Page 6 - Good News March 2016 paper

Reinhard Bonnke stake his life on it. Tears of longing and hope spilled
he stood weeping at the
edge of the crowd, beyond
Smy field of vision. Two
hundred thousand gathered in
Uhuru Park that day. I preached,
and we saw thousands come to
the Lord, with healings mani-
fested among the people. She
had soaked her pillow for count-
less days before I came to her city
of Nairobi.
LONGING FOR PURPOSE
This is her story: From child- hands must be laid on her and she must be prayed
hood, Teresia had longed to
serve the Lord. Attending church
had filled her imagination with
wonderful desires to marry a
minister. When she finally came
of age she met a charming
European missionary. With this
man, everything fell into place in
her mind. But her parents did not
approve.
To them, a racially mixed union
was a recipe for disaster. But
captivated by love, she believed
God has provided the answer to
her prayers in this wonderful
Christian man. It was a decision
that haunted her a dozen years
later when her missionary hus-
band turned against her.
No amount of appealing to his
Christian faith made any diffe- God," the woman at the door said, "and God spoke
rence. He took cruel advantage of
a male-dominated court system
to divorce her, and leave her and
their daughter with no support.
As she stood weeping that hot
steamy day, she blamed herself
for choosing so badly in her
desire for a ministry mate. She
further blamed herself for not
being able to make the marriage
work in spite of her husband's
problems.
She had no place to go as her
family would now reject her. They
would tell her that she had only
gotten what she deserved - the
church was no better. The only
refuge Teresia found was in God!
CLINGING TO HOPE
She clung to the hope that
someday, somehow, somewhere
God would arise and give her feet
a solid place to stand again. That
day she heard me preach the
uncompromised Gospel. In her
mind, she saw a man who religious prayer. She did not ask for God to please
believed this message and would
from her eyes.
I laid hands on many people that day. Blind eyes
opened, lame people began to walk, and people who
were deaf could suddenly repeat my whispers word
for word.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
Teresia saw that I possessed a living 'fire' that was
beyond the cold religious embers of her own
experience. She decided to settle for nothing less
and she had faith like the woman who touched the
fringe of Jesus' cloak. Somehow she knew that
for, and then she could step into the full blessing of so. No, she commanded the sick to be healed in
God. Jesus' Name!
A VESSEL OF HONOUR
Teresia left Uhuru Park that day without a chance for The next Friday there were 55 women at her house.
prayer. The crowds were pressing around the The following Friday 105, and the next week 200
platform with so many needs, and God was directing women showed up. By now some of the notable and
me to the ones He was healing. I never even knew documented healings from her ministry were being
she was there. talked about around the city. They found a city
auditorium that held 2 000, but 4 000 women arrived.
Eight years passed before our paths crossed again. At this point some pastors in the city began to
Teresia spent those years making a new life. During denounce her and tell their people not to attend her
those eight years Teresia also tracked my speaking meetings because she was a divorced woman. They
schedule through the ministry magazine. She was did not listen. Instead, they heard the Gospel of
always on the lookout for a city where I would be Jesus Christ. They saw cancers healed, blind eyes
preaching to a smaller crowd. This would increase and deaf ears opened!
her chance of being prayed over.
The weeping woman in Uhuru Park in 1988 had
EXPERIENCING GOD'S TOUCH desperately prayed, "God, oh please God!" Today,
It happened in Oslo, Norway in the Spring of '96. She Teresia Wairimu is a very happy woman and her
saved her money and bought a round trip ticket. name is a household word in Africa. When I heard of
Teresia was the first one through the doors of the her breakthrough I went to the Lord in prayer. "Why
Church. "There is something that you need from Lord," I asked, "did you choose a divorced woman
for this great ministry? We have so many wonderful
to me that He will give it to you." Teresia had come men in our Bible Schools, men who pursue You with
with one thing in mind: when I give a call at the altar all of their hearts. Why did you choose Teresia and
for the sick, she would run forward for prayer. In her not one of them?" His answer affected me deeply.
mind, she was sick - she felt sick with frustration and He said, "I chose Teresia because I wanted to show
ineffectiveness in her ministry. the world that I could take a broken vessel and make
a vessel of honour."
I will never forget what happened next, nor will
Teresia ever be able to remember, because she was CHOSEN BY GOD FOR GREAT THINGS
ripped from beneath my hands by a mighty force that How this humbled me! We are not chosen for our
threw her metres through the air and landed her on great qualities.
her back near the front row of seats from which she We are flawed
had come. The force of this action was so strong that s e r v a n t s w h o
both her shoes flew from her feet. The miracles of m u s t d e p e n d
God are always a sign and a wonder. We are left to totally on Him.
shake our heads and say, "Praise God, praise God,
praise God!" - This story is one
of a series taken
THE START OF A MINISTRY out of the book
The story might end here. It has ended here for “Even Greater” by
many. They receive a great visitation of God's Spirit, Reinhard Bonnke.
and then they do nothing to work it out in their life. He is the founder
But God had not anointed Teresia for nothing. of Christ for All
Nations Ministry.
Upon arrival back in Nairobi she called her girl- For more info or to
friends to a Friday prayer meeting at her house. buy the book or to
Seventeen of them came. She preached with a power support CFAN,
she had never known before. When she asked the p l e a s e v i s i t
sick to come forward, she did not offer a weak www.cfan.org.za
or call 021 554
heal someone if it was in His great divine Will to do 1892.