In This Life

     In this life there are and will be troubles.  No one who is alive, rich, or poor is immune from them.  Even to those who have given themselves to Jesus.  satan has Christians and Jews particularly in his sites.  So many Christians lose their hope, their faith, when troubles come because GOD may tarry responding to their cries.

     Let me say this:  GOD is not your magic wand.  He is sovereign.  He will answer yes or no (sometimes it is "No") in His own timing and for His glory and for the sake of His eternal plans.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10  (NKJV)
     "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."

Psalm 34:17  (NKJV)
     "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles."

Psalm 69:33 (NKJV)
     "For the Lord hears the poor,
And does not despise His prisoners."

Proverbs 15:29
     "The Lord is far from the wicked,
But He hears the prayer of the  righteous."

Matthew 5:45
     ". . .that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

    In these days of grace and until Jesus returns, He sends the rain, blessings, on the just and the unjust.  The believer and the unbeliever.  The deserving and the undeserving.  The people you like and those you don't.

     Moses prayed, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here."  Exodus 33:15 (NKJV)

     Just like Moses, what we need instead of wealth, medical institutions, self-importance, or positive thinking is the manifest presence of GOD and obedience to Him.

     So how do you come into the presence of GOD?  By humbling yourself before Him, realizing that you need a miracle and there is absolutely nothing in this world that can give you that, only GOD Himself.  Ask Him to forgive your sins: the ones you know about and the ones you don't.  Ask Him to cover you with the saving blood shed by Jesus the Messiah.  And then walk in and have a CONVERSATION with Him.  You may not be used to that but it's just like talking to your friends.  You say something and then you listen.  For me it is usually a thought that comes with complete understanding.  Sometimes it's like me taking dictation which is how most of my posts go.  Sometimes He places people on my mind to pray for because they have this same problem.  He also answers prayers and we do not realize it.  Many times the answer is on the way before we ever pray.  Sometimes the answer is "No".  Just pure and simple.  Sometimes I feel His arms around me and sometimes there is a warmth of comfort.  Sometimes He doesn't respond.  That's His choice.  At times like that I know I need to wait, pray some more, and study the Word some more because I need to learn something first.

Hebrews 4:16  (NKJV)
     “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

     One thing I know from reading the Word and from experience is that GOD hears every prayer of a sincere heart from His child.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.