Daily Manna: God's Unfailing Power

Friday 20, December 2013

TEXT: 1 KINGS 17:17-24

KEY VERSE: “And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 Kings 17:22).

Smith Wigglesworth, a plumber, had unqualified faith in God. An account of his life revealed how he dared to act upon the things which God said in the Scripture. One day, when he went for an outreach, according to the information gathered, he walked into the parlour of a funeral home where a dead man’s body had laid for three days. With a mission from God, he told the man’s family to leave the room and they left. While alone with the corpse, Wigglesworth grabbed the man’s body, pulled it out of the casket, propped it against the wall and commanded it, “Live.”

When he released the body, nothing happened. Rather, the stiffened corpse promptly fell on the floor with a heavy thud. He repeated his action and shouted, “I told you once, now I tell you again, live.” Again, the stiffened corpse fell to the floor with the same thud. For other people with wavering faith, Wigglesworth’s action might be seen as foolishness, or better still, they would have given up. But that was not for the blue-collar plumber. He repeated the exercise the third time and, while pointing his finger at the corpse, he demanded: “I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice, but I shan’t tell you again after this third time. Now, Live.” Immediately, the man coughed, shook his head, wiped off his face and walked out of that funeral home.

Wigglesworth was like Elijah, who had a radical faith that brought radical results. The widow, who accommodated Elijah, had lost her son. While praying for the boy’s life to be restored, Elijah asked God why He allowed it, but he never got an answer. This reveals that God is not bound to give us reasons for doing certain things. When Elijah prayed, nothing happened initially; but he persisted until God
answered his prayer.

Are you one of those who easily give up to any challenge when answers to your prayers seem to be delayed? Take a leaf from Elijah and Smith Wigglesworth who wrestled many times with God before they got uncommon results.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: What God requires of us is an opportunity to show what He can do through our frailty.

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