Lord, I'm Having Trouble...

Lord, I'm having trouble feeling close to you lately. Of course, there has been all the commotion with people visiting the last week. Also, I know I can't rely on my feelings.

I want to think of you and smile instead of being worried I'm not praying well or doing something wrong. I pray I'll feel relaxed and happy in our relationship.

I'm so looking forward to seeing you face to face one day and holding your hand.

Life is difficult, but life was difficult for you too. You were wanting your task to be over so you could go back home. I feel the same.

I look at the world and see the terrible evil of ISIS, racism, human trafficking, drug lords and all the rest and think of you seeing it in detail every day.

Life looks so overwhelmingly sad to me. Yet you have told me that life is beautiful. I pray I will look on life that way.

There is beauty in a baby's smile and a parent's love. There is beauty in kindness, giving, sharing and loving. There is beauty in a sunset, a mountain or an ocean. There is beauty everywhere. The Bible says the earth is filled with your glory and I see that.

Turn my face towards your face. Let me always see beauty in the life you have given me and the life you have given the world.

The Holy Spirit in Us.

Photograph: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freska_u_kaloti_krstionice,_manastir_%C5%BDi%C4%8Da,_Srbija.jpg

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

Romans 8:26-27

I love this verse because sometimes if I am feeling overwhelmed I remember it and ask the Holy Spirit to complete my prayers. 

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" 

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:35,38,39

I remember when my husband was very ill in the hospital. He had forgotten who he was, where he was and who I was. He had forgotten everything and everyone. But he said as he was laying there thinking he did remember Jesus and God. He felt peace of mind because he knew God was with him. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

A Prayer by Francis Drake.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

-- Sir Francis Drake (1540 - 1596)

Psalm 62 - Pour Out Your Heart to God.

Psalm 62 - What it means to me.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him. Verse 5

We find hope and rest in God.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Verse 6

God is our rock, our salvation and our fortress.

My salvation and my honor depend on God
he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Verse 7

God is our honor, our mighty rock and refuge.

Trust in him at all times, you people. Verse 8

God is our trust. Trust in God means to accept everything in our lives as coming from him. The good comes to encourage us. The bad comes to make us grow - even if we don't want to grow. There is good, even in the bad, but we must look for it. We can ask God - "Where is the good in this?" and he will show us. That doesn't mean you will like it, but God works in a different way.

Pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.  Verse 8

The best thing about having a relationship with God is that we can pour out our whole heart to him. He is always with us, he is always listening and he is always helping us.

Psalm 22:2

Psalm 22:2-3 How I see it.

God, when I pray, it feels like you don't listen and don't answer me. I go to bed at night and can't sleep.

In spite of this, I know you are holy (perfect in goodness). Our praises to you reach heaven.

I have read many Christians say that when they were in deep trouble they felt heaven's door was shut and God wasn't listening. C.S. Lewis said something similar when his wife died and he was filled with grief. 

For some reason I have never thought like that. Perhaps because when I was a child I was taught God always sees and hears everything. I know He always hears my prayers; his answer may be yes, no or wait - but I know he hears.

In this Psalm, the author feels God doesn't hear him. Yet, he realizes God is good and therefore must hear him. He says God loves to hear our praises to him, perhaps because praise will lift us out of depression and anger. We can praise God even in our pain as Paul did when he was in prison. We have to look away from our circumstances as much as possible and look up and know that God is good.

Jesus felt God had forsaken him since he was suffering the second (eternal) death for us. Yet, he still knew his Father was good.

The Power of Prayer.

From the book, Quiet Talks on Prayer, 

1904, abridged

Written by S.D. Gordon

There is one inlet of power in the life - anybody's life - any kind of power; just one inlet: the Holy Spirit. He is power. He is in everyone who opens his door to God...To yield to his mastery, to cultivate his friendship, to give him full swing, that will result in what is called power - the Holy Spirit in control.

There are five outlets of power; five avenues through which this One within shows himself and reveals his power.

