Time to Pray

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 26th of June, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

James was the half-brother of Jesus, born of Mary and Joseph.  It’s understandable that at first he had a little trouble believing that the boy he had grown up with was actually the Son of God.  But he eventually came to realize that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Christ.  In fact, he opened his letter to the now scattered 12 tribes of Israel by identifying himself as, “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”

In that letter, James tries to exhort his fellow Jews to persevere as they endure trying times.  He gives them examples of how they should live, often getting very specific.  And he closes with an encouragement to prayer.

Listen and follow along to the instructions James gives us in closing his letter, chapter 5 verses 13 through 20, and I’ll be reading from The Living Bible…

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord.

14 Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him, calling on the Lord to heal him. 15 And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.

16 Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as completely human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! 18 Then he prayed again, this time that it would rain, and down it poured, and the grass turned green and the gardens began to grow again.

19 Dear brothers, if anyone has slipped away from God and no longer trusts the Lord and someone helps him understand the Truth again, 20 that person who brings him back to God will have saved a wandering soul from death, bringing about the forgiveness of his many sins.

--James 5:13-20 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come before You this morning to worship You and to listen to Your word.  Speak to our spirits that we might receive and understand the message You have for us, and let it see us through the week ahead.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


When it comes to prayer, some unknown wag once rhymed:

"The proper way for man to pray," said Deacon Lemuel Keyes; "the only proper attitude, is down upon his knees."

"Nay, I should say the way to pray," said Reverend Doctor Wise, "is standing straight with outstretched arms, with rapt and upturned eyes."

"Oh, no, no, no," said Elder Snow, "such posture is too proud. A man should pray with eyes fast-closed and head contritely bowed."

"It seems to me his hands should be austerely clasped in front, with both thumbs pointing to the ground," said Reverend Doctor Blunt."

"Last year I fell in Hodgkin's well headfirst," said Cyril Brown. "With both my heels a-stickin' up, my head a-pointin' down; and I done prayed right then and there; best prayer I ever said, the prayin'est prayer I ever prayed, a-standin' on my head."


I believe this points out that it isn’t so important what position we take when we pray as it is how earnest we are in our prayer.  I can only imagine Mr. Brown’s prayer was very earnest indeed, stuck there on his head in that well.


How is your prayer life?  A few years back when I was doing pulpit supply, a gentleman at one of the churches I often preached at remarked to his youth group, “If you don’t have a public prayer life, you probably don’t have a private prayer life either.”  There may well be some truth in that.

How many of us are uncomfortable praying in public?  Now I don’t necessarily mean standing up in front of a bunch of strangers or even friends and holding forth in prayer.  But how many of us even pause a moment to bow our heads and give thanks for our meal when dining in a restaurant?

James makes some very good points regarding our need to pray in his letter.  Are we suffering, for whatever reason?  Then pray about it.  And notice James doesn’t say to just pray once and hope for the best.  He encourages us to keep on praying about it.

If anyone is sick, they can all on the elders to anoint them and pray over them, asking the Lord to heal them.  We should pray for each other so that we in turn can be healed!  And here James isn’t speaking about just our physical bodies, but also our spirits.  Notice that he says our prayers can lead to sins being forgiven, and any sickness caused by those sins – of mind or body or spirit – being cured.

The Apostle Paul backs up James’ points and adds one more benefit to prayer.  In his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, Paul says…

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

--Philippians 4:6-7 (TLB)

Don’t worry so much.  Instead, pray about anything and everything.  And God will spread His great and wonderful peace over us, the peace that will quieten and rest our thoughts and hearts as we trust in Jesus.

But Paul also tells us to be sure to give God thanks for His answers to our prayers.  I think sometimes we’re quick to ask for His help, but then forget to thank God for His response.  Or maybe we don’t always recognize what happens next as His response.

This past Wednesday, the weatherman was calling for the possibility of afternoon showers.  We had a funeral service that day with a graveside service following.  I prayed and asked God to please hold off the rains until we could get finished with the service.  A couple hours later, I realized He had done just that; he had answered my prayer and I had not thanked Him!  So I did.  But it’s just that easy to forget to thank God for what He does for us.

