How Bad Do You Want It?

This wasn’t the first time we had counseled and prayed with Natalie (name has been changed for privacy) about her problem. It was the third, or maybe even the fourth time, and it didn’t appear that we’d made any progress. Something had to change, and quickly!

We met Natalie at a home prayer meeting many years ago. She was a lovely Christian woman who loved the Lord and even taught Children’s Sunday School. One night she seemed especially disturbed and asked if she could talk to us privately after the meeting, but we weren’t prepared for what she revealed.

Natalie confided that she had been having an affair, and it was with a married man. She wanted out, but didn’t seem to be able to break it off. We were shocked because it seemed totally out of character for her. Yet, we knew how deceiving the devil can be when he catches us in a vulnerable position. We counseled and prayed with her, and it appeared that a great burden had been lifted as hope and relief rose up in her.

When we saw Natalie again a couple of weeks later, discouragement and shame were written all over her face. She told us that she had broken it off with him, but that he wouldn’t leave her alone. He continually called and even did such things as leaving notes on her car windshield and flowers on her doorstep. Feeling so lonely and desiring to have someone love her, she would inevitable give in. Again, we counseled with her and prayed with her. She left believing that she had the victory over her sin.

However, Satan is a sly evil force. Once we’ve opened the door and allowed his evil into a corner of our lives, he’ll not only try and possess the ground he’s walked on, but he’ll also try to infiltrate every area of our lives in hopes of totally destroying us. That’s exactly what he was trying to do to Natalie. He wanted to destroy her witness, her ministry, and her Christianity, not to mention this other man’s marriage. Natalie was still trapped in this web Satan had woven around her.

One evening, she called us weeping in total humiliation and defeat. She had failed once again. Bill advised her to let us come to her apartment the next evening to pray for her and pray throughout her apartment, anointing with oil. She agreed, and we began praying, seeking God for total deliverance in this situation.

I was so burdened for Natalie that I could hardly think of anything else the next day at work. As I was praying, God gave me direction for that night. I was very resistant to His instructions. I even protested, “How come Bill gets to pray over people, giving them uplifting, encouraging prophecies, and I’m asked to give a hard word, that seemingly offers no grace?” Nevertheless, I couldn’t get it off of my mind, and in spite of my objections and reluctance, I knew what had to be done.

We all sat down at Natalie’s kitchen table as tears streamed down her face. Now, I’m one that if I know I have to do something unpleasant, I’d rather do it quickly and get it over with. So, with all of the love and compassion I felt, but with an unrelenting firmness, I looked her square in the eye and asked her, “How bad do you want it?” Are you willing to do all that is humanly possible to remove yourself from this temptation to allow God to give you total deliverance? We then began discussing her situation and offering suggestions as to what she could change in the natural. I knew that if she was truly repentant, and not just making excuses for her sin, she would be willing to go to extremes to be free.

The more we talked, the more excited she became. Before we left, we prayed over her and her apartment, believing God to lead her into total deliverance. The next time we saw her, she had a different color of hair, as well as a new hairstyle. She shared with us how God had given her guidance and favor in changing her entire life.

The next day, Natalie spoke with the manager of the apartment complex, and they allowed her to move into another apartment in a different building on the far opposite side of where she now lived without breaking her lease and with no additional costs. They also agreed that if this man came looking for her, they would simply say that she had suddenly moved. By the next day, she had moved.

Not wanting this man to find her at work, she took a few vacation days and went to visit her son in South Carolina, who worked in a body shop. For the price of the paint, he repainted her car and made a few other minor changes to the car’s appearance.

Natalie made arrangements with her best friend to become her answering service and had her phone calls forwarded. For several weeks, this friend answered all of her calls just as a professional answering service would in those days, screening out any calls this man made to keep him from having any contact with her.

When she went back to work, she parked in a different place and waited extra time before she left building. She did a few other things, too, such as getting a new license plate and staying away from places where she might run into him. For quite a while, this man continued to pursue her. He left flowers at her door, and when they were still there days later, He went to the apartment offices. He called her phone and left numerous messages, and he tried to find her at work. Needless to say, when Natalie submitted herself unto God and resisted the devil, doing all that she knew to do, the devil had to flee (see James 4:7), and she received total victory & deliverance.

Each one of us have things in our lives that we want to change and things that we would like to accomplish. It seems that we especially reflect on these things at the New Year. God wants to help us and He will answer our prayers, but He expects us to do our part, and sometimes He asks us, “How bad do you want it?”

Vicki

Dear Pastor Bill & Vicki

This is the information from the very beginning up until today! On Feb 25th of 2008 I went to the doctor for the first time in 10 years to have a female exam, at that time, I ask the doctor to freeze a growth that was on the top of my head. I was scheduled for follow up exam in a couple weeks! I began taking shots in both my legs on Feb 20th or there about for weight loss.

On March 5th while I was at work, I was helping a customer when I felt a fire sensation burning in my leg, they took me to my office and laid me down as I could not walk from the excruciating pain. I called the clinic where I was taking the shots. They said, come right in, they checked my blood pressure it was very high, they didn’t feel the shots had anything to do with what was going on they told me to continue taking shots in my legs. I continued shots for about 1 more week, by then I was sure it was the shots.

