Lessons From “The Man With Half A Brain”
By Steve Henry
Burke County
Lesson 3: Even Simple-Minded People Can Be Great Intercessors
For some reason, Mom and Doug weren’t at church the Sunday I received Jesus as my Savior. I went by Mom’s and told her that I had just been saved. That night we all went back to church. Mom told the church how grateful she was that her last child had finally been saved.
Then Doug got up and addressed the church. What he told them floored me. He simply said, “I want to thank God for answering my prayers.” Then there was silence again. Not only had God used this “mentally handicapped” person to witness to me He also honored the prayers he had been praying for me. God used this experience to say to me,” I love you this much.” As I have continued my walk with Him through His Word I realize that what Jesus did was the ultimate way of saying to me, “I love you this much,” but at the onset of my walk with Him He used this earthly experience to communicate His great love to me.
My perspective about “mentally handicapped” individuals has changed (they are “challenged”, not “handicapped”) because I realized through this experience that when we don’t allow God to control our mind with His thoughts we handicap ourselves in every way. We say things like, “I can’t witness,” when all we need to know is where forgiveness comes from and communicate that to others in as few words as possible.
Psalm 8:2 “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”
One of the definitions of “babes” is “a simple-minded person.” If a person like my brother, with all his “limitations” can get the attention of Almighty God on behalf of others what excuse do I have for not praying?
Lesson 4: We have the mind of Christ
On another occasion, the coordinator of the group home where Doug resided called me about some bad behavior he was having. As I was traveling to the group home God reminded me that even though Doug has only a partial brain he does have the mind of Christ. When I tell Doug I have heard he has been using some bad language my sister Sandy and I see how quickly he comes to repentance. His response is “Really, I’m sorry.”
We pray with him before leaving and during the prayer The Lord reminds me of the mind of Christ. During the prayer, we ask God for the mind of Christ to take control of Doug. When I called to check on him the next day they told me he calmed down and they didn’t have any other problems from him that evening. We saw the truth of Philippians 4:11 take place in our brother’s life (“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.”)
Just a short while later God brought the question to my mind, “Why don’t you pray the same prayer for yourself more often?”
When I find myself dealing with challenging circumstances, if I take just a few seconds to ask God to take over in my mind the outcome in me is peace no matter what the outcome of the circumstances. The truth of Matthew 11:28-30 becomes so very real, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
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Steve Henry has been a lifelong resident of Burke County. God blessed him with an incredible lady that he has been married to for 43 years. He has also blessed Steve with two wonderful children and two beautiful granddaughters.
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