The
Apostle Paul wisely instructed the believers at Philippi “not [to] fret or have
anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”
(Philippians 4:6, The Amplified Bible) Worry is actually a destabilizing force that
was designed in hell in order to terrorize and paralyze the people of God. JESUS CHRIST admonishes us to nullify anxiety
and fear by safely trusting in the sovereignty of God. “Fear not, little flock,” he counsels us, “for
it is your Father’s good pleasure
to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) Later in Christ’s public ministry, “he spake
a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” (Luke 18:1)
Worry is a tragic
waste of time and energy.
Furthermore, it displaces our faith and nullifies our confidence,
thereby cancelling our opportunities. I
love the wisdom in the Book of Hebrews: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense
of reward. For ye have need of patience,
that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall
come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith...”
(Hebrews 10:35-38) Our Word-based prayers
are strategic focal points for our continuing confidence and unwavering faith
in Almighty God. PRAY…and also encourage
other faith-filled believers to pray for you and your life-situations.
Dr. David Jeremiah relates the
following incident. “While serving at a small field hospital in
Africa, I traveled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby
city for supplies. This required camping
overnight halfway. On one of these
trips, I saw two men fighting in the city. One was seriously hurt so I treated him and
witnessed to him about the Lord Jesus Christ.
I then returned home without incident.
Upon arriving in that same city several weeks later, I was approached by
the man I had treated earlier. He told
me he had known that I carried money and medicine. He said, ‘Some friends and I followed you into
the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned
to kill you and take your money and drugs.
Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were
surrounded by 26 armed guards.’ I
laughed at this and said, ‘I was certainly all alone out in the jungle
campsite.’ The young man pressed the
point, ‘No sir, I was not the only one to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all
counted them. It was because of those
guards that we were afraid and left you alone.’ At this point of my church presentation in
Michigan, one of the men in the church stood up and interrupted me. He asked, ‘Can you tell me the exact date when
this happened?’ I thought for a while
and recalled the date. The man in the
congregation then gave his side of the story. He stated, ‘On that night when you were in
Africa, it was daytime here. I was
preparing to play golf. As I put my bags
in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you. In fact, His urging was so great that I called
the men of our church together to pray for you. Will all those men who met to pray that day please
stand?’ The men who had met to pray stood
up...and there were 26 of them!” WOW!
Isn’t it wonderfully assuring to
know that the providence of God is
all-present and all-encompassing? Even
when we are unaware of our deepest needs and we, therefore, “know not what we should pray for as we
ought…The Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26) We serve an AWESOME GOD!
Sisters and brothers, have you prayed (faithfully and fervently) about your most recent challenge? Or, are you stressing and obsessing over your
situation and your apparent inability to handle it? Always remember this: GOD CAN…and GOD
WILL! Be continually blessed, and stay
tuned…more to come tomorrow!
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