“But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” Psalms 37:39-40
Tears stream down my cheeks, uncontrollable joy pours from the smile on my face as praise shoots off to the heavens for what the Lord has done. This is where I want to take you.
It all began by seeing an older gentleman sitting all alone in church with a very somber look on his face. I could feel the Lord pulling me to him but it didn’t happen until the night service that was dedicated to prayer. Again the old man sat all alone with the same somber look on his face.
From that point the Lord told me to sit next to this man. Jake who was leading the service, continually asked people to come forward if they had a prayer request to share. Everytime someone would speak people would get up to lay hands on the person and normally I would have done the same but I felt the Lord telling me to just sit. I understood that I was supposed to sit and just pray for this man.
Then, the unthinkable happened, this little old man; whose name is Jose; shot to his feet to ask for prayer. I almost shot out of my seat because this was exactly what I was praying for. I was finally going to be able to find out what was troubling him. Jose said that he was being tormented by horrible nightmares. He said that a dog was attacking him in his dreams and that it was bringing continuous fear into his life. This was the beginning to my heart being connected to an Jose. We showered him with prayer and rebuked the devil for coming against our brother and we knew at that moment that we were supposed to walk Jose home and pray throughout his entire home.
I want you to put yourself in Jose’s shoes. You are eighteen years old and your family abandons you because you will not follow Catholicism. They want nothing to do with you and you begin your life all alone. For the following 46 years of your life you work on a farm to put food on the table. Throughout that time you are always alone, you never make any friends and you sit manly in silence. After retiring from your job at the age of 66 you live all alone, with no family, with no friends and a small pension to support your immediate needs. The one thing that you grasp a hold is your faith.
Jose is this man. He has lived in a life of silence and has allowed the devil to torment his life. We walked after the service down the darkest road that I have ever seen. Trees sway back and forth in the wind, leaves crunch underneath our feet as odd sounds ring from every direction. As I walked I couldn’t imagine walking back and forth all by my lonesome to wherever we were going.
Then we walked to a street that jogged to the right where we came to a dark property with barb wire surrounding the entire premises. With our nightlights shining brightly we could see hundreds of eyes peering up at us. What were these? These were hundreds of spiders all over the place running in different directions. The house itself was a dark color brown with no windows anywhere and a padlock on the front door. The property was covered with broken wood and dead leaves showering the ground.
As Jose opened the door my heart sunk because I couldn’t fathom living this life all by myself. I had to continually shout scripture to defeat fear and I was with three grown men. As I entered the house, broken boards lay all through out the ground and trash piled up in the corners. We entered into Jose’s room as tree branches screeched against the wood of the house. As wind ripped through the trees seeds showered the metal roof as chills shot throughout my body. In the middle of this room lie Jose’s bed covered with a mosquito net. How could anyone live alone in this life? I could not stop asking myself this question. We began to shower prayer throughout this house and call wonderful dreams into Jose’s life.
It was hard to leave Jose but we told him about our prayer time the following day and invited him to join. He gladly accepted and the next thing you know, Jose was the first on the doorstep of the church. Little did we know that the Lord had this day planned only for Jose. He didn’t want us to do anything but focus on Jose and to tell him how much he loved him.
We were able to sit Jose down and just listen to our brothers heart. We got to feel his pain, that he was heartbroken that he had not seen his brother since he was eighteen years old. Jose did not know exactly how old he was, he just knew that he had retired some years back and he was 66 when this happened. We found out that his sister was Jehovah Witness and that they had a very poor relationship. Jose had also never been married or had ever had anyone special in his life. We then found out that Jose did know the Lord Jesus Christ but he didn’t really understand that his Father loved him.
Jose began to weep profusely as we sat in his presence telling him how much his Father loved him. We could tell that Jose had never expressed emotion before and that this was divine healing that was taking place right in front of our eyes. As I sat and poured everything that I had into my brother, I could feel the Lord telling me to wash my brother’s feet. I had just read how Jesus, the living God, got down on his knees and washed the feet of His disciples to show His love and humility toward them. That is exactly what I did to Jose because I could feel the Lord saying this is how much I love my son and I want to use your hands to show him this. Tears welled up Jose’s eyes as I knelt down on my knees and washed my brother’s feet.
What went on next was only from the Lord because my brother who I believe had not smiled or received a hug ever in his life began to be transformed. Jose prayed for a new heart and asked the Lord to become so much more real to his life. Smiles poured out from our faces. Jose was seeing right before our very eyes that his Father in heaven did love him and that He would never leave him nor forsake him.
This brings me back to the beginning. Our group felt burdened for Jose and we knew that the Lord wanted us to bless him. We decided to dedicate the day to Jose and clean his entire house and bless him. Our hearts broke as we transformed a house that would make a grown man cry to a house filled with the one thing that we new best, prayer. We celebrated with our brother the Love that our Father in heaven has for each of us. We worshiped our Father with our entire souls and called the heavens to open above. Tears poured down my cheeks as I could feel the house filled with Love, Joy and peace. I could feel that my Father in heaven had sent angels to guard our brother and that He would never leave him nor forsake him.
My life will forever be changed for the time that I have been able to spend with Jose. I love you so much Father, I thank you for breaking my heart for Jose.
God Bless.
