prayer

YES, STILL PRAY FOR HEALING

(January 21, 2022) Dr Robert McQuillan responds to this believer who asks for prayer for a healing…

Dear Dr Robert

I know from your writings over the years that you strongly believe in healing. Would you please pray for me…? I don’t have Covid or anything like that but I’m having trouble with what I’ll call my ‘gut.’ Can we still believe for healing by God these days… these troubled days of so many people being hospitalised? Yours, ‘Clarke.’

Dear Clarke

Firstly, my apologies! It’s been a couple of weeks since you contacted me and I’m only getting back now (in writing that is! But I have prayed for you!).

If you’re following our Onliner you’ll know that this month we’ve once again pointed out that even though we may be Christians washed in the blood of our Saviour, Jesus, we still live in this fallen world. And, unfortunately, that means we may be subject to sicknesses. To be truthful, that one reason I’m only getting back now… I’ve had to rest back a bit myself!

But, to cheer you on, Clarke, the good news is that, yes, we can still pray for healing (and for other things!) and expect answers from our great, caring God!

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EIRENE PEACE

(October 18, 2021) Dr Robert McQuillan responds to this query about the Holy Spirit special brand of peace…

Dear Dr Robert
It’s me, Mitch. Again. I appreciate the help you been giving me over recent months… advice and prayers. I want to ask you something… I was really struggling with something that I couldn’t get free from; it was hanging on me like some sort of trap. But then you prayed for me… in what I thought was unusual at the time… you strongly prayed for a special peace to come on me, drop on me, aneirenepeace. And I know that I know something happened! I felt so released and have been feeling good since. I know you wrote about this peace as being one of the fruit segments of the Holy Spirit, but please explain further (I still feel so good!).  Mitch.

Dear Mitch

Firstly, I praise God that you’re feeling released in your mind and heart. Yes, back in July I explained this peace as Eirene… inner peace is ours, a very special assurance that all will be well… as Jesus assured his frightened disciples. Eirene is mentioned some 90 times in the NT and was (think Irene) a very popular girl’s name. Eirene related to serenity enjoyed under a good and just government ruler. Villagers would call the keeper of public peace, ‘the Eirene’ the one who would justly look after them. Think about this in respect of Jesus… the hand that holds the universe also holds us!

Perhaps if I share the following with you, it’ll help you further understand – and appreciate how releasing and what a blessing this special peace is…

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THE WORLD MAY BE IN A MESS BUT JESUS OFFERS ABUNDANT LIFE!

(September 18, 2021) David McGuire missionary to Romania, shares…

The world is in a mess but with Jesus there is life and life in abundance!

He makes a way where the world says stop!

Our thanks to who have praying for us… your continued care and support has made so much come to pass.

A very busy summer indeed with no stopping!
I have so many pictures from this summer! Such the one below showing one of two houses that were built in Tigmandru, one for a family of six and the other for a single elderly lady.

Both situations were cases of homelessness and completed with provision coming from American Christian friends and a northern Irish charity (Project Romania), praise the Lord.

And here’s a photo showing Tigmandru church trip out to the zoo for the kids who come to the weekly Bible group we do. Provision also came in to bless the teenagers who attend the same church go to a three-day Christian camp.

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HELPING WHEN HELP ISN’T ASKED FOR

(July 30, 2021) Maureen McQuillan responds to a challenging situation where someone wants to help a friend but that person just can’t receive help at this time…

Dear Pastor Maureen
A good friend on mine is in quite a state… her husband walked out on her, ending the marriage. I want to help her but she doesn’t want to talk about it. What can I do? Sonya.

Dear Sonya

I sense your heart… but the truth is that if your friend won’t open up and talk with you, you just can’t help, nobody can. At least not at this moment.

It’s going to take time for her to adjust to what’s happened… she’s in shock, probably thinking she’s failed as a wife, trying to work out what went wrong that this has happened, how did it come about and why? She’s obviously closed up inside and needs some space.

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MOVING ON FROM A BAD RELATIONSHIP

(July 28, 2021) Bonnie-Jane shares an encouraging word from her heart…

That 10 Year Challenge Photo/Image Meme phase was popular a while back, and had people reflecting on their past.

As I reminiscence myself, I feel to share some things from my heart and trust they will help someone else who has gone through similar hurtful and damaging experiences in the past as I did. So here goes…

Suffering from a broken heart
Just over some 10 years ago I met someone who at first seemed to be interested in me and a relationship began. But as the months went by he proved to be most insincere and the relationship became an abusive one.

It was a hard and grim time for me. Always considered a gentle-spirited person, easy-going, thoughtful and kind, able to deal with situations, my heart was being broken and even my very personality was changing.

I praise God for his strength to make a most important decision… with his help I decided that enough was enough and broke that relationship!

From depression to renewed confidence
That decision was so important… but now I was feeling that I would never find anyone who genuinely cared and whom I could trust.

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CANCER DIAGNOSED; JEWISH WOMAN REMEMBERED VISION OF JESUS

(April 13, 2021) Benjamin Lahood, studying at Lighthouse Christian Academy, Los Angeles, brings shares a miraculous testimony...

After Shiri Joshua was told she had a rare, virulent form of breast cancer (already at stage 3) she faced a stark choice one Friday afternoon. Would she start chemo or undergo a mastectomy on the following Monday?

‘I honestly didn’t even comprehend those words,’ Shiri says on a 100 Huntley Street video.

