'Ephphatha' - God's rhema word for Nic

While Rev. Marvin was preaching 2 Sundays ago about Jesus healing a person who was deaf and could hardly talk, the word 'Ephphatha" stood out from the following verses:

Mark 7: 33-35
33 Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” 35 Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly.

I nudged Henry and whispered that we should lay hands on Nic and pray 'Ephphatha' on him. I didn't think he would take me seriously (but I am glad he did). That night, we laid hands on Nic's head and prayed an Ephphatha prayer for him. Henry normally prays "open brains open" that is why using the term 'Ephphatha' made much sense to me. I was a bit concerned that if we just pray for the brains to open, bad stuff could go in too! We also told Nic to say 'Ephphatha' to his brains and told him the story of how Jesus healed this deaf man. We would pray nightly like this.

Last Sunday (24.10.10) after Sunday School, Nic passed Henry an envelope full of stickers and  Henry asked what happened. Nic said he was rewarded for being the only boy in class who volunteered to sing 'Walking with Jesus' in front of the class! He also told his dad not to tell mummy for surely mummy would ask him to sing it again. Ah, but he voluntarily sang it to me at home. :) I was so surprised when Henry related this to me. Both Ethan and I were homebound because of the stomach bug. It is amazing. This is the first time i hear Nicholas volunteering and singing all alone and in front of everyone. That was THREE big steps he made! I asked Henry "What is the date today?". Before I could get over his achievement, Henry said that Nic also asked to play chess. What? Chess? Amazing! What a growth spurt! Praise the Lord!

Only God can supernaturally provide for Nic like this and give him such confidence in such a short timeframe. While we were figuring out whether to pull him out of Chinese school, change schools or put him into another tuition class, we have seen God's hand these days and knew we just had to wait upon him for the best direction to go.

We are really are in awe of what just ONE word from God can really do. It is really God's rhema word for Nic and the holy spirit's nudging for me to tell Henry and Henry's obedience to execute it.  

Nic has more tremendous growth spurts this week. On Tuesday for the first time, his Bahasa Malaysia teacher (and I know exactly how she feels) rewarded Nic for finishing his bahasa homework in school! And last night, I spotted Nic pick up a church library book to read it for the first time. He whispered, "Does it say 'I love my family'?" Yes!  It was Stella Jane that gave me this very good tip to just read storybooks to my kids every night whether or not they can read along or not. She used to read 12 different books from the church library and another place to her children and it paid off. She said 'Just read it to them but be prepared to do it over a year". It has only been a month! Praise the Lord!

I know it is tough sometimes to decide for your kids whether to send them to see a child counselor, or which types of extracurricular classes for them to attend or whether to pull them out from school because of our concerns for them but I am slowly learning how to trust God to supernaturally provide for my children. This week has been so amazing, so many ups and so many downs (namely stomach bug hitting Ethan, myself, Henry, Nic and today, Adrian and not to mention the awful muscle spasm pain) but through this week, we have seen and heard more victories and the evil one cannot steal our joy away.

I just want to encourage you to keep trying to hear from God, through the sermons, through the bible, through friends etc. All it takes is just ONE rhema word from Him and stand back and watch victory! I love you Jesus! I love you Jeeeeesus!