Success and Failure Blog

Psalm 139 is a wonderful song of praise to God. Verse 14 says, “I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The Psalmist notes that he is imperfect, but that God’s thoughts toward him are wonderful (v. 17), because he will guide anyone through anything, from the usual difficulties – such as when Paul learned God’s strength was made perfect in His weakness – to those not so usual.

Each of us is a miracle, created by God for a specific purpose. He doesn’t want there to be imperfections; He created this world perfect, but then sin entered intot he world through mankind’s free will. So, now, there are people who experience all sorts of difficulties in their lives because of the curse of sin which caused this world to become broken down. It’s not any one person’s sin that causes it – it’s the imperfection which came when this perfect world had imperfection brought into it.

So, because of that imperfection, there are people like me born with low vision (in my case, from Dandy-Walker Syndrome) or hearing (in my case, bad enough to need a hearing aid.) There are those with other things physical or mental. And, there are even those whose creation is really unique – those born with a mix of anatomical traits considered both male and female, or which are atypical for each. Such people are known as intersex.

Intersex has nothing to do with sexual orientation, by the way; that has no relevance to this. In fact, it has nothing to do with homosexuality or the transgender movement. These are among numerous major fallacies. about it. The Bible says nothing specific about the issue, except that obvioulsy we must show the same love Jesus showed everyone. Numerous websites devoted to the issue merely seek to raise awareness of the issue and of difficulties encountered in society which are related to it.

We can’t always figure out why God chose what He did for us. I have a few ideas, based on what I’ve accomplished, of why He gave me low vision, low hearing, a bit of cerebral palsy (enough my feet point out a touch & I couldn’t do little things like open cans or jars as early as some kids), and possible even a touch of mild Asperger’s Syndrome. But the important thing is that He is the God of all comfort who provides a peace which passes understanding when we trust Him to. I’ve been able to do things I never would have, and help people I wouldn’t have, without these – some of which nobody else would have. Even though my body isn’t perfect, like anyone else, I’m a miracle.

God’s most amazing miracles surely include those connected with His birth, death, and resurrection. He came to die for each of us, to take the punishment for our sins, mine as well as others. Then, He rose from the dead, having the victory over everything.

For Him to do this, of course, He had to do as John 1:14 says He did – He “became flesh and dwelt among us.” He was fully God and fully man. While here, He showed great care for the hurting people of this world. While the Pharisees, the religious crowd, cared only for the usual and tried to impress others, Jesus cared for those who were unusual in some way. He performed many healings, not only of physical things but also of broken hearts.

Some of those hearts were broken by the treatment which the Pharisees gave, I’m sure. But, these people recognized that Jesus was special. He was different. He and god the Father are one. (John 10:30) God had ordained the Law in the commandments to teach the people that they couldn’t follow even those laws all the time, because of the nature of their hearts. So, they had to trust Him by faith in order to be saved. Salvation has always had a faith component. However, the Pharisees, as people often do, turned it into a totally works-based system and condemned those who went against it.

They even thought they had answers for why God created people such as the blind man in John chapter 9. They asked a strange question of Jesus – whether the man or his parents had sinned that he was born blind. Jesus told them that neither one had; the man was born blind that the works of God might be made manifest in him. Then, Jesus healed the blind man. The Pharisees were so upset that they threw him out of the synagogue; this man then wound up becoming a follower of Jesus.

We don’t know much about this man as a follower, but his testimony must have been amazing. He had the same testimony as anyone can who has experienced something other than the usual from their physical body. That testimony is that Jesus can and will overcome anything if they trust Him, and help them through anything.

This doesn’t mean that Jesus will heal everyone of physical problems while living. For some, healing won’t come until He calls them home to His perfect Heaven, at which time I will have perfect sight and hearing, those confined to whellchairs will be able to run, and so on. I know of one young man, in fact, who must wear braves on his legs. When he reaches Heaven, the first thing he plans to do is leap 100 feet in the air.

It does, however, mean that Jesus will give anyone the ability to get through anything with His help. It also means that – while not everything is good in this world – all those things we face will work together for good to them that love God. (Romans 8:28) God has a way of taking anything and using it for good. Even the bad things which people do because they have not learned of His love. God lives in each believer through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 113-14, 4;30; John 14-16, etc.) So, it is up to each believer to let Him guide them in the truth, being control by His Spirit. Thankfully, He will always love and cleanse us from sin when we turn to Him by faith. (1 John 1:9-2:1)

What He can’t take are peoples’ sins. No sin can enter Heaven. Heaven is a perfect place which God established so there would be no suffering, no tears, no pain, no parting, no sorrow. No bad stuff can enter there. So, He had to find a way for people like me and you and everyone to get there. Because, while our imperfections aren’t because of our own sin, we do all sin and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) that means each of us comes short of God’s perfect Heaven.

