what prayer is all about...

now i don’t know exactly what you are going through today but i do know that GOD is right there with you and HE wants to interact with what is happening in your life but HE won’t.  but HE won’t until you ask HIM.  that is what prayer is all about.

some of you are reading this, thinking of this as intellectual truth and you’re filing it in your mind.  others of you know exactly, from experience, what I’m talking about.  you’ve been through some deep waters in the last two or three weeks and you have felt GOD’s presence in your life and you have reached out to HIM and HE has comforted you.  HE has given you the strength and encouragement to keep on going.  HE’s an encourager. 

psalm 116.8-11 (good news), the LORD stopped my tears and kept me from defeat.  so i walk in the presence of the LORD.  i kept on believing, even when i said, ‘i'm completely crushed’ and even when i was afraid and said, ‘no one can be trusted.’ 

time after time when i have been discouraged and ready to quit, i thought i was in the wrong direction, without the presence of GOD’s encouragement in my life i would not have made it.  times when you think, “i’m defeated.  i’m completely crushed.  nothing can be relied on.  everybody’s let me down.”  that’s when you need to recognize the presence of GOD in your life. 

a whole new life is about to open up to you if you will grasp the simple truth i have just shared with you.  if you will become aware that GOD is always with you it is going to change your life. 

it will cheer you up, it will calm you down, it will help you out, it will see you through when you become aware of that.  no matter where you find yourself this week, GOD will be there, in advance, with you when you get there – school, vacation, traffic jam, flying 35,000 feet high – GOD is everywhere.  HE’s in the jail, in the bar – everywhere.   

i see all kinds of reactions that people have in life.  i see the reactions to funerals, the hospital stays, the crises that come that nobody can predict or plan.  i don’t know how people make it without the LORD.  they don’t make it.  they have scars and they don’t get over things as quickly as people who depend on the presence of GOD do.  they hurt much more deeply and much more severely than those who know that GOD’s presence is there.  HE’s there to encourage them. 

just a thought from the front porch…

hope in a hopeless situation…

when circumstances aren’t turning out like you want them to turn out, when a relationship isn’t working out like you would like it to work out, when things just aren’t going like you want, you’ve got one of three choices.  you can look down in discouragement or despair.  you can look around for someone to blame.  or you can look up to GOD in hope.

the bible says in psalm 88.3-4 (msg), i’ve had my fill of trouble.  [any of you feel that way sometimes]  i'm camped on the edge of hell.  [anybody feel that way sometimes.]  i’m written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case. 

i put that in there to remind you that for thousands of years people have been feeling that way.  and in spite of that for thousands of years GOD has been giving people hope.  you’re not alone in what you feel. 

listen, it is never too late to hope.  it’s never too late to look up.  in fact, if you’re feeling discouraged, if you’re even feeling in despair let me just remind you that discouragement, despair is just the hunger for hope.  that’s all it is.  it’s the hunger for hope. 

what do you do when you’re feeling hungry for hope?  wait for your circumstances to change?  that’s what a lot of us do.  “i’ll wait for the circumstances to change and then i’ll be ok.”  but what if they don’t change?  then how do you find hope?  you may be facing the worst of circumstances but you don’t have to live without hope the rest of your life. 

i can’t think of a better example of hoping in difficult circumstances than a guy by the name of abraham in the old testament.  you might remember the story.  GOD had told him to go to a promised land, a land that was going to be a place where he’d have a multitude of his family and it would be a rich place where they could really enjoy life.  abraham takes GOD at HIS word and he goes to this promised land and he finds rocks.  that’s about all that he found there at the beginning.  there was no place to live.  he had to live in tents.  he had to travel from here to there.  there were all kinds of problems and famines and difficulties.  yet abraham still trusted what GOD had said. 

in fact here’s what the bible says about him in romans 4.18 (msg), when everything was hopeless abraham believed anyway deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do.  but on what GOD said he would do.  a whole different way of living life even when things might look hopeless. 

just a thought from the front porch…

discouragement or comfort...

another benefit of GOD’s presense is when i'm discouraged, HE is my COMFORTER.

look at this verse. psalm 34.18 (tev), the LORD is near to those who are discouraged. HE saves those who have lost all hope. HE is near.

if you're discouraged, one thing i can say with all confidence: GOD is with you. the new international version: the LORD is close to the brokenhearted. is your heart breaking? the LORD is near you.

the book, where is GOD when it hurts? came out a while back. the answer to that question is HE's with you. HE feels your hurt. HE feels your discouragement. HE knows when you're not making it, when you're frustrated.

some of you are going through some rough times right now and you're ready to give in or give up or throw in the towel: "i'm not going to put any more effort into it. i'm going to chuck the business, or marriage, or kids." you don't know if you want to keep on going in the direction you're going. you may be ready to give up.

i don't know what you're going through but whatever it is GOD is going through it with you. you are not alone. HIS presence is there because HE wants to be your comforter. GOD is not some impersonal force. HE is not some far off, far away power. but HE's very personal and HE's right there with you.

JESUS said in john 14, the FATHER will send you a COMFORTER who will never leave you and HE is the HOLY SPIRIT.

no matter what you're going to go through this week, GOD will go through it with you. when the roof caves in, GOD is with you. HE's never too busy to listen. HE never says come back later, the line is busy. HE is sympathetic to the stress that you are feeling in your life.

some of you are reading this, thinking of this as intellectual truth and you're filing it in your mind. others of you know exactly, from experience, what i'm talking about. you've been through some deep waters in the last two or three weeks and you have felt GOD's presence in your life. HE has comforted you. HE has given you the strength and encouragement to keep on going. HE's an encourager.

just a thought from the front porch…

the most common cause of discouragement…

there are many things that are fascinating about the easter story. one is the sudden change in the disciples. one minute they're defeated, the next minute they're dynamic. one minute they're crushed, the next minute they're confident. one minute they're having a pity party, the next minute they're taking on the world. what made the difference?

when you see JESUS CHRIST, when you know HIM personally, you will become a confident person.

john 20.19-20 (tev), it was late that sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the jewish authorities. then JESUS came and stood among them. "peace be with you," HE said. after saying this, HE showed them HIS hands and HIS side. the disciples were filled with joy at seeing the LORD.

have you ever wondered what is it that robs us of confidence?

well one thing is fatigue. as you’ll see the disciples here were fatigued, they were tired, dead tired.

notice it says, it was late that sunday evening.

it had been a rough week. they had palm sunday, they had the cleansing of the temple, they had the LORD's supper, they had gethsemane, they had the six trials, they had the crucifixion. and they are worn out.

and the most common cause of discouragement is physical and emotional exhaustion. things look worse when you're tired and you don't feel too good about it.

vince lombardi said, "fatigue makes cowards of all of us."

cartoon: psychologist to a client, "did this feeling of being an insignificant, dominated pipsqueak, with no self confidence happen suddenly? or did it develop normally with marriage and parenthood?"

when you get tired, you lose your confidence.

sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to sleep. it's amazing how much better things look after you've gotten a good night's sleep.

just a thought from the front porch…