Answered Prayer

Faithful continued prayer is one key to answered prayer. As James expresses it, "You do not have, because you do not ask God" (James 4:2) John F. Walvoord

Have you ever prayed for something and God answered?  If you have ever experienced it you know how unforgettable it is.  When we pray for something or someone we should keep several things in mind before we pray.

If we believe that God will answer prayer, we also know what a Great God He is.  The first thing we need to understand is that we must believe that God has the ability to answer.  If we go at prayer half-heartedly we aren’t going to get an amazing result.  If I don’t understand that our God can and will do what we ask or if I think I can do it better, then God won’t answer my prayer anytime soon. 

The second thing is, if I have sin in my life, and we all do, and that sin is unconfessed then God won’t answer my prayer.  I have to come clean or confess whatever my sin is so that I present my petition to God with a clean slate.  If I am in the middle of my sin and have not confessed it then I am wasting my breath.    

   

The third thing we need to do is remind God of His promises.  Does God need to be reminded of His promises?  No, but we do.  When we remind God of what He has promised it helps us remember His promises.  Reminding Him is not for Him it is for us. 

The final thing we need to remember is that we must be specific in our prayers.  If we are vague or not clear on what we are praying for, then how will we ever know if God answers our prayer?  We must also remember that prayer is not about obtaining things. Our main basis for prayer should be to fulfil God’s purpose.  If we are praying for stuff, or things of this world, don’t be surprised if God doesn’t answer.

      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for giving me the ability to communicate with You through prayer.  Too many times I forget about Your promises and often I pray for material things that don’t matter.  Help me to pray believing You will answer, knowing You have the power to answer, confessing any sin in my life, knowing and understanding Your promises and help me to specifically ask with the understanding that Your will be done not mine. 

Scripture: And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are our servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah 1:5-11

Choose to Be Happy

The strength and happiness of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going that way too. Henry Ward Beecher

What does it take to be happy?  Have you ever asked yourself that question?  Too many times I think we let others decide whether we will be happy or not. If we put our life in the proper perspective, happiness comes from within, not from others.  Too many times I think we depend on other people to make us happy and we always come away disappointed.

One of the reasons I think this happens is because we place our faith in the wrong person or thing.  If I am depending on people on this earth to bring me happiness, then I will often be disappointed.  In life we will run into people every day who are living life for themselves.  When this happens, they are not going to be working on bringing you happiness.  Their main focus is on their own happiness. 

The only place where we should look for happiness is in the Lord.  If we are depending on our human relationships on this earth to bring us happiness we will be disappointed.  We are all sinners and we let others down.  God is the only One who can give us true happiness and to get it we must follow Him.  When we follow Him, we soon learn that how others treat us doesn’t really matter in the long run.  It is God the Father who matters and he can bring us the ultimate happiness in Him. 

Paul was one of the greatest teachers of all time and he found happiness in God.  When others were criticizing, competing and conspiring against his ministry he continued to follow God.  That is where his happiness was found, in God. Paul says it is a privilege to suffer when you’re doing the right thing because you’re most like Jesus when somebody’s nailing you to a cross and trying to get at you. 

If we stop looking for approval from people and start looking for approval from God instead, happiness will follow.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of looking for happiness in those around me.  We are all sinners and fail each other at various times.  The one thing I know for certain is that you will not fail me nor forsake me.  My happiness and hope is found in You.

Scripture: Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.  Psalm 146:5-7

Making Sense of It All

Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. Adrian Rogers

Have you ever tried to make sense of something in your life that doesn’t come close to making sense?  In our human minds there will be times when God does things that will not make sense to us. 

Too many times we pursue sense.  We want order and control in our life and when we don’t have it we worry or work at fixing everything so that our life is restored to order or we are in control again so that we feel like it all makes sense.

Have you figured out that God is in control of everything and unless we place our faith in Him, we will never have the peace and joy we long for?  If I don’t trust God to guide me and guard my path, I will miss the greatest blessings that He wants for me.  The hardest part is to let go.  God wants a relationship with each of us but too many times we hinder that relationship because we think if we try harder or work harder or do more, we can make sense of it all and everything will fall into place. 