God gave us each a wonderful gift, though. The wages of sin – what we earn because of our sin – is death, separation from God forever in a place called Hell. But, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

That is the awesome gift which we must remember to celebrate, whether or not we celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25 or not. That gift of life forever in that perfect Heaven is free; all a person has to do is to receive it.

People have been mistreated throughout history because of differences. That mistreatment comes through actions of various sorts; words play a part, too, but focusing only on surface things like names can make one as bad as the Pharisees, who refused to do as God commands and look at the heart. The important thing is that God loves each of us because of who we are on the inside, not because of what name we go by.

The way to have that personal relationship with God – so you can get His help here and also go to His perfect Heaven someday – is to simply “believe on the Lord Jesus Christm, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31) Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13) That whosoever means anyone – any person can put their name in there because God is talking about them.

We may each have different physical characteristics. But, we each have one thing in common – a need for God’s love and forgiveness. Our differences are not because of sin – they are because God created each of us in a unique way so that we can glorify Him in who we are and what we do. However, we all do hve sin – myself included. We fall short of God’s perfect glory.

God doesn’t demand works like the Pharisees, though. That would be unfair anyway because some people could work more than others; some can’t do any. God made sure it was all by grace through faith in Him. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians. 2:8-9)

Because it is by faith alone in Christ alone, each of us is only a single, sincere prayer of repentence to Jesus away from eternal life. The words don’t matter – but it can go something like this. “Dear Lord Jesus, I know I’m a sinner. I can’t reach your perfect Heaven myself. But, I know you died for my sins and rose from the dead. You took my punishment so I could get to heaven and also have life with you now, so you can guide me and help me on earth. Lrod Jesus, today I choose to turn from my sins and trust you to save me. I call on your name, asking you to save me from my sins and come into my heart to live. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

That’s all there is to it. We don’t know what God has planned – I heard about a condition from an online friend and I considered a number of ways to do it. Suddenly, this blog came out of my thoughts and prayers. I know that whatever happens, though, the Christian life is a great adventure in trusting the Lord to see you through everything. He has always been faithful to me, and He wants everyone to not only call on Him but also to let Him guide them in showing His love to others and telling of His great gift to them.

Finding the Right Solution

When life is not turning out the way you planned, where do you turn? Whom do you seek for answers? Unfortunately, many of us turn to all the wrong things, only to be disappointed when our plight grows worse instead of better.

The Bible tells us story after story of people who tried different avenues of “working things out” in their lives. The results were disastrous at best. I believe my favorite tale is that of Jairus and his sick daughter. I’m sure you know the story, but if not, here’s a refresher:

And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him . . . While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. – Mark 5:22-24;35-42

Jairus was an important and influential man, but during this time of trial, he learned a great lesson that all of us would do well to learn and heed.

1.) Riches can’t help – We can glean from the story that Jairus is fairly wealthy. He is a ruler of the synogogue. He has servants. I imagine him running down the road, his finely woven robe flapping in the breeze, his crafted sandals beating against the dirt. Yes, I imagine Jairus was quite wealthy. Wealthy enough to buy the finest medicine. Wealthy enough to hire the most competent doctors. But Jairus discovered that his wealth wasn’t enough. The medicine didn’t work, and the doctor’s were baffled. Money couldn’t buy the healing Jairus desired.

2.) Relatives can’t help – It’s nice to have a loving and supportive family, but there are times when even their steadfastness is not enough to get us through. Jairus had a wife, not to mention an entire group of people waiting as his home. I have no doubt many of these people were relatives coming to offer hope, help and encouragement. But in the face of the death, there was really nothing they could do but mourn.

3.) Religion can’t help – Jairus was a ruler of the synogogue. That means he was well-educated in the Scriptures. He was a religious man. He knew the right people and had all the right connections. If anything could help Jairus, it was his religion. Yet, no matter what he did or who he talked to, his daughter’s condition grew worse. His high standing was not enough to protect his family from heartache.