The Apostle Peter also provides us with reasons not to be worried or ashamed or afraid to pray in public.  Listen to the instructions Peter left us in his 1st letter, chapter 3, verses 12 through 15…

12 "The Lord watches over
everyone who obeys Him,
and He listens
to their prayers.
But He opposes everyone
who does evil.”

13 Can anyone really harm you for being eager to do good deeds? 14 Even if you have to suffer for doing good things, God will bless you. So stop being afraid and don’t worry about what people might do. 15 Honor Christ and let Him be the Lord of your life.

Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope.

--1 Peter 3:12-15 (CEV)

The Lord listens to our prayers.  And while we might consider it unthinkable that anyone would harm us just for doing good, if they do and we have to suffer for it in any way, then God will bless us.  Don’t be afraid.  Don’t worry about what other people might say or do.  Honor Jesus Christ and make Him the one true Lord and Master of your life!

And Peter encourages us to always be ready with an answer if anyone should question our hope and faith.  If you need a ready answer, try this:  My hope and trust is in Jesus, because it is only through Him that I will have everlasting life with God in heaven.

Jesus Himself provided a model for all of this, for our prayer life.  When our Lord Jesus prayed to His Father, in what we call the Holy of Holies as recorded in chapter 17 of the Apostle John’s Gospel, Jesus began by praying a little for Himself.  But then He turned His attention toward His Disciples and for all believers, praying for them at length.  This is the example He set for us.  He wants us to pray for ourselves, sure.  But He also wants us to pray for others, and especially for those who believe in Him and follow His voice.


Now I know a lot of folks are uncomfortable praying, because they think they don’t know how to pray.  They worry that they’re not praying right, not saying the right words, not putting forth the best appeal.  Family, there is nothing all that special about how we pray – just that we pray.  Prayer is simply talking to God – asking for His help, thanking Him for our blessings, or even just telling Him how life is going for us at the moment.

And we don’t have to muddle through this prayer business on our own.  Paul tells us we have some help in this department.  In his letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 26, Paul says…

26 And in the same way - by our faith - the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.

--Romans 8:26 (TLB)

The Holy Spirit will help us, not only with our daily problems but also with our daily prayer life!  If we think we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit will take over for us and pray with such great feeling that words cannot even express!


So you can see, we have no reason not to pray.  Nor to give thanks for answered prayers and our many blessings.  But let me give you just one more reason to pray.  And it comes again from Peter’s 1st letter to the far-flung early church, from chapter 4, verse 7…

7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

--1 Peter 4:7 (NKJV)

Whenever my brother pastors and I gather to study and pray, we always feel a great sense of urgency.  Our newspapers and nightly broadcasts on TV report some of the very things we can read about in our Bible, when it speaks of the approach of the end of time.  The end of all things, as Peter puts it, is near.

Whether it happens tomorrow or next year or before I can finish this sentence, we simply don’t know.  So we need to be watchful.  We need to get serious in our prayer life.  The time to pray is now, while we still draw breath.  The time to pray is now, because later may be too late.  Pray for yourself, pray for others, pray for us all.

It’s time.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, we come to You because we are suffering and we ask for Your healing.  We come to You because we are thankful and we sing Your praises.  We come to You giving our thanks and seeking Your help, because Father we know we cannot get through this life on our own.  We offer our prayers in faith, Lord God, knowing that You will respond to our earnest pleas.  Incline Your ear to us, dear Lord, and listen as we pray.

Hear us now, Father, as we speak to You in the silence, crying out directly from our hearts, using the voice of Your most Holy Spirit to plead for us…

Lord Jesus, You taught us a way to pray to our Father by Your own example.  You showed us how to give our Father thanks for His many blessings, and how to ask for His help with our needs.  But Jesus, You also emphasized how important it is for us to pray for the welfare of others, and especially of other believers who are enduring trials.  Thank You, Lord, for showing us the best way to talk with our Father.  It is in Your holy name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Nobody's Perfect

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Father's Day, Sunday morning the 19th of June, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is Father’s Day, but sadly, there are too many people who can’t or won’t celebrate their fathers.  Too many don’t even know who their fathers are.  Too many biological fathers are absent from their children’s lives by choice.  Society places less and less importance on an ever diminishing role of parenthood in general, handing over more and more of those duties to government.