I would say that the majority of the time things are not going to make sense when it comes to God’s work in our lives.  How does God show us His greatness?  It is not going to come from doing things the way we think they should be done.  When God works, amazing things happen that cannot be explained any other way except that only God could do it. 

Remember the story of Simon who was a fisherman by trade.  They had fished all day but caught nothing.  Jesus climbed into their boat and told Simon to launch into the deep water and let down their nets for a catch.  Simon had been fishing all night and caught nothing so he thought it was necessary to tell Jesus that, (like Jesus didn’t already know they had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything). Simon at least had enough faith to do what Jesus said even though it didn’t make sense to him.  

God does the unexpected every time.  He wants us to understand that His ways are not our ways.  When we finally figure that out, God can then do great things in our life.  Give up trying to make sense of everything and follow Him in whatever He asks you to do.  That is how we begin to see how truly great He is.

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, when You do things in my life it is used to teach me great lessons if I believe in You.  Every time You do something I am amazed.  It reminds me of how small I am and how great You are.  The greatest lesson I can learn is to place my trust in You for the outcome and stop trying to make sense of it all.   

Scripture: When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  Luke 5:4-8

 

Fulfill Your Mission

The only way the corporate Body of Christ will fulfill the mission Christ has given it is for individual Christians to have a vision for fulfilling that mission personally. David Jeremiah

I haven’t always fulfilled my mission in life.  There are all kinds of things that can get in the way.  The stuff the world throws at me can be a distraction from my real mission and the things I choose to do instead of continue working on my mission in life can lead me further away from my purpose here.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we take on a new role in life and a new mission. 

To many times I think we misunderstand the word mission.  I admit when I think of that word it often brings to mind travel to a foreign country to help others.  I think we sometimes forget that there are missions right where we are and sometimes next door.  God may be calling you to fulfill your mission at your workplace or in your neighborhood or in the grocery store. 

Last weekend I headed out at 5:30am to do an event and I stopped at a gas station to get water.  I stepped in line behind another customer.  The man in front of me was angry.  The clerk was taking a few minutes to try to get the cash register to work and the man in front of me started complaining about how they should learn how to teach their employees how to properly work the equipment.  He finally told the clerk to just give him back his card and he would come back when they learned how to train their people. 

As the man walked away I stepped up to the counter and asked the clerk in a kind voice how he was doing.  He wouldn’t meet my eyes but he said he was ok.  I could tell the other man had embarrassed him and he was still flustered.  As he was ringing up my purchases, he rang it up wrong and apologized and said he would need to void and ring it up again. 

I had a choice to make.  I could get impatient and because I was up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning and still bleary eyed, I could have been belligerent like the other customer.  I chose not to be.  I told the clerk it was fine and as I turned to leave I told him I hoped he would be blessed today. 

We have times each and every day where we can fulfill our mission on earth.  How many of those do we miss because we are in a hurry or too busy to take the time for a kind word.  That one instance can make a huge difference in another person’s life.  Take the time to fulfill your mission. The glory it brings to God is priceless.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to fulfill my mission on earth.  I want to be the tool You use to show someone else the redeeming grace that You have shown me.  Help me to keep my eyes open for opportunities to share You with others.  I praise You for Your many blessings on my life and for keeping me focused on my purpose. 

   

Scripture: But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.  Acts 20:24

An Example

The cross is the greatest example of humility and devotion in the universe. Jesus put your needs ahead of His own. He considered you more valuable than Himself.  Chip Ingram

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.  Francis Bacon

Have you ever asked yourself what kind of example you show the world?  Many of us, including me, often play charades.  We pretend to be something we aren’t.  We become great actors and imitators.  If we think about it from Satan’s standpoint, he can’t wait for us to play charades.  It happens to all of us and he is cheering us on from the sidelines.  How many of us show the world a totally different picture from the one our family sees?  If our life isn’t an open book where anyone could read it and you wouldn’t be ashamed of what is in it, then we aren’t a good example for God.    

How do we become that person who gives good advice and lives it? The following are a few things to consider:

Give up on self.  Get rid of me in the equation because it isn’t all about me.  It’s about Him. It’s about being what God created us to be. 