Over the next several months the pain intensified where I could walk very little. The family doctor began ordering all kinds of tests. I was in and out of the emergency rooms because my heart was racing out of control now…. they put me on heart a monitor to monitor what my heart was doing. Now I was having severe burning on the inside of my legs as though someone was taking a knife to them. I got so I could not sleep, and fear had gripped my heart. The family doctor ordered more tests. I had M.R.I’s of the brain and upper and lower back, I had cat scans , ultra sounds and unimaginable blood work done.

The doctor could not find anything going on and began sending me to specialists! I went to a rheumatologist and a neurologist, neither could pinpoint the problem, all three doctors had prescribed so much medication I could not function or think any longer. They had me on Lyrica and cymbalta which are anti depressants, percocet, which is addictive and much more, too many to tel1! Cymbalta meds caused me to be carried out by my store employees because I could not even move. I continued to work as store manager, I would go to work and come home after a couple hours.

In Nov. 2008, I was sent to the University of Denver Hospital. The neurologist there said in her opinion that the needles I had used in my leg had gone into a nerve two times and had caused the nerve damage thus … neuropathy.

By now the pain is so terrible I am in bed day and night. I had to step down from my job, not being able to fulfill my duties. I barely went out of the house, by now, when I did go out, I had to use a wheelchair. I was unable to do even little things. I could barely brush my hair, I could barely get to church, and being, Co Pastor of Gods Ordained Ministries, I was feeling defeated, I had only preached 2-3 times in a year, then when I went to church I could barely tolerate sitting in the chair let alone carry my purse and my bag with my Bible, my husband would carry all my things in for me.

On top of this I could barely wear clothes because the clothes touching my skin would cause jabbing knife stabbing pains! The doctors had me on so much meds. Let’s start with Prednisone. I was on it for about 3 months. They took me off without stair stepping which is protocol which just normally don’t get done because of the side effects!

I have pictures to show that it looks like death was taking me out that day! I had already made instructions of who was to get what of my personal belongings; I knew my heart was right before the Lord, that heaven would be my home that day. I called my sister Debra Ann I don’t even know what I said to her that day, I only know she called our sister Joyce immediately to pray, I know that they prayed for me over the next several days and I only slept!

Throughout that entire year they continued to do blood work and tests to find what was wrong in Oct 2008 I began to have problems with my stomach. Everything that I ate went straight through me I lost 20 lbs in 10 days. I could not sleep I looked as though I was pregnant from the bloating. They began to do tests on my stomach, they ran scopes upper and lower G. I’s to look inside my tummy and colon. The doctor’s report said I had eight different diseases in my stomach! I could only eat small amounts of bland foods and drink clear liquids. I had no energy; I stayed in bed except for when I went to church and doctor appointments. The doctor’s report says chronic neuropathy on left side! When I walked I drug my left foot and my foot was turned outwards. I wore large slip-on clogs.

In March of 2009, two of my sisters, Joyce and Debra Ann, asked me to come to Kentucky, I am thinking, are you crazy no way can I travel by myself. They had already made plans for my Pastor (Celia Cumberbatch) who is the Senior Pastor over me to come with me to Kentucky. I had to heavily medicate myself on pain pills to even make the trip. I had to have them waiting at the airport with a wheelchair! Joyce and Debra Ann picked us up in Indianapolis. It’s a 2 1/2 hour drive to her house in Kentucky, and we got caught in a traffic jam for over an hour – barely moving. We began to sing and praise God and by the time we were finally at Debra Ann’s house, I thought I was going to cry. I pretty much was in bed that whole week, only up for short spans at a time.

I got there on March 13th and the following Friday at Community Family Church, Pastor Bill was holding the Friday Night Miracle Service! I came and Pastor Bill was preaching on the shulamite woman! I know in my spirit I have to receive my miracle now! Pastor Bill asked me to stand and tell everyone what had been going on with my health “I told them the Lord had already spoke to me that I was already healed and just had not seen the manifestation yet. The doctor’s report was that I had severe chronic neurapathy, and eight different diseases in my stomach. Pastor Bill then asked me to walk with him if I could. I began to walk and fall out in the spirit. My Pastor and sisters said my foot was doing a, turning back and forth motion, while I was out.

Then Pastor Bill had two men get me up, and says lets walk! We got to the end of the platform and we begin to turn to come back. The last thing I remember was looking down and I seen my foot straightened…….. The next thing I knew, I am laying on the floor under the power of the Holy Ghost!!! My sisters and My Pastor tell me that my left foot was turning in circles I tell them that’s not possible I can’t move my foot I have not been able to pick my leg up or bend it in a year!! I am in awe for the remainder of the service , I know God’s a healing God but it’s amazing when it happens and when it happens after a drastic year like this. It’s definitely a moment that will never leave my mind! After we went back to Debra Ann’s house that night, I was lying in bed and realized… I was sitting Indian style, and thought this is not possible and that’s when it finally hit me that I was totally healed!! Over the next couple of days, I realized that not only was my leg healed, but so was my stomach!

When I got home in Colorado, my husband could not believe it with his own eyes; he could not believe the miracle I had received. He began to take me to family members, and told me to walk for them. Family members began to rejoice and cry with me. They could hardly believe it. All in Colorado who know me knows that I received a miracle. The church that I Co-Pastor, they are all rejoicing with me when I preached the first Sunday that I was back!

Blessings of the Lord to you!

Pastor Brenda Wiley

P.S. I am eating salads, and I am walking in divine health! Praise The Lord!!  Date received this letter 04-02-09