The Story of the Mobile Phone Pouch

Many years ago I remember talking to a brother who had been to a meeting where the late Derek Prince was the main speaker.

Now I am telling this story secondhand and from distant memory so I trust I am not breaking any copyright laws or writing any misquotes but the brother in question told me that Derek Prince had said something like God had given him an annointing for a particulr gift of healing and that, the gift he had was for the healing of people who had one leg shorter than the other.

Now this brother had exactly that problem and went up to Derek to be prayed for and was healed.

I remember the brother saying to me that he went home and without saying anything to his unsaved parents his mother a couple of days later said "Son what has happened to your legs as I've noticed there isn't that kink in the back of your trousers any more."

I was very struck by this testimony at the time and noticed also that the list of gifts in 1 Cor 12 talks about "gifts ( PLURAL ) of healing" and so thought that biblically this was possible.

Now from the time I became a Christian, if I am being honest, I think the gift of the Spirit I most wanted was the gift of healing and yet as much as I asked for it and as much as I prayed for the sick no gift of healing manifested itself.

So now with renewed vigour I asked the Lord "well at least a gift of healing for a specific sickness Lord"

Sadly, although over the years I have seen one or two people healed and even dramatically when I have prayed, the gift or gifts of healing does not seem to be something the Spirit has chosen to give me ( I live in hope though )

Now what, I hear you say, has all this got to do with a mobile phone pouch.

Well as my wife will tell you ( if I let her which I won't ) I am always mislaying things around the house

I put keys, important documents, money etc etc down somewhere and then cannot find where I have put them.

This has been going on for some years now.

However, about a year ago, when I had yet again mislaid something and was getting frustrated because I could not find it I suddenly stopped my frantic search and turned to the Lord and prayed "Lord show me where it is - either open my eyes or lead me to it as I search"

And praise God He led me straight to it within a matter of seconds.

I was, as you can imagine, full of praise and thanksgiving and joy.

Since then I have done this on every occassion that I have mislaid something and without fail the Lord has led me to it within seconds.

( The single occassion when I didn't find my driving license and residency card the Lord that day led me to the policemen who had taken them and forgotten to give them back - that's another story )

I get such joy when this happens that I almost want to mislay something deliberately so the Lord can encourage me.

(Of course you can't do that since you know where you mislaid it and therefore it isn't mislaid)

Yes but what's that got to do with the mobile phone pouch I hear you impatiently asking.

I'm tempted to say look at next week's blog for the answer but I am guessing after reading this one you might not log in again.

About 3 weeks ago I lost my mobile phone pouch in the house. I looked for it and didn't find it but didn't have time to search diligently.

Again I looked in a rushed way unsuccessfully and so on until last Saturday.

When finally I stopped and said "What am I doing - Lord please lead me to it"

Well I looked in a place where I had searched about 100 times and didn't find it but I moved to the second place where I had already looked but not diligently and there it was.

This led me to praising and thanking him with joy.

Then the following day - Sunday. A sister came to me after the meeting and said "Brother Mark, I am so stressed; I have mislaid a large sum of money in the house and I cannot find it - I've been looking all week"

So I explained how the Lord answers my prayers and leads me to where the lost item is and suggested she pray the same but I could see she did not have the faith.

So I prayed for her that the Lord would open her eyes and lead her to where the money was.

Praise the Lord the next morning she rang me full of joy and thanksgiving to God to say the Lord had led her straight to it.

Praise HIm

So maybe I didn't get a gift of healing like Derek Prince but ...... have you mislaid anything in the house?

Oh that God would annoint your prayers and mine that lost souls ( those precious lost silver coins of God ) would be found.

Perhaps we need to pray He opens our eyes to see where they are and leads us to them?

Pastor Mark