Devotion 2 Timothy 2.13 Believe That He Is Faithful

2 Timothy 2:13 – If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown himself.

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was raised by believing parents and His father Hermann had become the pastor of a church.  His father had witnessed the miraculous healing of his father August (who had been on his death bed) by an evangelist and Hermann never forgot.  He was faithful to retell the story to his children  Both of Reinhard parents were devoted servants of God.  They had a large family.  Reinhard’s father believed that one of Reinhard’s elder brothers, Martin, would follow in his footsteps to take over his pastorate.  He never considered that Reinhard would follow in the ministry because Reinhard was known as the naughty one.  However, all four of Reinhard’s brothers, including Martin, eventually renounced their faith as they swallowed the lies about Christianity taught to them in the universities they attended.  They considered themselves men of science and reason and scoffed at the faith they were raised in.  The only son who also became a minister was Reinhard.  He had been given a vision by God of going to evangelize in Africa.  Despite much opposition from his family Reinhard was true to the calling from God and led many evangelistic meetings in which the Lord moved mightily.

Heavy on Reinhard’s heart was the fact that his siblings were living a life apart from God.   Many years, decades, later Reinhard had a dream from God of a dangerous swaying footbridge with no handrails and no stabilizers.  It was above a deep rocky chasm.  He noticed a foolish man attempting to cross the footbridge.  He has his arms out, like a man in a high-wire act trying to balance himself.  Reinhard then noticed that a deep fog that moved like a river was rising up from the bottom of the gorge.  It would soon engulf the man on the bridge.  Reinhard feared for the man and desperately tried to call out to him.  Reinhard tried to run close to him to warn him of the terrible threat approaching him.  The man was concentrating so hard on his next step that he was oblivious to the cloud that was about to totally obscure his sight.  The man heard Reinhard and turned to look at him.  It was Reinhard’s brother Jurgen.  He ignored Reinhard’s plea to turn back and then Jurgen was engulfed by the blinding fog and Reinhard could no longer see him.  Moments later Jurgen screamed as he fell in the blinding fog toward the deep rocky gorge bottom.  Then the scream stopped.  Reinhard awoke from the dream crying for his brother.

Reinhard understood the meaning of the dream.  Jurgen was on the bridge to eternity.  God was calling Reinhard to warn Jurgen lest the blood of Jurgen be on Reinhard’s hands.  Reinhard cried out to the Lord that he did not know what to say to Jurgen since Jurgen full well knew the Gospel message.  Reinhard did not act immediately upon the dream, but eventually sent Jurgen a letter telling him of the dream.

Much time passed before Reinhard received a letter from Jurgen.  Reinhard read the letter out loud to his wife and children, who all knew of the spiritual condition of Reinhard’s brothers.  The letter read “Dear Reinhard, my wife has left me.  My best friend recently died of cancer.  I have been so frustrated that life was no longer worth living.  I wanted to kill myself.  But in the night I had a dream.  I was walking on a bridge.  It was unstable and had no handrails and I slipped and screamed as I fell.  I woke up sweating with fear.  I jumped out of bed and said, ‘Almighty God, You know that I don’t even believe in You, but I have a brother who serves You.  If You have spoken to me through this dream, speak to Reinhard.’  I have given my life to Jesus.  He has forgiven me of my sins…”

Family, let’s remember that God is faithful.  Even if we wonder of the answer to prayers and no longer pray as often, God remains faithful.  He hears our prayers and none go unanswered (even if we don’t understand the answer).  Let’s encourage ourselves in the Lord, let’s encourage each other, to never stop praying for our unbelieving loved ones.  God has not forgotten them.  He has not forgotten our prayers.  Let us believe that the supernatural God can supernaturally move to save and heal.  Let our faith grow stronger as we remind ourselves of how good He has been to us.  Let us not grow tired of doing good (Galatians 6:9).  Keep praying to our faithful God and believe when there is no proof to believe.  We all know people who are trying to balance themselves as they are walking on a dangerous footbridge.  Don’t give up on them!  Let faith in God be the ground we walk on.  Our God is good.  Our God loves us.  Our God loves them.  Praise God!  Yes, praise God!

The above story is from Reinhard Bonnke’s autobiography Living A Life of Fire.