4.) Only the Redeemer can help – When Jairus arrived at the end of his options, he grabbed hold of the one shred of hope he had left. Maybe Jesus can help. In his haste, he left behind the medicines, the doctors, the relatives and his religious traditions. He focused on one thing and one thing only–Jesus. Jairus was not ready to throw in the towel. He was not ready to give up. He was determined to do everything in his power to save his daughter, even if that meant admitting that it was not within his power to accomplish that task. He needed a strength beyond his own. He needed something that neither riches nor relatives nor religion could provide. He needed the Redeemer.

Through Jairus’ story, we are reminded of the remedy for our own situations. Whatever we may face in life, there is only one answer. There is only one solution. There is only one means by which our problem can be fixed. It’s not through riches, relatives or religion. It’s only through the Redeemer. If we can ever get that through our heads, maybe we’ll start bringing our problems to Him in the first place instead of waiting until we’ve exhausted every other option. It will certainly save us a lot of time and heartache, and I’m sure it will thrill the Father that we turn to Him first as He has asked us to do time and time again.

Importunity is a new word to my vocabulary. I learned that this word means wearisome persistence or of persistent demand. The word itself sounds like two words combined and I will probably remember it this way. It sounds like the word important and word opportunity combined. To me and through God the word importunity means an important opportunity. That is what we have right now in prayer for our nation. We have an important opportunity to pray for our nation and seek God on behalf of our country. We have an important opportunity and responsibility through prayer to see our land healed, to see the sins of our land forgiven and have the mercy, loving-kindness, peace, joy, revival and complete salvation and restoration of God in America.

However, before we can see these blessed results and favorable consequences, we must apply the true meaning of importunity to our prayers and our need for God and His presence in our country. You see before we can be blessed as a nation our prayers must go up to God with wearisome persistence. We must continually pray for God’s healing in our nation. I have heard this verse many times. I have seen it on t-shirts and such. But up until now, with God’s revelation, I have never understood it the way I do now.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
It is all here. God’s people, the church and body of Jesus Christ must humble themselves and pray with the importunity of prayer in their hearts. We must pray with wearisome persistence and unrelenting urgency. We must seek God with all our hearts in harmony with one another, in perfect unison, and in combined strength of faith. We must crave and need God’s presence in America in the same manner, with wearisome persistence, and with all our hearts and souls, together as one giant cry unto the Father in heaven. We must turn from our wicked ways and stop putting other gods before Him. Then and only then will God hear from heaven and forgive America and heal America.
Our country, the United States of America was founded as one Nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Our money is printed and stamped “In God We Trust.” Today, America is a nation of many people of from many different nations, beliefs, races, religions and creeds that all call America their home land. We all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God. In our land there are many sins, too numerous to list. Common things and seemingly simple and harmless things have taken precedence in the American way of life. One such example is the use of technology and the use of cellular phones. In reality these are examples of things that we have become dependent on, and in need of here in the USA. It may seem harmless but any time anything takes prevalence over God- it is idolatry. There are many other critical issues of concern and sin. The main issue of importance, dire need and in great demand right now is a great turning away from sin and a true repentance of sin. If one person prays this prayer of repentance and turns away from sin it is great for that person because they when they search for God with all their heart and soul they will find Him and they will be saved. But if a group of a hundred or a thousand or a million pray in repentance and turn away from sin to God, it is beautiful beyond words. We must come together in the importunity of prayer! Please take a few moments to pray this prayer along with me and pass this prayer on to as many as you will.

Dear Heavenly Father,
We acknowledge that our nation has turned away from you. In our greed and independence we have become financially, spiritually, physically and morally bankrupt. In our need to be self-sufficient and powerful and famous as individuals and as a nation, we have failed miserably and come to the end of all our own resources. In our desire to be free and powerful we have become enslaved and weakened in our sins against you. Our nation is falling apart. We have tried to replace you and put other gods of money, material possessions, and ease of life style above you and the precious sacrifice provided for us at the cross. In doing so, we have fallen away from you and the all sufficient grace that comes only from you. Now with humble, weary, and persistent hearts and souls we turn to you for forgiveness of all our sins. Forgive us for putting other gods before you and for turning to other things and other ways of life instead of turning to you. Right now we, as individuals and as the brothers and sisters and family in Christ Jesus, and as believers all join together, united in one accord and with one voice. As one voice we turn away from everything that would stand between us and you. As one people serving as one nation under God, we pray LORD that you will hear our prayer. We need your presence now more than ever. Please come and make your wonderful holy presence known to America in new and profound ways. We pray, seek, crave and require of necessity your face. As we submit ourselves to you, we pray that you will hear our nation, heal our nation, and make us your nation. We pray for a great restoration in America and a huge revival in America and all across the globe. As one nation and one voice we cry out for deliverance and we claim all of the indisputable promises found in the word of God. In these times of darkness, O LORD you are our only light. You LORD are the only hope of our nation. We pledge allegiance to you LORD God. We pray this prayer in the wonderful matchless name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

May your life be blessed and a blessing in Christ Jesus.