An Israel-born Jew, she moved to Toronto at 19, but her family continued to speak Hebrew at home. She always had an inquisitiveness about spiritually. Due to her upbringing, she thought she could only be either orthodox or a secular Jew.

But after she moved to Canada, she fell under the spell of the New Age movement. ‘I really did not feel that my traditional Jewish upbringing would satisfy what I wanted,’ she says. I knew there was a God, I just did not know him.

Vision of Jesus
Two years prior to her diagnosis, she had a vision of Jesus. She had heard about the Lord but felt she needed to avoid Jesus because of her Jewish background. But in her search for spirituality one day, she asked God if Jesus was real.

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ENDURING CHURCH PRINCIPLES – PART 1

(March 22, 2021) Dr Jim McClure, straight shooting theologian, shares important church growth principles…

 This past year has been a challenging time for churches throughout the world as each local church has attempted to redefine how to perform and survive as a church.

The Covid-19 experience has been challenging and at times oppressive, and, because of the present state of the world, we who belong to the church could so easily sink into despair. But for one fact – God is still in control!

I believe that the challenges of these days may prove to be a positive thing for Christians and churches as it may challenge us to look more seriously at what we honestly believe, to whom we are unmistakably committed, the significance and relevance of how we live as Christians and how we operate as the body that we call the ‘Church.’

There are many Christians today who somehow have embraced the idea that the church as we find it in the New Testament provides a perfect picture of what the church of today should be like. But… the letters of Paul, Peter and John illustrate that the churches to which they wrote were clearly not perfect principally because they were composed of imperfect people – like every church today!

Some time ago I read an article that was titled, Getting Back to the New Testament Pattern. It was based on Acts 2:40-47 and listed 13 items which the writer claimed represented the biblical pattern of Christian worship and behaviour for all ages. In fact several the items listed in the article were never part of the church beyond the first months of its existence after the Day of Pentecost. (more…)

PRAYER CHANGES/CHARGES!

(November 11, 2020) Robert and Maureen McQuillan challenge:

Recently we heard an outstanding declaration by CS Lewis (portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins) in that great, heart-touching 1993 movie Shadowlands –

  • ‘Prayer doesn’t change God – it changes me!’

Prayer is so important in the Christian’s life, a daily must as far as we’re concerned, something we’re into each morning over breakfast before we’re into the ‘whatevers’ the day brings forth. We’ll also find ourselves praying at different times during the day… about something arising in our own circumstances or about a request from someone (either known or unknown Christian, or a non-Christian stranger)… or in response to a leading by the Holy Spirit.

Prayer is…
1) Vital
Wigram’s Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament lists over 100 scriptures on prayer and praying. Jesus’ own prayer life is mentioned around 30 times in scripture (Jesus-Praying).

  • One key scripture is Luke 18:1 – Jesus urging that his disciples ‘should always pray and not give up.’

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DON’T LET FEAR DOMINATE YOUR LIFE!

(May 14, 2019) Carol Round encourages us to move on in life unafraid…

On April 29, I found myself huddled in a closet with my dog. Tornado sirens were blaring for the second time that evening. I took deep breaths, and then exhaled prayers for safety, not only for myself, but for everyone who was in the path of the storms relentlessly barrelling across several states that day.

According to the news, at least 18 tornadoes were sighted across Oklahoma this past Monday, leaving behind destruction and flooding with the torrential rains that also fell. Two people were killed and 22 injuries were reported. While there have been deadlier tornadoes and destruction, living in a state known as tornado alley can lead even the most fearless person to shelter when the sirens go off.

When fear governs your life
I’ve overcome most of the fears from my past – the ones holding me hostage, the ones keeping me from stepping outside of my comfort zone and the ones denying me a joy-filled life.

Before a tornado hit my previous house in Claremore in 2016, I never feared stormy weather. Growing up in Louisiana, I survived multiple hurricanes during my 16 years living there. I can’t recall being fearful. We always had plenty of advance warning to prepare or evacuate.

Although I know God watches over me, I can’t stop racing to my hidey-hole when I hear the warning sirens. Even though I prepare in advance with pillows and blankets piled on the floor of my closet, the sound of approaching danger rules my human heart, which threatens to jump out of my chest. (more…)

BRIDGING THE GAP

(February 15, 2019) Missionary statesperson Dr George Forbes reminds us that God needs heroes…

Believe it or not, God – yes, Almighty God – has a particular need, a big one!

Ezekiel 22:30 tells that he reveals his heart cry: ‘I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.’

Throughout the history of God’s people, both in Old Testament and New Testament times, God has sought for a man or woman to be his voice, to stand in the gap before him for the land. All too often he has not found even one.

Yes, there have been many times in decades past when someone has responded, someone who heard God’s call and obeyed it. But in our generation, our day, he is still looking for men and women who will stand in the gap for a nation, a land, a people.

Heroes of faith, lights in darkness
Some such heroes of bygone times are named in scripture… in the Old Testament and the Acts of the Apostles and other New Testament records: They belong in God’s Honour Roll!

In recent generations of Christian faith there have been other such heroes of faith… many are not listed here, but we can think of –

  • William Carey
  • Hudson Taylor
  • Adonorim Judson
  • Gladys Aylward
  • David Livingston
  • Mary Slessor
  • Amy Carmichael
  • Jim Elliot
  • And so many others…

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