DIVINE INTERVENTIONS: God Still Does Miracles

Mike & MonaRé Shields have witnessed miracles of healing, deliverance, and provision of resources over their years of cross-cultural ministry in Latin America and the Caribbean. They continue to preach and pray for others and know that God Still Does Miracles.

Transcript

DIVINE INTERVENTIONS: God Still Does Miracles
GUESTS: Mike & MonaRe' Shields
S3, E36


Ric Shields (00:00):

My brother and Sister-in-Law, Mike and Mona Shields have served as international ministers for over 30 years. They first served in Chile and helped to plant churches, taught at the Bible School, and led evangelistic events. Their roles changed some 20 years ago when they were asked to direct a ministerial training program with a current enrollment of some 1200 students throughout Central America, south America, and the Caribbean. In addition to directing that program, there are also sought after speakers at conventions and conferences. Through it all, they have seen divine interventions again and again in their lives and in the lives and situations of countless others.

(00:42):

That's our topic today on this episode of Divine Interventions: God Still Does Miracles. Thanks for joining me on the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast.

(01:01):

Thank you, Mike and Mona, for joining me as we discuss your journey in this ministry role.

Mona Shields (01:06):

Good to be here with you, Ric.

Mike Shields (01:08):

Yeah, happy to be part of it.

Ric Shields (01:10):

You guys have served in Global ministries with the Assemblies of God since the early 1990s. You first served in Chile with multiple roles area, you helped in some church plants, taught in a Bible school there, did several evangelistic events throughout the country.

(01:25):

Over the years now, your roles have changed. You no longer live in Chile, but you travel and serve throughout Central America and South America and the Caribbean. You still help to plant churches. You've served as the directors of a large postgraduate ministerial training program that was actually started by Mona's father, Monroe Grams, over 50 years ago. And I understand there's a current enrollment of around 1,200 students, nearly 4,000 graduates, some 9,000 total enrollments over the years. But please remind me the name of the program in Spanish and what it translates into in English.

Mike Shields (01:58):

It's called ISUM, the Instituto de Superacion Ministerial. In English it's roughly translated the Institute for Ministerial Enrichment. And it has active over a thousand students every year. We have over 8,000 students, probably close to 9,000 now, who have been active in the program. 3000 graduates. It's been highly successful in all of Latin America.

Mona Shields (02:23):

This year we crossed over 4,000 graduates that have finished their, it's a bachelor's degree in theology.

Ric Shields (02:31):

Thanks for all you do to serve and train and equip leaders in Latin America.

(02:35):

This series is called Divine Interventions. I've heard many of your miracle stories over the years of how God has touched and changed the lives of people from the affluent to the poorest, and least noticed people in different countries and cultures. But I'd really like for you to share some of the stories that have been a part of your ministry over the years so that we can encourage listeners and help them to believe for a divine intervention in their lives.

(02:59):

So, can we start with some stories of physical manifestations of divine healing that you've experienced over the years?

Mike Shields (03:06):

Well, I think of one just, we were in Mexico this last month and with our dear friend, Igmar Vaye, superintendent of a large region of northern Mexico with hundreds of churches. And he told us the story of how we had been in this meeting with 4,500 pastors and wives. And during a particularly powerful prayer time, I took Igmar’s hand and we walked through the crowd and just laid hands on different people that we recognized, knew as our students. I came up to Igmar and he was just there with his son. Didn't speak to him, laid my hands on him, prayed for him, and walked away.

(03:43):

About a year later, last year, in early spring, we saw him at an airport and he said, Hey, I want to tell you what happened. I haven't had a chance to tell you this. He said, remember, we were at that big meeting with all those pastors and you came walking by? I didn't really remember, but he said, you walked by and I had been suffering a terrible pain in my jaw. It had been two weeks. I don't know if it was TMJ or what it was, but it was so agonizing. I didn't even think I could sit through the whole meeting.

(04:15):

He said, you walked up to me and you laid your hand on my face, right on my jaw, where that pain was just prayed briefly and walked away. He said, when I sat down and looked at my son and I, I went to comment and say, that was Mike and Mona. And I went, hey, wait a minute. What? What happened? He said that the pain was completely gone. God healed him instantly in that moment. And he said that pain has never come back.

Mona Shields (04:43):

Praise the Lord. We, we just happened to run into him. And he's, sometimes you go through life and don't even know what influence or how God can use you, but in a moment of faith, you can lay hands on people and God can use you to touch people to the Lord.

Mike Shields (05:01):

Remember, a little baby was born in our church in Chile and he had a very severe hernia and his parents lived in real poverty. And although they're socialized medicine, they still had to come up with $700 for a surgery. So, we got $700 put into my jacket pocket. We drove down to see the family and had laid hands on that little boy the previous Sunday and had asked God to heal him. But we had not talked to them.

(05:31):

And we showed up at their door on Wednesday with $700 to help them so they could have the surgery needed for that little boy. But I didn't even get a chance to tell them I had the money. They said, oh, we've got wonderful news. That hernia completely disappeared. You can't even see it anymore. <Laugh>. Yeah. And I went, thank you, Jesus. I just saved $700. Even tell me, I had the money in my pocket. And so, God healed him completely. Little Christian.

Mona Shields (05:57):

God's powerful. We could tell you more. My friend Isabel, who was saved and has become one of our teachers, had cancer in her brain and they opened up her brain. She was brilliant. She didn't know if she was going to be able to talk. She didn't know if she was going to be able to read or even think. It was just terrifying to think that they were going to open up her head. And after that, she went on and had other issues. But when she went back for a second time for them to check it,

Mike Shields (06:30):

And we had prayed over her.

Mona Shields (06:31):

And she said, they looked at it and it, there was no trace that there had ever been any cancer there. They, they're like, we know we operated before. We know that things had happened, that other issues have come up. But he says, there's no trace that you ever had cancer in your, in your brain, in your head. And she's still teaching and ministering and God is using her powerfully. We don't understand why the Lord healed some people and not others, but we know that he is sovereign and that he has the power today to heal and to transform lives.

Ric Shields (07:06):

I've also heard amazing stories of deliverance when the Holy Spirit moved in people's lives and brought about a miraculous change for them. Mona, you were telling me a story about a young lady just earlier today when we were talking. Yeah, maybe you could share that story.

Mona Shields (07:22):

I just happened to see on Facebook a picture because Claudia's birthday was yesterday. And I remember that her mom used to come to my classes in Santiago. She was one of my students. We had special classes in the afternoons for women because they couldn't come at night when the night Bible school was open. And her mom came to me and said, my daughter needs to come to your retreat. I hear you're having a retreat. And she said, We are terrified of her.

Mike Shields (07:50):

She’s demon possessed.

Mona Shields (07:51):

We lock our doors at night because she wanders around with a knife and we're afraid she's going to come in and kill one of us. And she said, she needs the Lord so bad, <laugh>. And we're like, we don't know if we want her to come to our retreat or not. But she came. Jesus touched her, delivered her.

Mike Shields (08:09):

Yep. And she came to me later and she said, Tio Mike, Uncle Mike, I want to finish high school. She'd gotten kicked out of high school. She was such a demon walking thing. She said, I want to go back to high school. So, I gave her money, so she could finish high school. Then she came, she said, I want to go to Bible school. And I started supporting her about seven $50 a year to center Bible school. I started putting her through classes in Bible school.

(08:31):

Within two years she met Felipe, they fell in love, got married, went to a God-forsaken place in northern Chile. And yet and to this day, they're still pastoring two great churches, a Haitian church and Chilean church. He's become the presbyter, how God raised her, got two beautiful children, such a wonderful family. How God delivered her from demon possession and how he's lifted family up and has used them as an example.

Mona Shields (08:57):

Changed her completely. And just yesterday she was, she was saying, I can't believe that it's my birthday. And I, I get to preach this morning in our church. So, what God can do to transform somebody who is so bound with demons and yet can be so free and so useful to the Lord's work to help others.

Mike Shields (09:17):

I was pastoring a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ric, and I needed a youth pastor really bad. I was a transition pastor. And we had no staff because everybody left because the pastor left. And I said, God, I got to have a youth pastor. And one Sunday morning, I'm standing on the platform, look lookout. And I see like this circle around the head of a young man, blonde, nice-looking kid. And God spoke to me so clearly and said, that's your next youth pastor. He is a special vessel.

(09:44):

I, wow. I got off the platform, walked down to him when we were shaking hands and greeting people. And I said, Hey what's your name? He said, my name's Caleb. I said, I'd like to talk with you. What are you, what are you doing here? He said, I go to North Central, it's the Bible school.

(09:58):

I said, I want to see you this week. Come to my office. He came that week. I hired that guy. I paid him a hundred bucks a week. Within a month we had twenty-five students in our, in our youth group. We had none before.

(10:10):

You know here, just recently, he has taken over the ministry of Reinhardt Bonke. And he recently preached to a crowd of 200,000 in a country. I can't tell you in an Arab country, it has been remarkable. God has using him to preach in crowds of a hundred and 200,000 people miracle. He was a special vessel. And that is the intervention of God that he spoke to me and said, this is a special vessel. And it sure turned out that way.

Mona Shields (10:39):

Amen.

Ric Shields (10:40):

You're listening to the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast. My name is Ric Shields, and I'm joined on this episode with my brother and his wife, Mike and Mona Shields who serve in international ministries throughout Central and South America. We're discussing divine interventions, times when the Lord worked miraculously in the lives or the situations of people. And there are many stories you have of people who were struggling to conceive naturally born children. And God has used you repeatedly in praying for couples who have seen remarkable changes in that regard. Tell us about that.

Mike Shields (11:15):

Well, we had a couple in our church. We don't get to church very often in Fort Lauderdale, Florida because we travel so much. But they fell in love, got married. He's a handsome El Salvadorian kid. His parents were immigrants. And she's just an old Swede from Fort Lauderdale. They got married and then he graduated from architectural school and he was hired in San Diego. They flew out there and we were teaching in Tijuana way out just south of the San Diego border with Mexico.

(11:46):

And after we finished our couple of weeks there, we crossed the border, went to San Diego, and we spent an afternoon with them. And I, after seven years, you'd think they'd have a little one. And I said, Hey Danny, Rachel, no babies? No, no babies. Well, do you want a baby?

(12:02):

Well, yes, but we're not sure we can have a baby.

(12:05):

What do you mean you don't think you can have a baby?

(12:07):

And that's when Danny said, well, Rachel is a critical diabetic and we're fearful that if she ever got pregnant could kill her kidneys. And not only that, but the doctor also says he doesn't even know if she could get pregnant because she is so critically diabetic.

(12:20):

But I said, do you want a baby? And her eyes filled through. She said, I really would like a baby. And he was very nervous about it. We laid hands on them and prayed.

(12:27):

Well, a year ago in June, they called us and said, guess what? Rachel's pregnant. She's almost five months pregnant. And they flew in from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale. Let's go to dinner. And as we're going to dinner, I saw her with a little boy. I knew it was a little boy. We sat down together at an outback and they came in after church to see us.

(12:47):

And I said, so what are you going to call this little boy? They laughed, said, you don't know it's a little boy.

(12:51):

Well, I think it's a little boy. I knew it was, but I said, I think it's a little boy. They said, well, we'll show you the reveal video. We came here to reveal it to our family. We, they're the only ones we've told. And they showed the video and blue balloons blowing up and blue dust. And it was a boy.

(13:08):

So, I said, so what are you going to call this little boy?

(13:11):

And they said, well, it's a, it's a biblical name. It's not very well known. We don't know anybody that's ever named their child this name, but it means strong green, strong like a tree. And the Lord really spoke to us, the name, this name.

(13:26):

I said, well, what is that name? They said, Oren, O-R-E-N. Have you ever heard of that name?

(13:33):

I said, as a matter of fact, I have that is my middle name. And Little Oren was born.

Mona Shields (13:39):

In December.

Mike Shields (13:40):

In December, yep. And we got to see him at our church earlier this spring. And we were on the platform as our church dedicated that little boy in front of a crowd of 1500 people. What a thrill to dedicate beautiful little or, and his mom and dad. Another beautiful promise of God sending children to couples that want babies.

Mona Shields (14:03):

And oren means pray. It's the command to pray in Spanish.

Mike Shields (14:09):

So, when you say oren to a crowd, everybody pray right now, Oren.

Mona Shields (14:13):

But when, when we, when Mike said that's my middle name, they both just started tearing up and crying because they were worried about her being pregnant. And he said, if we had any concerns, now we know for sure that God has his hand on this little guy. And

Mike Shields (14:30):

Little Oren was born perfectly beautifully. And she had no problems with her diabetic situation. So

Mona Shields (14:36):

God is, God is faithful and God is the giver of life.

Ric Shields (14:40):

Have there been times when miracles of supernatural resources provision have taken place?

Mike Shields (14:47):

Oh, we've had so many of those. I think of the time that I was asked in a sensitive country to come up with $25,000, buy an urgently needed piece of property right directly behind the platform of this building. And I didn't have the money. And I never say no. I just say, Lord and I, if it's your will, let us, let us do it.

(15:12):

I'm sitting writing in my journal, I've written in my journal for over 40 years, said, Lord, I don't have any money. I don't have $25,000. As I was sitting there writing, I looked off to the corner of my eye, saw a little shiny thing on the floor, I got up, walked across, and there on the floor was a US 25 cent quarter Heads up. I picked that quarter up. I looked at that thing and the Holy Spirit said $25,000.

(15:44):

And I went home, shared it with Monita. I taped that thing in the pages of my book. We prayed for two weeks, nothing happened. I made an emergency loan with our headquarters of $25,000 just believing God was going to do something. We had to get the money with the team that was going into that country. And over the weekend, a church heard what I had done. I don't even know those people; never been there. They received an offering and the next Monday they had $25,000.

Ric Shields (16:16):

I take it that you would say, we live in a time when God is working in people's lives. Amen. Are things different today than they were a few years ago? Do you see a different hunger or desire for people to want to lean into what God is doing?

Mona Shields (16:29):

I sense, at least here in the US that people have an expectancy and they're believing and they're praying that God will intervene like he did during the prophets’ times. And he, when Isaiah said things were going to happen, they happened to the last letter of the detail. And God is faithful. And I know that here we're believing that God will intervene.

(16:54):

But overseas, it's really, there's so many of the countries in Latin America that have gone communists, that are socialists, that they've voted in, quote unquote democratically presidents that have just turned the country completely socialist and communist. There's such an abundance of drugs and illegal money and just the hope is there. But a lot of people don't sense it.

(17:21):

And unless we preach the gospel, they just, there is no hope. It's like, when is this ever going to end? When is this ever going to change? And without the change that Jesus can bring individually into their lives, there's no hope. There's a lot of hopelessness in this world right now.

Mike Shields (17:39):

I was in Cuba a couple years ago, and by faith I bought a Greyhound type bus, old beat up thing and donated it to one church and they donate to the church and the, and the big, big church in Guanabacoa got ahold of that thing, repainted it, knocked the dent out of it, put in a new headliner, put in new seats. I mean they redid it by hand. Beautiful. They redid a beautifully.

(18:08):

And I borrowed it one day with our fifty students that were there studying. And when I got on the bus, there was a lady sitting next to me in the front row. They had saved a special seat for me sitting right next to her. And she was smiling at me and I thought that was strange. She just kept grinning at me. I looked at her, I said, do I know you?

(18:23):

And she said, I know you, but you don't know me.

(18:27):

I said, well, tell me how you know me. She said, 10 years ago you came to our church. We had never been to church in our lives. And I came with my son and my daughter, and you preached that morning and it was so powerful that me, my husband, my two kids, we went up and we gave our lives to Jesus. She says, see that man sitting there at the driver's seat on this bus? That's my husband. He's the charge of the transportation ministry today for the church. I'm the charge in charge of all the women's ministry for over a thousand women. And my two kids are in the worship team at church and now play instruments. And she said, it all started that Sunday morning when you came and preached at our church.

(19:07):

It's those kinds of transformational stories that keep me going.

Ric Shields (19:13):

I'd like you to pray for our listeners. God knows their needs, but I believe he can use us to pray and help expose that need or desire for him. So, would you pray for us?

Mike Shields (19:23):

We know that expectation is the foundation of a miracle, and we ask you, Lord, that people today would have such expectation that there would be a sense that even right now as I pray, people with diabetic problems will be healed. People have pain in their joints, the joints will be healed.

Mona Shields (19:47):

Yes, Jesus,

Mike Shields (19:48):

People who are struggling with relational things that are impossible to heal would suddenly see a break in the circumstances. I ask you, Jesus today to do transformational things that will change the destiny and direction of families and of individuals, of institutions help expectation to rise today.

Mona Shields (20:14):

Thank you, Lord, because we know that your word is true and that you are faithful and we know that you haven't changed over the years. And if you could do it before, you can do it one more time. At this moment, you can extend your hand across the miles. Whoever's listening, who needs a miracle, who needs faith to believe that you can change their circumstances, we'll receive it today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Mike Shields (20:43):

Amen.

Ric Shields (20:47):

I hope you've been encouraged today. I also hope you know that we are praying for God to bring divine interventions into your life and home or situation today too.

(20:57):

Just like Peter told those in the household of Cornelius and Acts chapter 10, God plays no favorites. Neither your skin color, your nationality, your social status makes a difference to him. His love crosses all boundaries and knows no barriers. If you're ready for him to work in your situation, just ask for his help, believe he will help, and stand back and allow him to work in your situation.

(21:21):

I'd like to hear from you. Let me know if we're providing the kind of content that's helpful to you. Send me an email at info at doorways dot cc and let me know if we're on target.

(21:31):

Thanks for listening. I look forward to being with you next week.