We
as a church and family have always attempted to embrace anyway the
Lord would want to guide or speak into our lives. Sometimes His ways
are unordinary, as has been documented in places like Canada in the
"Toronto Blessing.*"
My
wife and I had been blessed with four healthy children all 2 years
apart. We decided at that point to take a break from having more
children. After a few years we decided we wanted more. This time we
had great difficulty getting pregnant. We prayed, went to doctors,
specialists, etc. After a couple of years of this, we were at our
church and I was scheduled to preach that service. Our church was
enjoying such refreshing from the Holy Spirit and a growing love for
Jesus was evident.
During
the worship time the presence of the Lord was particularly strong
upon me. At first I sat down, and then went to my knees. We were all
just adoring our Lord. When it was coming time for me to speak, I
realized I wouldn’t be able to stand up without much effort, and
I didn’t want to break off what the Holy Spirit was doing with
me.
I
decided to crawl up to the altar and platform.
This
was odd enough, but I sat there as one of the elders was sharing,
giving announcements, instructions, etc. It was at this point that he
came over to me to ask me a question. I don’t remember what the
question was, what I’ll never forget is that my mouth opened,
but nothing came out. 
I
couldn’t speak! I was mute!
It
was a very strange feeling, but I wasn’t scared or bothered. It
was actually very humorous. As the elder was trying to figure out
what to do, my wife came up to see what was going on. The
congregation knew something was up, but didn’t have the details.
She came up and asked me what was going on. Again - my mouth opened
and nothing came out! She and the elder talked for a minute, and then
got a couple of young men from Toronto that were visiting our service
that night to come up and share some testimonies.
That
is when the light bulb went on in my wife’s head. "I know
what is going on!" She said. "This is a sign that I am
pregnant!" Of course my mind went immediately to the story of
Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father in Luke chapter 1. The Lord
told Zacharias that his wife was pregnant, but then the Lord took his
speech from him. Fortunately the Lord only took away my speech for a
few hours, not nine months! But it was enough to give my wife a real
gift from the Lord.
She
took a pregnancy test the next morning, and yes she was. Hanna, our
5th child, was born 8 months later.
Insight
to apply to your Christian Home Based Business: There will be
times of struggle in your business. Do all you know how to do in the
natural. Sitting around while neglecting the things you can do is not
noble. My wife and I sought out help and did what we knew how to do,
then God intervened. Just because God wants to bless your business,
does not mean that you don’t seek help and work hard.
One
possible application: For many people, picking up the phone is
the hardest thing to do in building their business. Press through
your phone fears, learning as you go, until you experience breakthrough.
*If
you are not familiar with the Toronto Blessing, it basically begin
as a sovereign move of God’s Spirit in the 1980‘s in
Toronto Canada, similar to many other outpouring of God’s
presence through the centuries, beginning at the Day of Pentecost in
Acts chapter two. In the strong move of the Holy Spirit upon the
Church, peculiar reactions to His presence can include shaking,
crying, feeling of drunkenness, etc. The people we had pastored had
occasionally been blessed with such visitations, many years before it
broke out in a big way in Toronto.
My
articles do not intend to getting into defending or explaining all
the ways God has and does move by His Holy Spirit in the Earth. We
are on solid ground believing all of the Bible and Jesus’
teachings are for today. Please feel free to read our page on theology.