But still, even today in the midst of this parental mess, there are fathers who care deeply about their children, who foster and nourish their lives, who look out for them and love them and do their best by them.  Sure, they make mistakes.  Nobody’s perfect.  And Jesus understood this.  Listen and follow along to the words Jesus spoke as recorded in the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 11 verses 9 through 13, and I’ll be reading from the Modern English Version of our Holy Bible…

9 “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “If a son asks for bread from any of you who is a father, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will you offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

--Luke 11:9-13 (MEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come into your presence this morning with great rejoicing as we celebrate the day set aside for our Fathers.  With our Brother and Lord Jesus Christ we sing praises to You, and with Him we glorify Your holy name.  Open our hearts and our minds to receive the message You need for us to hear.  Happy Father’s Day, God!  In the precious name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


Author and humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote of her confusion over just what fathers do:

One morning my father didn't get up and go to work.  He went to the hospital and died the next day.  I hadn't thought that much about him before.  He was just someone who left and came home and seemed glad to see everyone at night.  He opened the jar of pickles when no one else could.  He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go into the basement by himself.

He cut himself shaving, but no one kissed it or got excited about it.  It was understood when it rained, he got the car and brought it around to the door.  When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription filled.  He took lots of pictures… but he was never in them.

Whenever I played house, the mother doll had a lot to do.  I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, "I'm going off to work now," and threw him under the bed.  The funeral was in our living room and a lot of people came and brought all kinds of good food and cakes.  We had never had so much company before.  I went to my room and felt under the bed for the daddy doll.  When I found him, I dusted him off and put him on my bed.  He never did anything.  I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much.


Those of us whose fathers have gone on home to be with God know just how much their leaving hurts.  Those whose fathers are still with us: cherish them and enjoy every minute you have with them.


We all remember the story of Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham was 100 years old when God gave him and Sarah a son, Isaac, promised to them because of their great faith.  While Isaac was still a boy, God ordered Abraham to take the lad and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.  With no hesitation of protestations recorded in Genesis, Abraham started out to do as commanded.  Just as he raised the knife to take Isaac’s life - the son he had waited a hundred years for - the angel of the Lord stopped him, saying:  “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.”

So was Abraham a good father?  There can be no doubt that he loved Isaac, but he was willing to kill his son, without any questions or protest.  How many of us fathers, if we heard a voice say, “Kill your child.”, would simply reply, “OK”, and go about the business of doing just that, no questions asked?  But you see, Abraham loved God even more than his own son.


The Old Testament relates many stories of men whose paternal skills leave a bit to be desired.  Isaac fathered twins and let the younger one fool him into giving him the blessing and birthright that should have gone to the older.  That wily son, Jacob, fathered twelve sons of his own.  He favored Joseph over the others so much that they turned on the him and sold him into slavery, breaking old Jacob's heart.  And two of King David's sons tried to take the throne a little early, one by force and the other by scheming.

Fathers fare a little better in the New Testament, where they are often shown trying to get help for their children, taking them to Christ for healing.  The little we know about Jesus' earthly father, Joseph, indicates he was a good father, teaching Jesus the law and the scripture as well as a trade.  Joseph loved God and served well as Jesus' Dad.


We can all relate to these Biblical fathers, because we have all seen or heard of similar examples in our own experiences, and because… well… nobody’s perfect.  Being a father is a tough job, one filled with many dangers and bearing tremendous responsibility.  A father is supposed to be a provider, a protector, a leader, a guide, a teacher, a role model, and the Biblical foundation for the family, among other things.

But a father must not be prideful or pretentious.  His leadership must be one of sacrifice, not of force.  He must know when to be gentle and when to be firm.  He must be able to deal with small, developing children without being condescending or hurtful.  And like mothers, he must be able to figure all this out on his own because there are no instructions manuals.

We know of great fathers and those that are downright terrible.  Some may dote too much over their offspring; others walked out of their child's life at a very early age and never looked back.  While not all fathers care what might happen to their progeny, most of us, even if we aren't perfect Dads, only want what is best for our children and will make any sacrifice to ensure their lives are better than ours.

