Sweet Hour of Prayer

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. “(Romans 8: 26)

An old song, “Sweet Hour of Prayer”, came to my mind this morning. Do we take time for that sweet hour? Some days I do and some not. We can only abide in Him if we communicate with Him. How can we be strengthened and produce fruit without that intimate time at His feet? How can we make it through the day without Him?

The scripture says to cast all our care upon Him. No matter what we face, that hour of prayer can elevate us to heavenly realms and draw us away from the pain of this world.  We can feel that peace and comfort flow over our being. We must not only pray in spirit, but also totally reign in our thoughts. “What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also…” (I Corinthians 14: 15).

The Holy Spirit prays for us when we do not know what to say. When we groan in our hearts and cannot go forward any more we can turn it over to Him to let Him carry our deepest heartaches to God’s throne. What comes to mind when I think of this is the times in my life when I could not form the words to pray. After my daughter was born, she cried all the time. I had postpartum depression. I felt like my blood was racing through my body at ninety miles an hour. My thoughts were not coherent. Here was my new, precious gift from God, but I did not know how to help her stop crying. I had no idea of what was causing her to scream out. I could not nurse her without her starting to wail again as soon as she finished nursing. I called my pastor and told him I didn’t know what to do. He stopped right then and prayed for me on the phone. Countless times during her first six months, I had to plead with God for relief and comfort.

God did send family and friends to help me and in time His nearness made a difference.  I am not good with babies even now. I want them to be able to tell me what is hurting them. I do know, however, that our prayers from the depths of our souls reach God, and He comes and carries us in His arms when we can’t go it on our own.

Prayer is like our journaling with God. We talk to Him as our dearest friend, and He replies to us if we stop our anxious thoughts, wait, and listen for His sweet voice.  We all must crave that “Sweet Hour of Prayer”.

 

 

Perseverance Brings Hope

“…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.” Romans 5: 3

Perseverance is continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties failure or opposition.   

In a message by Chip Ingram, he told of a man whom he met who had been married sixty some years. His wife was an invalid, and he took care of her all the time. He only took out time to play golf for a couple hours a week.  Chip asked him how he could do this. He said it was because he loved her so much. He wanted to show her how thankful he is for all she had done for him. That is perseverance in suffering.

God does that same for us. We usually think it is so awful to suffer, but suffering helps us learn to be steadfast in our love for God. We develop character, and this brings us hope. We know God is teaching us to depend on Him even when everything is dark.  The hope we have is the knowledge that we have heaven to look forward to. I read of a woman who approached the leader of a stroke retreat and said she was glad he had a stroke. She said if he hadn’t had the stroke these retreats would never have gotten started. 

I can’t say that I was rejoicing when my mom was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. I was told that I had a victim mentality. I was determined to make sure she had the best care. I was so upset she was over medicated.  The side effects of her medicines made me hurt for her and angry that she couldn’t get help. She loved chocolate, and I wanted her to be able to enjoy it even if she couldn’t swallow that well. It was so hard for me to see any joy in the situation. But when she couldn’t swallow anymore she just quit talking, closed her eyes, and after two weeks she went to be with Jesus. I know God’s love gave me peace, and I am left with the hope that I will see her someday.

What trials are you going through today? Prayer is the sword that helps us keep alert with all perseverance to make supplication for all the saints and for ourselves. Paul told Timothy to pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. (I Timothy 6:11)

I have learned from my experiences that God can give you hope and joy again if you have faith in Him, and His power to teach you and develop your character. God has restored my joy. My mom is not here with me now, but I have precious memories of my mother’s love for me. Also my grandson was God’s gift to me and gave me my smile back. I have hope, and I also desire to tell others what God can do for them. I feel my character has been developed. God has shown me it is a sin not to allow Him to teach me endurance and hope through my trials. May we all learn to persevere and receive the hope God has for us.

Just Be a Branch

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5

In our discussion of abiding in Christ in my Bible study class, I was asked what abide means to me.  Abiding in Christ, the vine, means to me that we rest in Him, and lean against His strength. He wraps His loving arms around us, and we are filled with His love. Then we can become the conduit that passes life and love from God, the vinedresser, through Jesus to others. We permit that vital life- giving salvation to flow from Christ to nonbelievers. Then we as the branches are able to produce abundant fruit. We can demonstrate the love of Jesus as it encircles our hearts and spread it to the lost.

Only if we are joined to our Lord and Master can we produce that fruit. Ii is the singular purpose of the branch; to bear fruit.  My pastor illustrated this perfectly when he told us how he broke a grapevine his mother had told him not to touch. He stuffed the branch in with the other branches. He thought no one would know, but It soon turned brown and withered away. If we are not joined with Jesus and do not seek His purpose, we will not produce abundant fruit.   If we do not depend on Him, we will lose our ability to be an integral part of God’s plan. I know I do not always wait patiently for Christ to work in my life. I want to give God permission to show me where I am lacking so that I may confess my sins Then I can be a fully, functional producer of fruit for His kingdom.

As a branch, I pray I will permit God to prune me into a fruit- bearing vital soul winner.  By submitting to God’s strength flowing through me, I can become more like Jesus. Let me be loving, forgiving, faithful, and kind as you are, Lord. May I be a branch that holds tight to you and produces fruit while being in total and absolute dependence on You and your Word.

Jesus provides the sap, strength, and life to us as the branches. Let’s look today at our lives and beg God to renew our craving to be the kind of branch who abides in and is used totally by Christ for His purpose.

Miracles from Heaven

“Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles...” Psalm 105: 5

Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” This quote was at the end of the movie “Miracles from Heaven.” It was a miracle that Anna, the young girl whose intestines would not function, fell inside a tree and was healed. A butterfly floats from her body up to heaven, and there are butterflies all around her. The butterfly doesn’t look real, but I do believe God uses butterflies to represent the miracle of new life with Him.

In fact, I have seen this in my world. When my friend Teresa's daughter died, we took her ashes to a waterfall, and she scattered them beside the falls. We went to the car to get the camera to take pictures to help Teresa remember this heartrending time in her life. When we came  backto the site, we saw butterflies floating around the ashes. Teresa said she was comforted by this miracle which confirmed for her that her daughter would be in heaven.

Another friend also told me they took his father-in-law’s ashes about a mile out to sea, and a butterfly followed them all the way. When they put the ashes in the water, the butterfly was gone. These miracles do give us a hope of heaven, and the resurrection.

  I believe I’ll go with Einstein’s thought that we can see everything as a miracle. I have a picture frame with miracle written on it in sliver. In the photo, my mom, my daughter, and my grandson are together. A new baby and three generations of love are a true miracle to me. God has performed miracles in my life every day and not just through seeing butterflies. I know He has protected me from harm, and from the power of Satan.

 We can see miracles everywhere if we would just take the time to look at all the wonders God has put before us. Just the beauty of a tree or the tiniest creature in the sea, typify the splendor of God s miraculous creation. Not only that, but if we are observant enough and open our spiritual eyes, we can see how God sends special circumstances in our lives that answer our prayers in inexplicable ways. The transforming power of God changing a life of sin to one of service for Him is one of the greatest miracles of all. Let’s open our hearts and view the circumstances of life as the true miracles they are.