God Really Does Know Me!

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

Does God really know me?
Has He truly fashioned and set in place the days I live through?
I think maybe the answer is yes.

One of the things that has happened over my 16+ years at Rapha, is I have seen God reveal himself to men in various ways. Sometimes dramatic ways because they need to see a super natural God at work.

At last night's Bible study, we had finished and had begun to pray for those who wanted prayer, when one of the men began to ask questions. He is a very passive/introverted man, so for him to speak in a group was not the norm. This particular man's life has been one that no one would want to have for their own. Lot's of bad decisions by him, and lots of bad decisions by his family, have left him scarred and broken. Psychiatric hospital's, rehab's, jail, constantly being beat down verbally by relatives as having no worth at all has taken a toll on this man. He sees himself as having no worth to anyone. He walks around with his head down and will not look you in the eye. Never smiles. But in this Bible study, God came to him last night and touched this man. 

At one point, I asked if I could pray for him. He said, "yes."
One of the things that God does, and I cannot explain the "why" of it, is that from time to time, as I am praying, I will see names in my mind. I know it sounds flukey and weird, but trust me, over the years, this has been one of the ways that God uses to get the men's attention, and let them know that He knows more about them than they realize. As I began to pray for this man, the name "LEON" appeared. So at the end of the prayer, I explained how God speaks to me using names, and I asked him if he knew a Leon. He said, "No, I don't know anyone by that name." No one in the family, or friends that he knew had the name "Leon". As I finished, I just chalked it up to me missing it. But then it happened. The man's eyes grew wide and he sat there looking at me in amazement. The name of the judge who probably saved my life was Leon Archer. He began to relate stories about this judge. What he'd done for this man. How he had bent over backwards to see that he got all the help he needed. "Why would God do that?"He asked. I replied that God wanted him to know that He knew even the smallest details of his life. I grabbed him and gave him a big bear hug and said, "And God just wants you know how much He loves you."

I sat with him for a while after the Bible Study as he continued to talk about Leon the judge. The man came alive. He became animated and full of life. He told me that he felt like he had hope, that maybe there was something to this God after all. God's Spirit was at work on and in this man, as we sat there talking and it was wonderful to see the results. As we left the chapel, the man headed off to his dorm. He stopped and turned to me..."Thanks, Bro. Mike!" "Hey,it wasn't me...it was God. Don't every forget that." Please be in prayer for this man that God will continue to completion this work that has been started. 

God on you...
mb