First: through the life and what we are. If we be right, the power of God will be constantly flowing out, though we be not conscious of it. It throws the keenest kind of emphasis on a man being right in his life. There will be an eager desire to serve...

Second: through the lips, what we say. It may be said stammeringly and falteringly, but if said your best with the desire to please the Master, it will be God-blessed. I have heard a man talk; he stuttered and blushed and got his grammar badly tangled, but my heart burned as I listened. And I have heard a man talk with smooth speech; it rolled off me as easily as it rolled out of him. Do your best and leave the rest.

Third: through our service, what we do. It may be done bunglingly and blunderingly. Your best may not be the best, but if it is your best it will bring a harvest.

Fourth: through our money, what we do not keep, but loosen out for God. Money comes nearest to omnipotence of anything we handle.

Fifth: through our prayer, what we claim in Jesus' name.

By all odds the greatest of these is the outlet through prayer...The greatest thing anyone can do for God and for man is to pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I don't mean those who talk about prayer, nor those who say they believe in prayer, nor those who can explain about prayer; I mean those who take time and pray.

They don't have time. It must be taken from something else.

There are people who put prayer first and group the other items in life's schedule around and after prayer.These are the people today who are doing the most for God; in winning souls, in solving problems, in awakening churches, in supplying both men and money for mission posts...

Man's willingness is God's channel to the earth. God never crowds nor coerces. Everything God does for man and through man He does with the man's consent. God can do nothing for the man with a shut hand and shut life. There must be an open hand and heart and life through which God can give what he longs to. An open life, an open hand, open upward, is the pipe line of communication between the heart of God and this poor befooled old world. Our prayer is God's opportunity to get into the world that would shut him out.

Unanswered Prayer?

A book I was reading talked about "unanswered prayer". I've never understood this concept. I believe every prayer is answered. He says, "Yes" or "No". Some people teach he also says, "Wait". Okay, I guess that is right too.

In my mind, if you have been praying for something for twenty years and it hasn't happened then the answer is "No" and you should accept that.

I remember years ago praying for money to rain down upon my husband and me. I had never prayed for money like that before, just for help when we needed to pay for something, but now most of my family members needed money. Some had cars break down and needed a car. Some needed their credit cards paid. Many needs, many different prayers. I thought if God just gave me tons of money I could help everyone.

I also thought that it didn't hurt to ask. I thought, "God can do anything. I know I can ask for anything and he says "Yes" to most of my prayers so...

After a few weeks of praying for this miracle, God spoke to my mind in a very strong manner. As I was praying for this I felt something in my head - like: bang! Then I heard God say, "Don't pray for this again."

It was very clear. Since then, I've thought about how Moses begged God to let him go over to the promised land. God said, "Enough! Speak to me no more of this matter."

I've never asked for money again. I've seen my family struggle, but maybe they need to struggle! I'm sure there are lessons from life they need to learn - the way I learned, the hard way. Maybe they need to learn to turn to God in their troubles and if they didn't have trouble they might not turn to Him. I don't know, but knowing God, I know he has good reasons for everything he does. I don't consider my prayer unanswered. His answer was very clear!

The Bob Challenge.

 http://www.defense.gov/photoessays/photoessayss.aspx?id=627

In the book, "If You Want to Walk on Water You've Got to Get Out of the Boat," John Ortberg tells about a new Christian whose name was Bob. He was studying the Bible with his pastor and asked him if this verse was true: "Ask whatever you will in my name and you will receive it." His pastor told him it wasn't a blank check and you had to understand it along with Bible principles, but in essence it was true.

They then made a $500 wager; Bob would pray every day about something and if nothing happened the pastor would pay him. (Ortberg calls this the "Bob Challenge") So Bob chose to pray for Kenya, Africa. He had no ties there, no family or business, he just thought of Kenya and chose it.

