Weekly Newsletter- July 27, 2018

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:16 NKJV)

I vividly remember the day when our attending physician, Dr Daniel Robitschek, paused during rounds at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center with the entire team and prayed with one of the patients. Although I do not know what happened to the patient afterwards, I remember that the attending physician had the courage to pray in front of all the staff assembled there to discuss the case.
This story reminds me of that attending physician’s namesake, the prophet Daniel. When under King Darius’ rule, some of the other princes—envious of Daniel’s high position— tried to rid themselves of him. Now he could have changed his routine of praying before an open window toward Jerusalem, but he did not. This caused the “greatly beloved” prophet to be placed in the lion’s den, but the lions had no power over him. The same was not true for the men who plotted against him.
Dr Daniel and prophet Daniel’s courage to pray before others has encouraged me to pray with my patients. On a mission trip to India, we held medical clinics in ten villages, and we would see about 200-to-300 patients per day. Of all the patients I saw, all agreed to have prayer expect one. As a result of this work, as well as the evangelism teams that were working simultaneously, we saw many devote their lives to Jesus Christ.
In my own practice, I recall a 23-year-old woman who had been sexually abused as a young girl in Mexico. She was now separated from her husband and 4-year-old daughter, and was following a self-destructive course of drug use. I told her that the man who did this to her had, by his actions, made her believe the lie that she is of no value, that she could be used and then discarded.
I then explained that Christ died to dispel this lie. The truth is that even a drug addict is valuable enough for the King of the Universe to leave His throne and die to make it possible for that person to be saved. Whom do you choose to believe—an evil man or the King of the Universe? I told her that her choice would be known by what she chose to do with her life. I said that if she chose to accept the truth, she would no longer follow the same self-destructive path. During the next several weeks she made an amazing recovery and so far is still doing well.
I am hoping that the ripple effect of Dr. Daniel’s prayer while on rounds at the VA Medical Center, as well as the prophet Daniel’s prayer in the kingdom of Medo-Persia, will continue to benefit others through my sharing of this story. Thus, others will learn the truth that they are of such infinite value that the King of the Universe gave His life as a ransom for theirs.
– Scott Ispirescu, LLUSM class of 1996