Humble yourself.  One of the hardest things for me to learn was to be vulnerable and humble myself to others.  When you do this you can be rejected and who wants that?  When I finally learned to let others see the bad sides of me, I was free.  Finally free from the worry of wondering when someone would find out the mistakes I made.  It also taught me how to lean on God.  The first thing we should ever learn is that God is the One constant in our life.  He loves us, gave His Son for us and will not betray us.  It is freeing to know that God is always there; not just sometimes or when He feels like it. 

Speak God’s truth.  This one is tricky because we often have our own version of the truth don’t we.  Our version of the truth often isn’t the truth at all.  It is so easy to slip away from God’s truth and guess who is standing on the sidelines cheering us on.   

Study His Word.  Did you know that the weekend edition of the New York Times has as many words in it as the New Testament and there are a lot of people who will read that every weekend but have never read the New Testament? I am guilty of spending more time reading a magazine than I do my Bible.  It we are to learn God’s truth, we need to read it, study it, meditate on it and fill our very soul with it.

If we want to be a good example for Christ our lives will need to change and that is going to take work.  It is also a given that some people in your life are not going to like this change in you.  In some cases you will lose friends, family members and even jobs to follow Him.  It is going to mean letting go of pride, humbling ourselves to others, speaking God’s truth and living it.  When you are setting a good example you will be rewarded.  What example will you show the world?   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I confess that I am not always a good example in showing others You.  I fail over and over again.  I need Your help to overcome the many obstacles in my life that hinder my relationship with You.  I pray for the strength to put You first, humble myself, study Your Word and speak Your Truth.  I can do all things through You because You alone give me strength.   

Scripture: The Race of Faith

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:12

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. 1 Timothy 4:12-16

Battle Scars

Only good things come from God's hands. He never gives you more than you can bear. Every burden prepares you for eternity.  Basilea Schlink

Have you figured out we are in the battle of our life and that battle scars will happen in this life?  Jesus came here to save the lost and the scars on his hands and feet will never fade. 

Have you ever had surgery?  I have had one surgery in my life and it left a permanent scar.  It has faded over time but for me it is a constant reminder of what Jesus did for me on the cross.  It is also a constant reminder of what God did for me in healing me from cancer. Any time I see it I am reminded of God’s grace and mercy.   

Scars are battle wounds.  They are the wounds from conflict.  They can be the wounds from illness, war, and even wounds from verbal abuse.  Because there is conflict in the world we live in, there will be battle scars.  Some people will have more than others.  How we handle the scars of life can draw us closer to God or push us further away.

When Jesus died on the cross he came away from that experience with permanent scars.  He will bear the scars of our sin forever.  Each one of us will face battles in our everyday life.  I have learned to look at my battle scars with thanksgiving.  Each one draws me closer to our Heavenly Father.  They help me to see the profound and amazing gift Jesus gave me; the gift of life through the scars of death. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I was thinking about Jesus and His death on the cross.  He fought the most important battle and died for it.  He carries our sin in the scars on his hands and feet.  I praise You Father for loving me enough to send Your Son to die for my sin. 

Scripture: Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  John 20:24-29

God Doesn’t Change, We Do

God cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse.  A.W. Pink

I was thinking about God’s unchanging character.  It’s amazing really; that He would still love us even though we don’t deserve it.  If we think about it, we change, not God. God’s character never changes.  He is perfect and we aren’t.  

There are two ways we can change.  We can draw closer to God or further away.  It is all in the choices we make.  God doesn’t go further away from us, we make choices in our lives that hinder our relationship with Him and then we look up and He doesn’t feel as close to us.  God didn’t move; we did.

If we are to become more like Him, we need to change.  This can mean changing lifestyles, careers and even jobs.  We don’t get into the bad choices in life by being good and change doesn’t happen overnight.  If we are in the middle of sin we aren’t going to be closer to God. 

Our best example of God’s character is Jesus.  Jesus didn’t walk away from the sinners of this world.  He walked toward them.  He ate with them, talked to them and spent time with them.  His disciples were some of the worst sinners.  It wasn’t Jesus who changed; it was His disciples. 

The one thing that never changed about Him was His character.  He didn’t change who He was.  He lived for one reason, to save us and He never stopped loving us.  If we are to become more like Him, change is required and that change will be in us not Him.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to be more like You.  I am a sinner in need of change.  You never move away from me, it is me who does the moving and often in the wrong direction. When I feel like You are moving away from me; remind me that it is not You who is moving, it is me.  Draw me closer to You.   

