Some years ago, I had an experience which gave me a deep respect for spiritual realities. In closing my prayer times, I began telling Jesus I wanted my spirit to commune with His Spirit. Often I experienced a profound sense of being strengthened in my spirit.

A friend sent me this true account. “Ten years ago I met Ishmael. His sister-in-law and translator, Angela, brought him to meet me. Ishmael had AIDS. At one point I asked him if I could pray for him. I prayed for his heart and then I prayed for his weary body.
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A young wife shared that one day as she sat in her new office she remembered how badly she had wanted to move into that large, quiet space. She had almost forgotten how much she had hoped for such an office, so with a grateful heart she again gave thanks to God.

Having a notebook and pen beside me as I read my Bible has become one of my ways to say, “Lord, I am expecting to receive something too good to forget. I want to demonstrate my love for You by caring for wisdom when it comes.” If a verse strikes me as one I would like to better understand or I simply like what it says and want it to be lived out in my life, I write it down.

“After spending numerous times in prayer with a former associate in our ministry,” wrote Dick Eastman in The Hour That Changes the World, “I was amazed to find that he prayed for every person on the World Literature Crusade headquarter’s staff by name. He also prayed for each overseas leader associated with the ministry. Quietly and confidently, he would appeal for compassion, wisdom, and strength for each of the more than two hundred workers on his list.

Edith Knipmeyer, a tiny lady who has since gone to heaven, wrote me the following true incident:

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“When we lived on the farm, my husband, Virgil, usually fattened several heads of steer in the winter. One morning when Virgil left for work, he said, ‘Now when you call the trucker, tell him that if he thinks he will get stuck not to come. There isn’t enough power on the farm to pull the truck out.’

A lady in our Bible study had considered the verse, “As ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me,” and began to consider the possibilities of ministering to children in her neighborhood. She previously had resented having the rowdy kids in. “I felt in control when they weren’t there.” But she decided to change her attitude and treat them with love for Jesus.

“His sermon was a masterpiece.” “What skillful delivery from a teenager.” John’s sermon had been impressive. We admired this young man of our congregation who was showing such promise.