Awhile later he was at a dinner party. He met a woman who ran the largest orphanage in Kenya. He told her about the wager and she asked him to fly to Kenya and see the place. He did and was moved by their needs. When he returned home he phoned some pharmaceutical companies and asked them to donate the medical supplies they didn't sell to the orphanage. Some of them did and the orphanage received over a million dollars worth of medicine.

The orphanage gave a celebration and Bob flew over. The president of Kenya was there. He met Bob and took him on a tour of Nairobi. They saw a prison and Bob found out it held political prisoners. Bob told the president he should let them go free.

Later the State Department called Bob to thank him for his role in getting the prisoners released. The State Department had been trying to do that for years.

After all this, the president of Kenya called Bob and asked him to fly over and pray with him about choosing his next cabinet. Bob did.

When I read this story I was reminded of how Joyce Meyer always says, "Believe God is working when you pray for something." I realized how weak my faith is. I know God listens and answers, but I should be more bold. I should be more inventive and more varied on what I pray for. This story was a good lesson for me.

God Prays for Us.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."
Romans 8:26

http://bible.cc/romans/8-26.htm

Sometimes when I am grieving a loss or feeling depressed I think of this verse. I remember that even if I can't find the words to express my anguish - the Holy Spirit can. This amazes me: The thought that God through the Holy Spirit feels what I feel and understands completely. And not only understands, but intercedes and prays for me.

How and why this is done I do not know; but I believe it is so, and this gives me great comfort.

Jake the Dog.

Every morning, if I wake up at 7:00am, I can hear the dog next door howling. His owners have gone to work for the day and Jake the dog knows he will be alone for at least 8 hours. He is sad. He is calling for them. He is lonely and I feel for him.

After creating Adam, God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

"It is not good for the man to be alone." Obviously, we were created to be with people. Loneliness is not a good thing. Something must be done if we are lonely.

Two years ago, when I wasn't home-schooling my granddaughter any longer, I became lonely. Everyone went off to work for the day. My granddaughter Faith slept all day because of her illness. I was like Jake the dog. Lonely and bored.

I prayed to God and asked him to help me. "Please give me something to do that means something to me. Please fill my empty life with something." Then I did what Joyce Meyer said to do  - believed God was working for me. I said, "I believe," and I waited to see what God would do.

God sent me to Blogger and through that he sent me wonderful friends. I am busy reading and writing and now drawing a comic strip. God has filled my days with fun and interest and I thank him so much. Ask and believe he is working. What he does for us is sometimes surprising!

Prayer Makes a Difference.

Thank you for your prayers.

Prayer This Morning.

Dear friends, I was in prayer about Jordan this morning and the words came to me saying, "Remember what Joyce said, 'Believe God is working.'"

I felt all the tension leave my body and I said, "I believe Lord. I believe you are working for Jordan."

I'm afraid that believing and resting in God doesn't come easy for me. I only learned this last year, although I have been a Christian since I was 19. I used to pray and then still carry at least half the burden.

Thank you for your prayers.

God - The Giver of Gifts.

Jesus said. "Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.  Which of you if your son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if your child asks for a fish will you give him a snake?

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?
 Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, seek and knock. We are dependent upon God for the very breath we take. We need him in order to live a good life and be a blessing in this world. We need him for our daily food and drink. Most people don't realize this and so he rains his blessings upon those people also. Every good thought, every good deed comes from God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadows." James 1:17

"Good gifts, perfect gifts," this is the key to understanding these verses. We may ask God for something we want but he may not give it to us if it is not "good and perfect" for us. Some things we ask for we can be perfectly sure of receiving ,such as asking Him to be with us to guide us and to make us be like him. We can be sure he will comfort us, strengthen us, and forgive us.

In asking things from God I am careful to say, "Your will be done." We don't know God's will about some things and it is best if we leave everything up to him.

I often remember those who died for Jesus. I remember those who died in the Holocaust. I'm sure they prayed for deliverance. I remember Jesus asking God to take away his cup of suffering.

I think we need to realize that when we pray we also need to accept the perfect will of God. Whatever he gives as his answer will be perfect for us.

Praying.

