By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:13-19).
Scripture: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:13-19).
A couple weeks after “The Box” Sermon was delivered, God awakened me early one morning and instructed me to go to one of my former co-worker’s home and pray for her grandson. To me that was a strange assignment because all of her children and grandchildren lived in cities located in distance states from her in Monroe, LA where I live. Another reason I did not understand the assignment was I had never visited her home before-invited or non-invited. I knew she would wonder if I had lost my mind. Of course, I was questioning my sanity, also.
After several ponderings which I continually chose to ignore, He told me to go and take a certain co-worker with me who lived near her.
Now, that “order” really upset me because I Knew she was going to worder had I lost my mind and when eventually called, SHE DID!!! SHE REFUSED!!! She knew that I had never visited this lady and she also wondered of God gave me the order, why did He include her? Why didn’t I go alone and not include her?
Well, those of you who have any type of relationship with God willing or unwillingly know that when his orders arrive from headquarters, to ignore them is a waste of time as biblical accounts tell us. After my co-worker made her refusal speech to me several times and hung the phone up of course, I was happy, because if she refused to go, that would prevent me from going, right? Wrong!
A few minutes later, she called me sounding short of breath. She said, “I don’t want it to be my fault if God actually told you to tell me to take you to her house. I will be in your yard in a few minutes.”
