Marilyn and her father Ed Silvoso, today.
I sat feeling like a stranger in my second grade class, staring at the teacher’s mouth moving but not understanding any of the English words she spoke, and thinking about the fact that my family had just abruptly left the happy life we had known in Argentina with no hope of returning. My Dad had suddenly been diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease with the verdict that we should not expect him to live beyond two years. His health deteriorated so quickly that we had to move to California where the doctors were trying to manage his painful symptoms with experimental treatments.
When I arrived home from school that day, I passed by the kitchen where my mom was holding my newborn sister while visiting with some friends. Their well-meaning counsel was for her to make plans for my Dad’s imminent death and stop hoping against hope that he would somehow live. My mom argued back that the Lord had in fact assured them that despite the doctor’s reports, he would be completely healed.
I quickly went down the hall where my Dad was confined to his bed. He looked weak from the regular blood transfusions and major surgeries. I drew close and, gathering my courage, asked him who would take care of me when he died. He weakly lifted up his head, turned to me and full of assurance said, “You don’t need to worry about that because I am not dying.” A cynical person would say he was in denial, but I now understand that he was speaking in the present tense because that is the true timeframe of faith. He didn’t waver or qualify his statement by saying, “I think God may heal me someday.” He simply stated what he believed God had spoken today in the now.
At the time, I had the advantage of actually being a child so I received his news with childlike faith, and no longer feared his death even though God chose to heal him progressively over seven years rather than instantaneously. If we had believed the natural report, the fruit would have been death; but instead, my Dad believed the Lord’s report, and inspired me likewise, so the fruit was life.
In the same way, the predictions in the natural for our world today are ominous: this post-modern generation has no spiritual foundations, corruption will increasingly expand the gap between rich and poor, and the environment will inevitably continue on its path of deterioration. But what does God say about His creation? “All creation is eagerly awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God.”
Can we really believe this? Three stories currently on the Harvest Evangelism website illustrate exactly how it is happening right now. The first is about the Mayor of Salinas, California, calling the city to prayer and fasting; another about Andrew Rugasira, a business owner who is investing back financially into his coffee workers in Uganda to show God’s love; and finally, the story of engineer Derk Maat, who God has used to create technology that turns garbage into energy. These reports show that we don’t have to accept the death sentences being proclaimed over our generation.
A few years after my dad’s healing was fully realized, I caught a glimpse of creation longing for God’s manifestation, and it happened, of all places, in an Argentine taxi.
As soon as I got in, the driver turned to me and said, “Tell me about Jesus.” My jaw literally dropped; I couldn’t believe it. For a moment I wondered if he had started the meter running and was trying to engage me in conversation in order to prolong the taxi fare. When I asked him, he said, “Well, I see that you just walked out of a building with a banner that says, ‘Jesus, the only answer,’ and I want to know Him.” It turned out that this spiritually hungry man had been picking up people outside this church building for weeks and each time he noticed that they were full of the warmth and life he so longed for.
Whether it be a scared eight-year-old, a taxi driver, a poor Ugandan coffee worker, or the damaged environment, we can believe that all of creation is eager for the sons of God to walk out who we truly are so that God can use us to bring the answers that are needed.
What diagnosis has the world declared over your life? What is the report of the Lord for your life? Today you can come into agreement with God’s word for you so that creation around you can see the manifestation of God.
Marilyn Schuler
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Reply #1 on : Sun August 24, 2008, 13:49:31