All throughout the bible, from the beginning, of creation, and in creation itself, we are told of many great miracles.  Man made from the dust and clay and given life by the breath of God.  There were miracles in the burning bush, parting of the Red Sea, and Manna from heaven.  There were great miraculous healings of the blind, sick, lame, demon possessed.  Women of old age conceived and birthed healthy children.  These are just a few examples of the many miracles in the bible.

I also find wonder and awe in how God heard Joshua and caused the sun to stand still once in the sky. (Joshua 10:13)(NIV version) says: So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.  The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  Joshua 10:12-14  How incredible! How wonderful are the miracles of God! But do these types of miracles still happen? Do miracles so great still occur in this day and age?

Many people claim that miracles like that just do not happen anymore.  People are beginning to lose hope for miracles.  Some people believe miracles are simply a thing of that past. So what do you believe?  Do you believe in modern day miracles? I think it is up to us to look closer, take a longer, deeper look around us.  If we do, we will find that miracles do still happen.  God still rescues His people.  God still supplies us with surprise and wonder.  God still moves in mysterious ways to bring us joy and show us that He is still there, and very much a part of us.  For example, the women that are medically unable to conceive or unable to carry a child that pray and cry out to God and our given the gift of a beautiful, precious, child.  The doctors can’t explain it any other way.  When the impossible happens-it is more than just a medical mystery it is a demonstration of God’s awesome power.  Gods hand is at work there.

Another example: I heard a story of a soldier that was at war and needed to get across the battlefield to the other side.  In reality, with all that gun fire and the bombs exploding, it would impossible to do that.  So this soldier closed his eyes and prayed that somehow and someway God would help get to safety on the other side of that hill.  When he opened his eyes he was no longer in the same spot where he had knelt and prayed. God had done exactly what he had prayed for.  God had somehow, someway, got him to safety on the other side of that hill.  That was a miracle, indeed!

I personally have seen and experienced many miracles in my family, church, and in my own life.  It is amazing to see the work of God unfold in the lives of people all around us.  Recently while watching the coverage of the earthquake in Chile, and the following tsunami, I witnessed one such miracle.  It was not only the power of God but also by the mercy and grace of God that the tsunami passed over Hawaii with no real damage and no lives taken by terrible waves.  In fact, the waves that were expected to be devastating were described as small.  To many people it was a question of science and reason, but to my surprise, while discussing the current conditions of Hawaii shores, one man from Hawaii described it as a miracle that no one was hurt and that the tsunami basically passed right by Hawaii without causing any real damages.  He then gave thanks to God right there on the air.  With all the coverage that I seen and heard this stood out in my memory and forever will.  Glory to God for His miraculous mercy and saving grace!

In my own life I have seen a great miracle that I want to give God glory for.  In April two years ago, while at work, the people in our office learned of a tornado that had touched down in a near by neighborhood.  The electricity went out and the only light was that of gloom coming in from the windows in the front of the building.  We all gathered up near the front of the office in a hallway where we could see what was going on outside.  Trees were bent over as the winds came through and the sky was nearly black.  It was frightening.  It all came up so fast.  Then a strange noise growled threateningly at us and a change in the atmospheric pressure occurred causing our ears to pop.  I began to pray aloud.  The doctor I worked for said, “its okay, we will be alright,” but still I prayed aloud, “LORD, please help us and keep us safe.”  Then just as quickly as it happened upon us, the winds died down, the pressure lifted, and our ears popped again.  The tornado had passed by our office.  I went with another doctor to the back door and we watched as the dark swirling mass of rubble and the evidence of its destructive nature went by low in the sky.  It had hit another office near ours and then proceeded on a path that hit another office further down on our street.  It continued on down on a path that went through an elementary school and then several neighborhoods, other medical buildings, a strip mall and the local hospital. It was later classified as an F-3 tornado.

