A few weeks ago a dear friend sent me a testimony of a bus driver who had a stroke moments after he safely arrived with a bus full of children who were heading home from school camp.
My friend, with a team of fellow Christians, prayed just as the bus was arriving, not knowing why they were praying, but responding in faith to a prompting from God. See link below for link to story.
It is my belief that these prayers stayed a potential tragedy on our streets … had he had a stroke while driving through heavy traffic with a bus full of children, many could have been injured … just like God to call in the intercessors (the prayers) and thank goodness those called to pray responded in faith, even though they felt somewhat foolish at the time …
To follow is an update on the bus driver.
Many of you prayed for him, and many have wondered how he fared … well here is more of the story …
My friend wrote me on Saturday 25th June 2011 saying …
Been meaning to send you an update on our bus driver!
He had the 2 strokes on the Friday and come Tuesday they turned off life support – he was dying and was not expected to pull through.
However, [my comment … I love God’s “howevers”!] come Thursday he opened his eyes and started saying words. He is now in rehabilitation and is starting to make sentences and his mobility is improving.
Praise God for your prayers and for those of others!!
I truly appreciate them. If they turned off life support things must have been pretty dire……
I’m still praying for him. I want him even better.
I am truly grateful for everyone who prayed immediately after his strokes as it looks again as though God “answered” our prayers-in the way we hoped for!
So … the moral of the story … our prayers count!
So please keep praying for full recovery of this man … I pray that God will “sozo” him … complete healing … spirit, soul and body.
Our prayers change lives for the better. They heal bodies and heal hearts, they save lives, they save souls. They are mighty and powerful because they are the prayers of a righteous people (James 5:16), people sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ … our prayers count and cause change because …
God is Good!
*”Sozo” is a Greek word used in the original Biblical text which is often translated in different ways in our English Bibles. I believe it is an all encompassing word which, when used, meant all that it meant in Greek … which means “to save, rescue, deliver, to heal … saved, save, healed, bring safely, cured, delivered, get better, made well, make well, saves, survive” … so by extension to have “sozo” means complete healing spirit, soul and body … which is what Jesus paid the price for … (as defined by Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance, 2nd Edition, 1999) … so when we say “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the Dead, you shall be saved[sozo]” (Rom. 10:9); or, “for the son of man came to seek and save[sozo] what was lost” (Luke 19:10) we are in fact speaking not just of salvation for the “hereafter” but fullness of healing and health, spirit soul and body here and now on earth!
(thank you to James Heth’s comments at his blog http://jamesheth.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-sozo.html for a lovely expose on the word “sozo” which also covers the ministry of “sozo” …)