Picture this. A young man is walking down a dark street when he is approached by a large, mean-looking man who will not let him pass.

The young man isn't quite as physically fit as he should be because he hasn't been exercising or working out. The young man, seeing that he is no match for the attacker, says, "Excuse me just one moment while I go home and work out with my weight set. Stay right here. Don't move. I'll be right back. Then we will fight."

At this point the young man runs home, works out on his weights for 10 minutes and then goes back to the dimly lit street and fights the attacker. He wins because of his 10 minute workout.

It sounds silly, doesn't it? But that's the way many Christians live their lives spiritually. They wait until Satan attacks and then at the last minute try to exercise spiritually by reading a few verses and praying under pressure.

Any time a person reads God's Word and applies it to his life, it is good, but usually when the man stops you in the alley or Satan attacks your home, it's too late to exercise your body or your faith.

If our spiritual muscles aren't built up before the attack, we may find the attack more than we had expected. Be prepared. Exercise your faith before the attack, and then when the attack comes, your shield will protect you.

Wrong Number
My background is Baptist. I was born into the home of a Baptist deacon, saved and baptized in a Baptist church, went to a Baptist college to study to be a Baptist minister where I met a Baptist girl who was studying to be a Baptist missionary, and we were married in a Baptist church. I have nothing against Baptists.

However, sometimes their views on "faith healing" may be called "conservative." My mother still attends a Baptist church, but her views on the healing power of God are not conservative. She believes that God has the power to heal unconditionally!

One day an elderly man visited her church and asked her church to pray for his healing. A few days later she came by my office and asked if I would mind calling the elderly man and sharing with him a little about the healing power of God. She was going to meet with him later.

I asked her for the phone number of the sick man because I didn't know him. She looked it up in the phone book, and I gave him a call.

When he answered the phone, I introduced myself and asked him how long he had been sick. He told me. I asked him if he knew that God could heal him. He said that he believed God could heal him if He wanted to. I shared healing scriptures with him on the phone for about 15 minutes and then prayed with him. He agreed with me that God would heal him as a witness, and he thanked me for calling.

He said his life had been changed.

Just before hanging up, I wanted to encourage this elderly man by telling him that he did the right thing by turning to God and asking the church to pray for his healing. "What church?" was his reply. "I haven't been to church for twenty years." I had called the wrong number. I had talked to a different man, but it was the man God wanted me to talk to. With God there are no accidents.

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