Many of the other people that experienced this considered us merely lucky or fortunate, but there were others like me that knew, without a doubt, it was a miracle of God that not one person was killed or terribly injured from the tornado.  I knew that the tornado had passed by my work and my home and my sister’s home because God had heard my prayer and all the prayers of others, and he had done a great miracle in keeping us safe that day!

Do you need a miracle?  Are you face a terrible situation or circumstances and see no way out except by way of a miracle?  Maybe there are people reading this that are facing life threatening illness and disease and are need of healing?  There are many in need of financial miracles and the miracle of having a safe home to live in.  There are people here in the United States that fall asleep and wake up hungry every day.  Perhaps you think that the miracle you need is too great or too small.  The truth is there is nothing too great or too small for God.  The miracles of God are not reserved for only for a select few or for specific people, they are meant to be for everyone.  Anyone can experience a life changing and totally transforming miracle of God.

Would you like to learn how?  The foundation of all miracles is found in accepting and believing in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the greatest miracle of all and He was sent by the Father for all people.  According to Hebrews 13:8 (New King James Version)  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This means that all the miracles of the past are possible today and in the future to all those who accept and believe in Jesus Christ.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart and Confessed that He is your personal savior?   The beginning of all miracles begins with this act of faith.   Asking Jesus to come into your heart and wash away your sins is that foundation of miracles I speak of.  When Jesus was on the cross He took all of our sins and the consequences of sin upon Himself, in our place.  When we have faith in Jesus and place our trust in Him, we discover freedom from sin and we are given the gift of everlasting life through Jesus. 

Isaiah 53:5 (New King James Version)  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

It is through our heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God that the awe and wonder of all miracles is made possible.  Job 5:9 (New International Version)  He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.  If you have not yet done so, on faith please accept Jesus today.  As you put your faith and trust in Him, believe that through Him all things are possible!

1 Corinthians 9:22 (New International Version)  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.  Matthew 19:26 (Amplified Bible)  But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.  Notice this scripture does not say that some things are possible.  It says that with God, all things are possible!   

Know that God loves you.  John 3:16 (New International Version)  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  All you need to do is ask and believe and claim the promises of God, in Jesus’ wonderful name, and you too shall see the miracles and wonders of God in your own life.

May your life be blessed and a blessing in Christ Jesus.

I’m testing this by putting some notes online about this verse for a youth devotional; it’s not finished, but this draft is a good test post. I’ll blog at least once a month, maybe more, depending on my schedule. BTW, I use the King James version. Oh, and also, pray for me; my poor vision (because someone will ask, coloboma of the choroid, which means glasses can’t help ) means I can’t read from a text, I have to speak extemporaneously.  I always have an outline and key examples in my head, and can make it longer or shorter, as time permits.

Anyway, here is a great formula for prayer. We see that we much pray for support, for strength, and for souls:

James 5:16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

First, we pray for support.  Notice that we confess our faults.  We only confess sins to God – only He can forgive us.  So, what are faults? How are they different?  We see a little of what they are in how the sentence goes on.  We should pray for one another for a specific reason.  That we may be healed.

This healing takes two forms. First, let’s say that you’re struggling with temptation.  You say to your friend, “You know, I’m really mad at so-and-so because they broke up with me.  I feel like getting back at them.”

We confess that because we need others to pray for us.  You know, from God’s Word, that we need to love one another.  Espesians 4:32: Be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

By confessing that fault, we are telling our friend, “Here is how I need help.” Then, that friend can help you by reminding you of that verse I just quoted, and how you can be a witness for Christ.  Maybe that boyfriend or girlfriend who broke up with you will change because you treat them nice even though they hurt you.

Let’s use an illustration.  None of you in here would eat dog food, right?  Let’s say you go somewhere to eat, and someone serves you dog food.  You’d say, “gross, give me real food,” right?  That person whose house you went to might think dog food is all the rage!  It’s the best food ever!  But, you’d rather have pizza, right?  If you add more dog food, does that give you pizza?  No, it’s just more dog food.  But, if you get on the phone and have a pizza delievered, what happens?  You get pizza, nd your friend might try it and say, “Hey, this is even better than dog food.”  They might serve pizza next time because you introduced them to it.

Now, that’s a silly example, I know, but, it’s just like what God wants us to do.  He wants us to repay evil with good.  He wants us to be good no matter what, because we are supposed to be the light of the world.

