Brent Nussbaum, Restoration Church in Tiffin, OH, reports on how God showed up when he took a step of faith:
“Pastor Brent, I want to be known as Suzanne, my name given at birth, and no longer want to be referred to as Spencer. Last night, when I was baptized, the Lord freed me from the grip of the enemy because I was living as a transgender man, and I know now I am a beloved daughter of the King!”
This is one of the stories of healing and deliverance that the Lord brought during our multi-church, 6-night outdoor Encounter Night services. These services began Friday, September 6 and ran until Wednesday, September 11. Every night, we saw at least one person encounter the loving touch of Jesus. There were at least two people who had their hearts changed and made first time professions of faith, over fifteen people were baptized, multiple people received physical healing and even more emotionally healed.
These services almost didn’t happen. Even though I believed God wanted us to take this step and leave Him to the results, I had doubts. What if no one shows up? What if the weather ends up being poor? What if we don’t see God do anything, will I be a failure? Would it mean I didn’t hear God’s voice right? After getting confirmation that this was what we were to do, we stepped out in faith and prayer, believing that if we gave people the opportunity to humbly come into God’s presence, He would meet them and heal, save, sanctify, and remind them who they are.
One of the greatest outcomes of these nights was my own journey in understanding more about how to hear and respond to God’s voice. I have realized that many times His voice is not as clear as I might like. It isn’t that what I’m hearing isn’t clear, but I have missed His voice in the past because I justify that it isn’t from Him or believe it needed to be more specific. What I’m learning is we serve a God who wants to show up when we hear His still, small voice and then actually step out in faith. As we make a move, it is then He typically works. It is as if He knows what He wants to accomplish, but He is waiting for us to step out in faith to activate His power in our lives.
There were many amazing things that God did, here is a small list of some of the marvelous things I experienced in others or heard second hand.
- A lady was healed of chronic back pain
- Another lady received healing from fibromyalgia
- A young, married couple felt confirmation to take the first step into international missions
- A man was healed of severe back pain that had limited his range of motion
- A 12-year-old had faith that her friend’s stress fractures could be healed if she went forward for prayer. There has been decreased pain in her legs from that night.
- A man was radically met with the love of the Father in a way He had never experienced before