Scripture:  My Our Final Victory

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Are You Ready for the Truth? 

We should take heed with whom we join in league and amity. Before we plant our affections, consider the persons what they are; if we see any signs of grace, then it is good; but if not there will be a rent. Throughout our whole life this ought to be our rule; we should labour in all company either to do good or receive good; and where we can neither do nor receive good we should avoid such acquaintance. Let men therefore consider and take heed how they stand in combination with any wicked persons.  Richard Sibbes

Truth is an interesting thing.  Truth means the real facts about something.  It is extremely hard to be truthful with ourselves isn’t it?  I have spent the better part of the past 10 years being truthful with myself. If we ever want to become more like Jesus, this is the most important work we will ever do.   This type of work reveals the real me.  When we get to the real us it is not always pretty.  It reveals how broken we are, but it also shows us how much we are in need of a Savior. 

The thing about truth is we also need it from other people.  Sometimes we aren’t going to be as honest with ourselves as we need to be and it is going to take someone outside of us to reveal the truth to us.  This is where it gets more complicated.  The people we surround ourselves with are going to need to love us and at the same time want what is best for us.  People like this don’t just grow on trees or show up on every corner.  I would say the majority of people we come into contact with on a daily basis are not going to be this person for us.  Why is it like that?  Because the majority are not out for your best interest; they are out for theirs.

So how do you find the person who loves you but also wants what is best for you at the same time.  It takes time and keen observation skills.  You are going to find a lot of people who have hidden agendas. 

Do the people you surround yourself with show signs of grace?  Grace in Christianity is the free and unmerited favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings.  Do you see this same grace in others?  If you ever find that in another individual, treasure that person and keep them close.  This person will tell you like it is when you don’t want to hear the truth.  They will also love you in spite of your sin.  Isn’t that the very thing God does with each of us?  We haven’t earned God’s love and that is why it is called unmerited favor.

 

When you are ready for the truth, find someone who will give you unmerited favor and show you mercy in the process.  That person loves you as God does.  Truth hurts but grace heals. 

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for the people in my life who have spoken truth to me when I needed it most.  I ask for your blessing and favor on them because they loved me enough to tell me the truth about my brokenness, and then stuck by me and loved me in spite of it.  You love me the same way and I am forever grateful. 

     

Scripture: If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Do Not Grieve the Spirit

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.  Ephesians 4:21-25

Banking    

If sheep do not have the constant care of a shepherd, they will go the wrong way, unaware of the dangers at hand. They have been known to nibble themselves right off the side of a mountain. And so, because sheep are sheep, they need shepherds to care for them. The welfare of sheep depends solely upon the care they get from their shepherd. Therefore, the better the shepherd, the healthier the sheep.  Kay Arthur

My husband decided he wanted to become technologically savvy so he asked me to help him get set up with online banking so he could pay our credit card bill online.  You all know from my previous devotional what a techie I am so I proceeded to go online and try to set him up.  You notice I said “try”. 

It went kind of like this.  My husband thought he might have tried to set this up previously so I started by trying to log him in.  Of course he didn’t remember his password or login since he hadn’t logged in since 2003, so I clicked on the button that said “Forgot my login ID”.  So it then asks for an email address.  So I enter that and then it asks several questions to try to identify if we are who we say we are.  You know, your social, birthdate, how many children you have, your dog’s name, your wife’s mother’s name, the car you drive, which grocery store you shop at and do you use coupons.  I am joking but it felt like that. 

So we finally get the login ID but then we have to get the password reset.  It then gave us an error message that said they could not reset it and we would have to call them instead.  So after we went through the same questions over the phone again we finally had our password and were ready to go, or so we thought. 

We log into the account and we were actually able to see the credit card statement and it had a little button in the corner that said, “Pay Bill Online”.  Since that was our whole reason for doing this in the first place I clicked on the button.  It took me to another screen that told me all about Bill Pay and when I clicked on the button on that screen and it gave me an error message that said Bill Pay is currently not available to you at this time.  We are working on it.  What does that mean?  My husband being the comedian in the family said “by the time I get this paid it will be past due.”