Sermon on the Mount Cont... Jesus said, "When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They like to stand in churches and street corners and pray so that everyone can see them. I tell you the truth. That will be their only reward. "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Our motive for praying is important to God. Some people pray to look religious and righteous. This is the wrong motive. We should never pray with pride in our hearts.

"When you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the heathen do. They think they will be heard if they talk a lot.  Don't be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

Instead of motive, Jesus is now talking about our manner of praying. We do not need to repeat our prayers over and over as they do in some religions. God knows what we need. 

ill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions,.... Saying the same things over and over again,

as the Heathens do, as the worshippers of Baal, from morning till noon, 1 Kings 18:26. This our Lord observes, to dissuade from such practices, because the Gentiles, who were odious to the Jews, used them, and the Jews were guilty of the same; had they not, there would not have been any need of such advice:

for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking; as did the Jews, who, under pretence of "long prayers", devoured widows' houses; and with whom it is an axiom, that "everyone , that multiplies prayer is heard" (h); and whoever prolongs his prayer, his prayer does not return empty; and he that is long in prayer, his days are prolonged (i): and, according to their canons, every day a man ought to pray eighteen prayers. Moreover, their prayer books abound in tautologies, and in expressing the same things in different words, and by a multiplicity of them.

Forgiveness & Loving Your Enemies.

I was watching Joyce Meyer on TV and she was talking about forgiveness. She asked the people if any of them had anger in their hearts against anyone. After the show, I sat and thought about that. Did I have resentment or anger against anyone I needed to forgive? I couldn't think of anyone for awhile and then it came to me. I have anger towards certain politicians.

I realized I needed to forgive these people and asked God how to do that. He seemed to tell me to pray for them, so that is what I did. You know what? You really can't stay mad at people you pray for. As I began to pray I thought about how these people were following evil, how they didn't care about the poor, how they only cared about themselves and money. What a terrible condition to be in! How sad. Now, I feel pity for them.

God is so wise. The Bible says not to fret yourself about wicked people. Not only that, we are to love them. I am praying they will see the light. I am praying their eyes will be opened. I am praying my anger will go away and love will fill its place.

Be Careful What You Ask For.

My daughter, Christine, needed a job and had an interview with a natureopath. She wanted that job so much. She said she begged and begged God to give it to her. She got it, but they hired two women. She wasn't all that happy there. After just two weeks they let my daughter go. She was devastated. She had never lost a job before.

Later, she had an interview to work at a doctor's office. She didn't think she would like working there so she asked God to not let them hire her. They hired her last week. She has worked there a week and loves it. She loves the doctor and the work. The doctor already gave her a raise and praises her all the time for what a good worker she is. Christine has never been so happy at a job.

Sometimes we can beg God for something that will not make us happy and He will give it to us because we ask. Sometimes the things we don't think will make us happy, do make us happy. Who is to know? Only God, which is why it is always best to say to Him after we pray, "Not my will, but your will be done."

Praying

"The Spirit helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
Romans 8:26-27

The thought that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and helps us in our prayers is often a comfort to me. At times when I can't think of the right words to say, I remember this verse and it gives me peace.

The Whole Armor of God.

"Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for you feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."

I Will Comfort You

"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you." Isaiah 66:13


My daughter, Christine, had surgery on her wisdom teeth today. She has been worried and afraid about it for weeks. I was worried too, because she has had problems with other surgeries, and also because I knew she would be in a lot of pain afterwards.

I've been praying for her all the while, but last night I could feel my stomach go in knots about it. I felt a little panic well up inside. But immediately I felt God's Spirit say, "It's alright, don't worry." I just relaxed and felt better.

I'm so thankful for God's comfort and strength in times of need. I know he wasn't telling me that she would have no pain or troubles, but that he was here with us, with my family. Thank you God.

The surgery went well, they had to cut into her jaw bone and she is in pain of course, but I know God will help her.

Don't Worry

Phillipians 4:6-7

Don't worry about anything, but in everything by prayer, and asking with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.