News
from our Members
The Practical Power of Prayer from Dick Shenton
Six to
eight hours of surgery and 16 hours of intensive care……..
I am
certain that I have never been so close to death before, however I am equally
sure that the Lord has not ever manifested himself to me for such a continuous
length of time. As I drifted in and out of consciousness and was roused to
wakefulness at regular intervals by the nurse, I came face to face with Jesus
and was aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
He was so real that I wanted to reach out and touch Him.
The experience was so uplifting that I was able to join in the unformed
prayers with some of my own.
At other times I was sustained by the firm, soft support that the Lord
provided. It
made the whole experience both joyful and relaxed.
Retrospectively I pondered briefly whether the anaesthetic caused my mind
to hallucinate, but it was no figment of my imagination it was God, in His
grace, sharing His wonderful love.
“So
what’s so special about you”, you may ask.
“Why did you get all this attention from God?”
The answer is - I don’t know.
Certainly I had been prepared with prayer and put my whole trust in God
for I am a consummate coward, terrified at the thought of pain and what “they
might be doing with my heart.
However God, using the skills of the surgeons and nurses, took my heart
and refashioned it, taking away my fear.
I was wrapped in
prayer.
So where
did all this prayer come from? (for whilst I was unconscious I was incapable of
doing anything for myself).
Well it came from anyone who was aware of my operation and just thought
about me, spoke briefly to God, prayed more intensively - all those fragments
powered through to God for my benefit.
But it wasn’t just for me.
They affected those who surrounded me, my family, surgeons,
anaesthetists, clinicians, care-workers, laboratory technicians,
physiotherapists, administrators and so many more.
All these and others were sustained and driven by a tidal wave of people
speaking to God.
And prayers were answered ….. thank you and thank you Lord.
Dear Friends
I have read and re-read many
times, Mary’s editorial ‘Faith for the
Future’ and I agree whole-heartedly with every word.
I
look at the new front cover and I think,
“Yes”’ we’re looking out on a broken and divided world and the question
comes to mind, “and where are we?”
We are ‘standing in the gap’,
looking out with spiritual eyes on
a nation that has largely lost its
faith in Christ Jesus and in doing so has lost its direction and first love.
I
wish with all my heart I could say, “God has revealed this to me”, but no I
sit at His feet, my Jesus, day and night and wait on Him.
I cannot do more at this stage.
We who have such a knowledge of His love, forgiveness and power are like
the soldiers in Ephesians 6. We
are equipped and we await orders.
It
was through my brothers’ constant prayers for my conversion that I came to
know Jesus as my personal Saviour and know the value of prayer.
The power of prayer and the direction that prayer gives.
I, at this moment in time uphold the members
of A.R.M.(Wales) – I wish I knew all their names, but the Lord rejoices in
them all.
“Enlighten
us O Lord, show us the way forward. You
are glorious, you are breathtaking, you are majestic.
Come among us, we welcome you, we would embrace you and all that you have
for us – not for ourselves but to give away.
Even so, come among us Lord Jesus. Amen.”
Grace
and peace be with you and yours in Christ Jesus.
And Brian Favell speaking about the E.G.M. assured us of the rightness of the decisions taken. He writes,
“I
am glad about the decisions of that meeting: I am sure they are right.
The magazine now has a different feel about it, as if you are all
gathering yourself together for the next leap into God's will.
I had never been totally convinced that the Builth Wells conferences as
they have been constituted were exactly what A.R.M.(Wales) should have been
about. I am sure that that wing of
activity was and is right, but is not primarily what we were for. The redirection specifically towards the C. in W. I
believe is God's will, particularly in the present circumstances where the
Anglican Communion is being broken in half.
Please give my love and good wishes to all my old friends who are still active.