Trojan, Microsoft, Prayer & a Miracle

So... I had a virus on my computer... Two actually! And yes, they were Trojans (which I actually have no clue about I've just heard they are awful and I trust that. ha!) Thankfully I have good ole Microsoft Security Essentials and the Trojan was pretty much immediately detected.  (Aside: The thing I love most about Microsoft Security Essentials though is it makes it so easy, even for non-geeks like me!  There is just a pop-up window that recommends an action, in this case "remove" and a little details tab you can look at that's super easy to understand so you can see where it's saved on your computer AND which website, e-mail or whatever the issue stemmed from!) Of course, like any other scared-to-death person I clicked remove and it's was processing the removal so quickly... to a point... then... nothing. Frozen. Uh-oh! What would someone like me do now?! Calling tech support is like beating your head against a brick wall so I pretty much refuse that! haha! Naturally, I prayed haha! I know it may seem stupid to some but I seriously pray about EVERYTHING, it's the first thing I thought of (which, if you were wondering, is a good habit to get into because the Bible says "if it concerns you then God's concerned about it too" and "God is into the details" both Suzie-k paraphrase ha!) The problem? When I prayed nothing happened...  I prayed again "Jesus please, you know I have no idea what to go and you know what it will cost me if I have to get help with this, and I CANNOT have ruined this computer! Fix it I pray!"  Waited........... AND.... Nothing :o( Finally I literally laid hands on the computer tower (no joke) and said "Remove it IN JESUS NAME!" and voila, instantly a new pop-up "The Trojan has been successfully removed." Not only that but there were actually two Trojans; the second didn't even show up when I clicked remove but it got removed as well! My computer is good as new, no trace of the virus I knew about nor the one that was a bonus fix! "Thanks for bonuses God!"

I know the story of a computer virus isn't very spiritual (even if you have to admit it is kind of cool) but it did bring to mind a message I heard this winter through simulcast... Rev. Lee Stoneking spoke about his miracle... And if you've never heard his story you MUST! (Hear it in person! Join us when Lee Stoneking comes to Capital Community July 27-29 2012!) After speaking about his miracle Rev. Stoneking talked about the reason he believes he has so much success in prayer (regarding praying for miracles and healing.) Rev Stoneking said "I've never been afraid pray. I've always just thought I'll pray and it's up to God what He wants to do with that prayer, it's His results." I've heard the expression "our prayers, God's results" before but when you hear it coming from someone like Rev. Stoneking it seems to carry more weight and it starts to change you... But that sentence was actually only the beginning of change in me. The catalyst was hearing Rev. Stoneking say "I've also never been afraid to pray again..." and he went on to speak about praying for a healing for a man somewhere between three and five times in one service until he was completely healed!

I've always heard "never give up, sometimes people stop praying just before they receive their miracle."  float around the topic of Christian Prayer. But honestly, who could tell, if you stop praying for something you don't know that one more prayer would have done it on the other hand, you don't know if one more prayer wouldn't have brought down the miracle! There is a story found in 2 Kings 13:14-24 that tells of a king who was told to "strike the ground" with arrows and he did, three times. But the prophet was angry with him for only striking it three times and said "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it." The king really had no idea how many times to strike the ground and there is no mention of specific instruction to that regard but I think the lesson we need to take away is you don't have to know, just keep hitting it! Just keep striking the ground with your knees in prayer! Don't be afraid of the results - or lack thereof - keep praying because that's our job, the answering is God's job. 

Another story in Mark 8:23-25 speaks of Jesus praying for a blind man and at Jesus' first prayer the man said "I see people; they look like trees walking around" so Jesus prayed again and the man's sight was completely restored.  I think we can all agree Jesus had the most powerful prayer life ever known!? After Jesus raising people from the dead through prayer, speaking stillness to the water and a storm, after Him healing a woman from a 12 year blood disease just by her touching his prayer shawl do you think Jesus really had to pray twice for this man or did He allow this to happen as an example to us?  Rhetorical question. I know, it is scary to pray sometimes... Most of the time... The thought of "what if this doesn't work" or "what if God doesn't answer" will probably never leave the recesses of our minds but we can and must refuse those thoughts! We refuse negative thoughts by remembering even Jesus prayed more than once for a miracle, by not allowing those thoughts to intimidate us into inaction, by doing our job. "Just do it" - Nike