Prayer Answered

There are 2 stories I wish to tell today the 1st is kind of long(ish) the 2nd isn't.

Story 1

This time last week I was sat in the sanctuary after student prayers talking with a person from the Church. He told me about a man called Richard Hernandez in the Philippines, who runs a volunteer fire service in the slums using old donated equipment from several fire services here.

The discussion I was having with the man in sanctuary was not about the good job the man was doing but about how a woman who was running for the local government had promised him and the people in the slums that she would build fire hydrants in the slums and provide a new fire-engine for them. When she was elected instead of doing that she tried to evict the volunteer fire service from the sight where they were based and sell of the land for private development.

I spent about 20 to 30 minutes with the guy from my church talking about the situation and praying. I also spent time praying for him as well because earlier in the conversation he had indicated that he had little confidence in prayer or that it would be answered. So I shared a bit of my testimony of how God hand answered prayer in my life to encourage him and then we prayed for a while and I prayed that he would see prayer answered and have confidence in prayer.

This week when I went into sanctuary I was greeted by him with the news that Richards' wife had challenged the legality of what the woman was trying to do and that they had discovered that it was illegal to sell of the land the firefighters were on without providing them with an alternative premises on which to conduct their business otherwise she would be removing a vital service to the community so although she is still going to be selling off the land she now has to provide them with another plot of land to use as their base of operations.

When I was talking to the guy again today he made the comment. "God answers prayer."

Story 2

When I first moved into Jesmond the houses along the streets on my walk to the church were filled with empty houses waiting to be filled with people, students mostly. On my walk to Church I would pray for the people who were going to move into the houses I would pray for protection for them and blessings on the houses and that there would also be other Christians on the street to be a witness in the community and yesterday when I was walking past the houses on my way to Tesco I noticed that from the top room in one of the houses on the street someone was playing worship music, it doesn't defiantly mean that they are a Christian but its a good indicator.

In 3 ways this week God has answered prayer and its only Wednesday! I Rejoice in the fact that there is a God who is present and at work among us.