It’s hard.  But, you know what?  When our friends pray for us, we can be healed from that desire to do wrong.  That’s why James, at the end of that sentence, says we confess our faults that we may be healed.  It will help us, because someone can come alongside us and say they’re praying for us.  We know someone cares for us.  We should never gossip about what we hear; of course, if someone says they’re planning something really bad, we should tell someone in authority, but usually, that won’t be the case.  Usually, it’s just, “I had a big fight with my brother, or sister, or parents, and I want to make things right.”

And, when we do this, we’re focusing on solutions.  We’re not thinking about the problem, and thinking, “Oh, I’d love to get back at him or her.”  No, we’re thinking about God and how He can help us.  When we focus on His word, guess what?  That heals us, too…that’s the second part of how this healing works.  Because, it forces our minds to be off of the problem and onto getting better.  This is why the Bible says, “GBe angry,a nd sin not.  Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”  In other words, don’t let the day end without resolving things, at least as far as your relationship with God is concerned.  Maybe you can’t fix something right away, but you can pray about it, and ask God for wisdom, so you can plan to make things right.

this is where that second part comes in. We need to pray for strength. We need to pray for all those things God promises us – He promises peace, comfort, wisdom, and things like that. he never promises us material possessions, or a smooth road.  In fact, Jesus says “In this world you will have tribulation,” but then He adds, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”  See, Jesus gives us strength to covercome our problems.  Maybe we can’t do everything that some others do.  I can’t drive, I don’t have the money to give to missions like I’d like, and so on.  But, that doesn’t mean God’s not good to me, he’s been very good to me.

Let me ask you, how many of you pray for your parents?  How do you think your parents would react if you asked if they had any prayer requests?  It might shock some of them.  Now, they might not tell you everything, but that’s okay.  God knows our problems.  The important thing is, you can still encourage them, by reminding them that God can give them the strength to get through things. Whether it’s a job situation, or money, or whatever it is, God is good, and He is just waiting for us to turn to Him for help.  It’s like when a child who can’t dress themselves yet, they’re only 2 or so, and they get their stuff backward, and their buttons wrong, and it’s so confusing you’d expect them to have their socks on their ears.

We’re the same way.  We all need reminded, from time to time, that God will give us strength, and will get us through tough times.

Finally, we need to pray for souls.  The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  Look at the next verse.  We don’t have time to get into it, but Elias – that’s Greek for Elijah – was oone of the prophets in the Old Testament.  We don’t know much about him, except what we see here.  He was just like us. He had the same temptations as we did.  And yet, he prayed.  God tells us, in His word, about Elijah right after this verse, because He wants us to see that our prayers can be very effective, too.

He describes it as effectual – that means it’s meant to have an effect.  It’s not just a general “Lord, bless him and bless her,” though.  No, Jesus wants us to pray specifically for things.  That’s why it’s fervent – there’s emotion behind it.  We pray with feeling.  Now, sometimes when we’re tired, we don’t feel like putting much feeling into it, but that’s where we need to ask the Lord to help us to pray better.  You know, He knows our hearts.  If a person has had a stroke and can’t focus or concentrate, and he prays for maybe a minute, putting effort into it, God will honor that prayer, just as much as if you can’t sleep, so you spend half the night praying over whatever God has laid on your heart.

It’s the prayer of a righteous man, too.  Now, who is righteous?  None are righteous.  But, remember, if you’ve received Christ as your Savior, you have His righteousnes son you.  You have been declared righteous by God.  That’s the reason you can approach God’s throne.  You can pray to Him, we don’t go through another person.

And, it availeth much.  That means, it has a great effect.  Just like Elijah’s prayer did.

Now, it can take a while.  A person in our church prayed for her husband for 44 years before he got saved!  She prayed for his soul for that long becuase the devil doens’t want people saved.  Oh, prayer is really spiritual warfare.  But, God wants us to do it.  He tells us many times in His Word to pray for various things.  And, we can go boldly before the throne of grace.
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At this piont I’m going to ask them for examples, or name a few myself.  I have another example I plan to use, too, at the end, about how God can put a situation on your heart where you know nothing – or very little – about it.  But, you pray because the Holy Spirit has been making you think of it.  It will help lead into the idea of the “unspoken request.”  Then, that’ll be it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this test post, and that you’re encouraged to pray, too.  Because, if the Lord tarries, it’s not too late to have revival in this land.  But, we must pray without ceasing for God to open eyes and turn hearts toward Him.