You are in an elevator with five other people on the thirtieth floor. You are the only person of faith—the only representative of the Body of Christ. Suddenly, the elevator brakes to a stop between the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth floors. The power has failed throughout the city.

An overweight man is claustrophobic and begins to sweat. You can see his face begin to turn red in the soft emergency lighting. The big man crumples to the floor of the elevator. He has had a catastrophic heart attack. A woman picks-up the emergency phone, but it will take more than thirty minutes for paramedics to climb to the twenty-seventh floor.

Through His Holy Spirit, in that voice you recognize as His, God speaks to you and asks you to fall to your knees, place your hand on the man’s heart, and to audibly pray for a miracle. Immediately, the internal debate begins:  Is God really speaking to me? What if nothing happens? What will the others think?

You choose to remain silent. What will happen—will the man die? Assume that it is God’s will for the man to live.

Comments (6)

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written by Jeff Greathouse, November 20, 2008

you asked for people to come over and comment, so I came over and commented .. I was going to wait till blog-comment day .. but ... hey ...

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written by thelittlefluffycat, December 03, 2008

I have to think that if it's God's will for him to live, God's hand will then move to one of the others in the elevator, and make use of them. They may never know, and God may never get the credit from them or the man with the heart attack. But you, the Christian who can't, will know that God is moving in that elevator. And the next time you're told, you might manage to say "here am I."

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written by Scott Kendall, December 04, 2008

Hi fluffycat,

What happens if the other in the elevator, who have free will, refuse to bend to God's will?

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written by thelittlefluffycat, December 04, 2008

If God wants the man to live, he'll live, even if he has to be raised from the dead. He's saved people from far worse than heart attacks.

But I think there's someone there ready to listen, or God wouldn't be asking the faithful to testify.

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written by retep, January 12, 2009

well if god was real, and he really wanted a miracle, he would make the elevator move to the nearest floor, other than that the guy is crazy and is hearing things

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written by scottkendall, January 13, 2009

Isn't there a difference between sovereignty and control? What if in God's sovereignty He created a higher principle--rules of engagement--that limits his intervention to his physical presence, the Body of Christ? Perhaps this is why when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we pray that His will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.

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