We worked on this for over an hour and finally I told Jerry he would just have to call them and pay over the phone.  When he called the first thing that came up was a survey and it didn’t give him an option to skip the survey so he had to complete that first. I could hear him in the kitchen mumbling about dumb surveys and banks and stupidity.  I only caught snatches of the conversation he had with himself as he completed the survey.

Have you ever wondered what we did before technology?  I am starting to think that being a shepherd has its benefits.   I mean herding sheep is sounding better and better every day.  What better way to spend our time than with God.   If I didn’t have to spend so much time trying to remember logins and passwords and completing surveys I could spend a lot more time with our Heavenly Father.  Money under the mattress is sounding better and better every day.  

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend online and on the phone trying to pay one bill.  I would have preferred to spend it with You. Help me to remember why am here on earth and that so many of the things we do every day are manmade distractions.  Remind me of what is really important.  You.  

Scripture:  Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.  Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.  Psalm 100:1-5 

Final Exam

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”  Rick Warren

Do you remember when you were in school and it came time to take a test, pop quiz or final?  I think it is interesting that the words used for testing our knowledge are kind of alarming.  When you had a “pop” quiz you knew you were in trouble.  The majority of the time it meant you weren’t prepared and when they told you when your “final” would be, it kind of opened the door to anxiety and stress.  A pop quiz was intended to test your knowledge at that moment.  It was used to determine if you were listening in class. 

If you think about it; a pop quiz wasn’t the final determination if you passed or not.  The final exam determined if you went on to the next grade. Our life as a Christian is full of pop quizzes and tests.  If we learn what we need to know from the Bible and live it we will pass the final.  The problem with pop quizzes and tests is that if we don’t know the material we will fail. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees were examples of a people who didn’t understand that their life was a test.  They continually tested Jesus without realizing that he was revealing to them the very answers that would be on the final test.  They wanted a sign from heaven that proved that Jesus was who He said he was.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we will go through many tests in our lifetime.  I pray for Your guidance so that I can pass the final test.  Help me to learn from Your Word and to show others that they too can pass the final as long as they turn to You for the answers.  

   

Scripture: The Pharisees and Sadducees Seek a Sign

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.  Matthew 16:1-4

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.”  Mark 8:11-12

Help

If you are under the power of evil, and you want to get under the power of God, cry to Him to bring you over to His service; cry to Him to take you into His army. He will hear you; He will come to you, and, if need be, He will send a legion of angels to help you to fight your way up to heaven. God will take you by the right hand and lead you through this wilderness, over death, and take you right into His kingdom.  D.L. Moody

I can't help thinking of the old woman who started out when the war commenced with a poker in her hand. When asked what she was going to do with it she said: "I can't do much with it, but I can show what side I'm on." My friends, even if you can't do much, show to which side you belong. D.L. Moody

Have you figured out yet that God is there to help?  Over the years there were times when I thought I didn’t need His help.  Why does that happen?  It happens because we think we can do better than He can when we are faced with trouble.

When Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights, at that point He was human just like we are now.  To be honest with you I can’t imagine fasting for forty days and forty nights. That simple statement “He was hungry” doesn’t even begin to cover it.  At what would be considered one of His weakest points in life, Satan was sent to tempt Him.  If Jesus in His Greatness could be tempted, we certainly stand a better chance of falling into Satan’s trap.

If we think about it, we are tempted on a daily basis by Satan.  When the Bible says he is roaming to and fro watching and waiting to devour us, that is a harsh truth.  When we sin we fall into his trap. When we decide we don’t need God’s help or if we depend on others more than we do God, we are guilty of falling into Satan’s trap.

God waits for us to come to Him daily.  Sometimes we are too busy, other times we don’t think we need Him, and still other times we think we know what is best for us so we ignore Him.   

When you need God’s help you don’t have to pray some elaborate prayer that has lots of eloquent words and phrases that sound good. In Psalm 50:14-15 we are told to “Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” A simple “help me Jesus or “help me God” will suffice.  He will hear and deliver you.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, sometimes I commit the sin of leaving You out of my troubles and depending on myself to deliver me from them.  When I start thinking that way I am elevating myself above You.  You have been there for me when I needed You most.  Thank You for Your loving guidance and remind me to turn to You when I need help.   

  

Scripture: Satan Tempts Jesus

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.  Matthew 4:1-11