Reflection

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Grateful for the power of prayer

This is the testimony of Dominique Vandelannoote, member of the Evangelical Church in Leuven. We received it through Annie who also prayed for him and put regularly a prayer request for him in our prayerbox.

“In March 2014 I was diagnosed with rectal cancer (cancer of the rectum which affects the lower part of the colon).

Fasting days: a unique event

From 24 to 26 January we had again a few fasting days, this time in “de Boerekreek” in St.-Jan-in-Eremo (East-Flanders). It was the first time we went to this location and that always gives some extra tension. Will the rooms be ok? Will it be warm enough over there? Last year in the Ardennes it was very cold the first day since the heating was not up in time…
We were warmly welcomed by the staff of “de Boerekreek” and we got the restaurant for our meetings. The rooms were very clean and all rooms had a separate bathroom with a shower and a toilet and it was nicely warm everywhere, which is very nice when fasting a few days.

We enjoyed times of marvelous worship, powerful studies, many moments of silences – In which we could soak or go for a walk in the beautiful nature surrounding the center – and times of prayer for each other, the country, our churches and many other subjects.
As Tamara put it nicely: “We have been fed very well once again!”

John, the disciple Jesus loves

For me and for many others, this is a stumbling block in the Bible. What to do about it? So Jesus seemed to love one of the disciples more than the others. Some even claim that Jesus had a homosexual relationship with John. But if you really want to understand the core of this verse, you just have to think twice and read carefully what it says. What's important is that it's not Jesus who makes this statement, but John. And nowhere in the Gospels do we read that Jesus says that He prefers one to all others.

So the saying and the conclusion come from John himself. Did he receive a special revelation? As far as I'm concerned, over the years it happened occasionally that someone said: "God is happy with you". It was a statement that I kept in mind because I was used to hearing sometimes "God loves you". But according to me there is a difference between loving someone and being happy with someone.

Recently an elderly lady came up to me after a meeting and said God told her to tell me He is happy with me. Usually I forget such a sentence quite quickly. But this time I began to think about it. I did not have a special revelation, but I did have the Word that clearly states that God loves us and is happy with us. So I decided to just accept that word.

Maybe the same happened to John. Maybe he was so proud that Jesus loved him that he felt the need to make it known, while the other disciples weren't so concerned about telling it. Nobody knows exactly how it went. It seems clear to me that Jesus did not love John more than the others. But one thing is for sure: John knew for sure that he was the disciple Jesus loved.

I just wanted to bring this to your attention and hope you will think about it. I wish you a lot of blessing with it.

Hugo, the disciple Jesus is happy with.