This is the testimony of Jabez, who was my work colleague. When I first met him, he was having a hard time trying to make ends meet. Before that he had suffered a business failure. In order to provide for the basics for the children, he and the wife often had to skip lunch, or go without new clothes or shoes. The car he was driving was an early model Ford Cortina, which frequently needed maintenance and repairs. Sometimes he would go to prayer meetings on an empty stomach (to some extent fasting and secondly to cut costs). He himself said when he prayed in the church, he avoided having to kneel because he was ashamed to have people see his shoe soles, which had many holes! His prayer was simply for God to bless him with a new pair of shoes. By the way he was wearing his only pair of shoes, his wedding shoes, at that time worn on for 5 years.
After going to our congregation for some time Jabez got better acquainted with our pastor. Then one day he related to the pastor how difficult his livelihood had been. So we got together to pray. In the midst of the prayer, I remembered pastor said he saw a vision of a ladder and that Jabez was climbing it. There were certain parts of the ladder that were missing and the interpretation was that Jabez had to find out what part it was. The answer was not long in coming.
A few weeks later the Sacred Heart Cathedral was host to a charismatic revival gathering and delegates from around the world were attending. Then in the midst of the meetings' activities, Jabez was to himself meet up with a man from Pakistan who had the answer to the missing steps ladder vision. In Jabez's narration ..
"One of my best friends John Peyer brought me with his car to the convention. After the meeting, there was an arrangement by John Peyer for supper with a few delegates, altogether 7 of us. Therefore, we split into 2 groups. The Pakistani, by the name of Anwar (Youth leader of a charismatic group in Pakistan}, rode with us(John and myself) in one car. Before this meeting with the Pakistani, and while John Peyer was speaking of arranging the venue, I was standing 30 feet away from them waiting for John. While I was looking toward John's direction, this man's piercing looks moved me. I have never seen or met him before. Moreover I had not expected that he will be invited for the supper. He was a stranger altogether. So we were supposed to meet at one place which is in a coffee shop in Taman Fortuna but John needed to go to the ATM to get some cash. When we arrived the other group was still nowhere to be seen. So the three of us drank and chit chatted by ourselves. At the coffee shop Anwar told me several times that God had a message for me. I ignored him. Instead I asked him about Christianity in Pakistan. It was past 12.30 midnight, which is beyond the time we promised the house owner Simom Ray to go back. So we drop Anwar at the gate of the house. As we were about to go off Simom ran out to invite us in. There we had our supper with a variety of foods prepared. I sat in the three sitter sofa and Anwar came to sit next to me and said again, "God has A Message for you." And this time I asked What was the message."
According to Jabez himself, when he first saw the Pakistani he did not expect to receive anything from him. Afterall they were strangers and he was from an Islamic state, he thought. On the other hand Anwar sensed immediately that there was a word which he felt God wanted him to release to bless Jabez. When they were finally able to be together, he shared the word from the bible and the 7 steps of prayer. Jabez found out that the missing steps were "you have to die to your own desires-to self-and walk behind Jesus".
Now this incident had taken place about 5 years ago. Since then I have seen Jabez prospered in his business. Previously when he could hardly afford anything at all, apart from the basics such as rent, food, school uniforms etc., the family is now able to go on family vacations, travel to other cities, buy plenty of toys, a new car, a truck for his business, and time to indulge in sports and recreation. In addition he organized bicycle races, learn to use the computer and internet, join social clubs etc. In his words, Jabez said God blessed his life. He gives praise to Jesus Christ
By Calvin 1997
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