I have just reread one of Catherine Marshall's books, "A Time to Live", in which she tells of the death of her husband, the late Peter Marshall, at the age of 46. He died of a heart attack and having married him immediately after graduating from college, she felt totally unprepared to earn a living to support their son, Peter, or "wee Peter" as he was then called by relatives, friends and herself.
The church kindly allowed them to stay on at the manse for quite some time, but ultimately they had to move to a small apartment, or flat. Her financial advisors suggested to her that, as she would only receive about $175 per month from her late husband's pension and insurance monies, she ought to sell their only property, being the Cape Cod cottage, as soon as possible.
Fortunately, she did not heed the advice of her 'Job's friends', but waited on God's will and instructions instead.
Of course, the question uppermost in her mind was why God, in His wisdom, had allowed her husband, who was Chaplain to the USA Senate, and a beloved Minister of the Word in the Presbyterian Church, to die at such a young age.
Soon after Peter's death, she started receiving letters asking for Peter Marshall's sermons to be published and the rest is history. She published some of Peter's sermons under the title, "Mr Jones, meet the Master", and revised and edited his senate prayers that were published under the title "The prayers of Peter Marshall". She then proceeded to write a number of books in her own right, amongst which are "A man called Peter", which became a bestseller, and "The Helper". These books were translated into many languages. Hollywood also produced a film called "A Man called Peer", which was a huge box office success. She was able, in later years, not only to provide for young Peter and herself, but also to purchase a small farm for her parents when it was time for them to retire from ministry. God does not have to rely on the economics of this world or on any inheritance or trust fund to provide for his children.
In hindsight, it is easy to see that Peter Marshall's ministry spread much wider, reached many more people and achieved much more for the Kingdom of God after his death than before! Catherine Marshall acknowledged that this was not of her doing, but engineered by the power of the Spirit of the Living God.
I, and I am sure you too, feel the deep desire and longing to be used of God. We ask: "Lord, what is Your will for my life?" "Lord, show me Your will for my life", but when the Lord does reveal His will, we oft times refuse it as 'too painful an experience', 'not for me', 'that is not my ministry', 'it's just not part of my per-sonality to speak to an audience', 'I do not have that talent', or whatever other excuse we find to offer.
The secret that Peter and Catherine Marshall shared was that they did not ask for God's will, but lived a life yielded to God's will.
I have also just reread two books written about the ministry of the late Catherine Kuhlman and again I found that this was the secret of her life and ministry. Sold out completely to God's will. There can be no denying the wonderful mirac les that the Spirit of God wrought in the lives of people during her ministry. Many, many miracles of supernatural healing of cripples, the blind, the lame, the deaf, and many other diseases took place during her ministry; not even mentioning those lives God had changed body, soul and spirit. It cost a price and that price was being totally submited to God's will and to the Holy Spirit of God.
When we look at the life of Christ, we find that He too was totally submitted to the Father's will and that many healings and other miracles took place, including raising the dead in a number of instances. All because of His being totally yielded to God's Will.
When He was "exceedingly sorowful, even to death" in Gethsemane, we find him praying:
"Abba Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless,
not what I will, but what You will." Mark 14:36
He paid the price of total commitment to God's Will; He obeyed unto death.
And what do we find after He had been taken up to sit at the right hand of God in heaven? That His work and His ministry carried forth with signs and wonders, miracles taking place throughout the world, sinners still being saved even today all over the world, because He was willing to submit to the Father's will.
His will is always to our benefit, even when we cannot see how that could possibly be true.
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Rom. 8: 28
Thank you, Lord, that although we, in our own specific circumstances, cannot always see the bigger picture, You know the end from the beginning, and ultimately Your will is gain.
(Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)
No comments:
Post a Comment