God loves to answer.

She has a story about God breaking the chains of death.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, get a prayer partner.

As we mentioned earlier, I was a public health microbiologist, and As I was working in this health department, I got myself a prayer partner.

It wasn't somebody I knew before, but somebody that loved the Lord and was interested in prayer.

And we decided we would take our breaks and we would pray for different individuals in the health department, different issues, and it got to be known that we were praying and people would bring prayer requests.

So this 1 individual by the name of Regina, she's 1 that was very special to us.

She had 2 children already, she had 2 sons, but she wanted, she loved children and she wanted to have another child.

Well, Regina had an extenuating circumstance, she only had 1 kidney, so it's a little bit difficult for her to have a pregnancy.

So she decided, well, maybe we should adopt.

And she talked to her husband and he wasn't interested, but she didn't give up.

She talked to him for about a year And finally he conceded, let's adopt.

Well a month after they decided that we'll adopt, before they had time to do anything, she found out she was pregnant.

And all of us at the health department were elated because we knew that she wanted to have a child and we were praising God for that.

And a couple months later she made an appointment with her doctor.

As you know, they have periodic appointments and now they do a lot of ultrasounds to check the baby, make sure everything's okay, check the growth and all that kind of stuff.

And she went to this 1 appointment and she had a technician that did an ultrasound on her.

And the technician checked and she checked and she checked and there was no heartbeat.

Well at this point she should have had a nice strong heartbeat.

Well much to Regina's dismay, the lady told her, I'm sorry, you're having a miscarriage.

We will give you 2 weeks to finish the miscarriage.

Any of you who have had miscarriages, and I have, it's a devastating thing.

We'll give you 2 weeks to finish and then we'll have you come back and we'll check you to make sure that everything is clear.

And if it's not, then we will do what they call a dilation and curatage, which is an abbreviation.

Back to Menu

Forward On Your Knees- Part 1

Transcript

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine