Everyday God: The Real-Life Testimonies of Two Everyday People

By Jeff Rathai

Author Jeff Rathai is a self-proclaimed skeptic and logical thinker who resisted Gods advances into his life for years. God had always been a distant, silent partnerto be feared and obeyed but certainly not loved. Personal tragedy drove Jeff even further away. When the supernatural reality of Holy Spirit began to intervene in his life, however, his eyes were opened to a whole new side of God.

He suddenly saw questions and events from the past in a new light, and new paths began to open for him. The spiritual gifts available through Holy Spirit became an everyday reality, as Jeff frequently found himself in the middle of God-coordinated situations just ripe for the application of these newfound spiritual weapons.

Everyday God focuses on Gods presence in all aspects of our everyday life. Jeff shares spiritual keys and weapons that each and every one of us has at our disposal to help us through our daily struggles, along with an honest look at his own spiritual struggles along the way. Above all, he encourages us to pursue our own personal relationship with God, or to take our current relationship to the next level with a very real, and sometimes humorous, God.

If you have ever questioned Gods timing, decisions, or very existence, this book is for you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Mar 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781462405480

Jeff Rathai

Jeff Rathai was baptized Catholic, was raised and married Lutheran, attended a Baptist church, and is presently learning about the Jewish roots of the Bible. He and his wife, Dawn, live in Minnesota.

Book preview

Everyday

God

The Real-Life Testimonies

of Two Everyday People

Jeff Rathai

inspiringvoicesblack.ai

Copyright © 2013 Jeff Rathai.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984

by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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Back cover photograph by Sean McCloud Photography.

www.everydaygodbook.com

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0547-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0548-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903915

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 3/19/2013

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1-Favor

Boys Will Be Boys

Hoe, Hoe, Hoe

Miracle in the Courtroom

Travel Mercies

Cabin Favor

Miscellaneous Favor

Chapter 2-Divine Intervention

Mom’s Grave

Miracle at Prairie Park

The Ring

The Push

CS Kids

Cross Ring

Pearls

This Is My Father’s World

Chapter 3-Angel Sightings

Gabriel

Goldilocks

Angel Fish

Angels among Us

Warring Angels

Chapter 4-Tithes and Offerings

Cabin Flood

Shower

Purim

Tenfold Return

Chapter 5-Healings

Faith of a Child

Jamie the Wonder Dog

Healing Hands

X-Ray

Forced Fast

Opening Wombs

E-Fix for Cancer

Ye of Little Faith

Chapter 6-Dreams and Visions

Stretching My Faith

Spirit of Pissyness

The Kiss

Heaven and Hell

Good vs. Great

Chapter 7-The Power of Our Words

Bitter Root

Fish Be

Hanukkah

Discernment

Chapter 8-Spiritual Housecleaning

Our House

Leave No Stone Unturned

Miscellaneous Spiritual Housecleaning

Chapter 9-Slain in the Spirit

Down and Out

Be Careful What You Ask For

Chapter 10-Unanswered Prayer

Mom

Unto Death

Closing

This book is dedicated to Jamie and Jodi, whose trials God worked powerfully through to set our feet on this path with Him.

Special thanks to my wife, Dawn, who has the unenviable task of keeping me accountable on every step of my spiritual journey. Your unwavering confidence in and love for God continues to be my inspiration. You are truly my best friend, soul mate, confidante, and love of my life. Without your influence and encouragement, I never would have written this.

And to Gordon, who was a living example of WWJD every day of his life. I will miss you, my friend.

Preface

Dawn and I both grew up attending church in small, rural towns, and in 2003, we were exposed firsthand to the supernatural reality of God’s spiritual gifts through Holy Spirit.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

(1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

This turned our relationship with God completely upside down.

The Bible is full of examples where Jesus performed healings, miracles, signs, and wonders. I initially thought it was very presumptuous of people to want or even expect that they should be able to do these same things, but Jesus Himself says that we are to do even greater things than He did.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

(John 14:12)

A little bit more about us. We are not ordained ministers, nor are we accomplished writers—we both work for an insurance company. We can quickly turn to a few Scriptures in the Bible that have become keys for us, but we cannot recite much of it word for word from memory. I have two siblings who have the exclusive right to refer to me as brother, and I cringe when others try to insert themselves into that club. God is working on me about this, but I still have a long way to go.

We are just two normal people who have experienced the tangible presence of God (and Satan) in our everyday lives here on earth. Over the years, we have verbally shared these encounters here and there, but while sitting in a ministry conference in October 2011, God began downloading all of the details again, with the directive that it was time to formally document them in order to reach a wider audience. This book is the result.

Dawn will quickly confirm that I rank right up there as one of the most logical, left-brained people in the world. I need time to process things, and if you cannot explain it to me on paper, I am inherently skeptical. One of the first things you learn from spending any time at all with God is that there is nothing logical about His ways!

Early on, God clarified that Holy Spirit is a person rather than a thing. As such, He provided direction for us to reference Him as Holy Spirit instead of the Holy Spirit. This simple shift opened a whole new line of communication and took our relationship with Holy Spirit to a new level.

As you read this book, or any other teaching that you are not familiar with, I encourage you to challenge God to make it personal for you. That is the only way that it is going to have meaningful impact. Just make sure that you are ready for His response. 

The following testimonies are a recounting of what we have experienced. The purpose of sharing them is to encourage you to see where God is at work all around you and to remind you that He wants to have this same type of tangible, personal relationship with you—right now!

One final thought. The ancient Hebrew language of the Bible does not even contain a translation for the word coincidence. As you read this and inevitably find yourself saying, No way, I challenge you to change that to Yes way, or more appropriately, Yahweh.

The four sides of the city measure to a total of nearly six miles. From now on the name of the city will be Yahweh-Shammah: God-Is-There.

(Ezekiel 48:35 MSG)

Chapter 1

Favor

Have you ever had a close call where the outcome of a situation could have, and perhaps should have, been a whole lot worse than it turned out to be? People often attribute this to having their guardian angel watching over them. The Bible does not specifically mention guardian angels anywhere that I am aware of, but there are references that certainly seem to lend themselves to this concept.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

(Psalm 91:11-13)

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

(Matthew 18:10)

I attribute this type of intervention to God’s favor. The Bible says that God wants to bless and protect us.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

(Jeremiah 29:11)

And we have the favor of God.

For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord.

(Proverbs 8:35)

All I know is that I have walked away from some events in my life when it surely did not seem like it would have been possible in the natural.

Boys Will Be Boys

I grew up on the edge of town and often used the surrounding farm fields as my playground. On one early spring day, a friend and I were busy conquering the few remaining mounds of snow on the edge of one particular field. The farmer was already in the process of tilling up the land in preparation for planting.

As the tractor made its rounds and came ever closer to us, we got the bright idea to hold long sticks out to be destroyed by the sharp, metal disc wheels being pulled behind the tractor. Remember we were ten-year-old boys! The tractor approached so close that the roar of the engine was deafening and the black diesel smoke stung our lungs. I stretched my stick out for all I was worth when suddenly I started sliding down my little snow pile and right into the path of the tractor! I closed my eyes as the towering tractor tire loomed right in front of me. Something brushed my face, and then there was silence. When I opened my eyes, I was face-to-face with the tire and only feet from the disc implement behind the tractor.

All I ended up with was a really cool scar on the side of my face from the tire… and a stern talking to from my dad. But even my dad’s reprimand paled in comparison to what I was expecting, as I think he realized just how much worse things could have been. Had I slid one second earlier or the tractor been one second slower, I would have been in front of the tire instead of the side. One second later would have