In verse 13 of our scripture reading this morning, Jesus shows us He understands this when He tells us, “Even though you are bad, you still know how to give good gifts to your children.  How much more will your heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”.  In his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul assures us that whether our earthly father has been present and active in our life or completely absent, we all have a Father in heaven who has willingly adopted us and calls us His children.  Listen to what Paul tells us in the first 4 verses of the 8th chapter of Romans…

1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  2 And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.  3 The Law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

--Romans 8:1-4 (NLT)

Paul says that the law handed down through Moses could not save us from our own sinful nature, so God did what the law could not do.  He sent His Son to save us.  We all know John 3:16, but do you remember the next verse in the Apostle John’s Gospel…

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

--John 3:17 (NKJV)

God’s plan to save mankind and the world involved sending His Son not as some invincible warrior, not as God Himself, in all His radiant glory, but as a man, in the fragile, destructible body of a man, a body just like the one that you and I wear.  Jesus was one of us.  He knew all about growing pains, indigestion, insomnia, even heartbreak.  God did this so that His law could still be fulfilled for us, if not by us.


A little further on in Romans chapter 8, Paul assures us that if we follow the lead of God’s Holy Spirit, then we are the children of God - the adoption is complete.  Now we can call God “Abba”, which is the familiar form of “father” in the Aramaic language of that day.  It is like our endearments of Daddy, Pop, Poppa, Dad.  I personally have a little trouble thinking of the Lord of all creation, the Maker of the universe and everything in it, as “Daddy”, but that is exactly what He wants.

Why?  Because He loves us, and wants us to love Him in return.  He wants us to be comfortable with Him, to realize that He cares for us as His own.  Like any good father, God just wants us to talk to Him, to build a relationship with Him, to spend time with Him, to get to know and understand Him better.

God doesn't need us to tell Him anything; He already knows.  The need to pray to God isn't His, it’s ours.  We need to talk to Him, to share our daily lives with Him, to grow in our love for Him.  Unlike many earthly fathers, our heavenly Father is never too busy to stop and listen to our problems, our cares, our concerns.  He wants nothing more than to hear about our triumphs and our defeats, our gains and our losses, our loves and our heartbreaks.  And unlike what earthly fathers may do, our heavenly Father will never abandon us or leave us orphaned.


Every child needs love.  Every child longs for the love of their father.  Great fathers love their children without reservation, under any and all circumstances, regardless of what the child does or turns out to be.  Unconditional love is a mark of a great father.

Our heavenly Father is a great father.  He loves us even when we ignore him, turn against Him, sin against Him.  All He asks in return is that we love Him and Jesus and each other.  What greater reward than to be loved by God.

Happy Father's Day, God!  Happy Father's Day!

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, Daddy, even though this is the day we set aside to honor our earthly fathers, we also recognize You as our heavenly Father.  You love us so much, You gave up Your only Son that we might be granted eternal life with You if we only believe in Him.  Thank You, Father, for giving us so much.  You are truly a great Dad!

Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, as we lift up to You our praise and our prayers spoken directly from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, You showed us just how good a father God is, and how many wonderful things He still has in store for us.  Thank You so much for asking Him to adopt us, for Your sake, so that we can share in His glory forever.  It is in Your blessed name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Faith Wins Out

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 5th of June, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

I think even a casual visitor to our service could tell from our prayer needs that we are a family that has been through a lot.  Maybe each of us, on an individual basis, has not faced a terrible ordeal lately, but we know someone who has.  Many in this church family are suffering still - many sitting here this morning.

And sometimes we just can’t help but wonder why.  Sometimes we sink into that deep, dark pit of despair.


The Apostle Paul understood trials and tribulations as well as anyone in our Bible, for he faced so many in his service to our Lord Jesus.  Listen and follow along as I read to you from his letter to the Romans, chapter 5 verses 1 through 6, from the New Living Translation, as Paul offers us assurance and gives us hope…

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. 

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

--Romans 5:1-6 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come into Your presence this morning to worship You and to pay heed to Your word.  Please help us receive and understand the message You have for us, that we might better discern Your will and Your blessings in our lives.  In the glorious name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


Many years ago Dr. A. Parnell Bailey wrote a religious column for the Goldsboro News-Argus in Goldsboro, NC.  Dr. Bailey once included this little story in one of his columns:

"I once visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down.  The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water.  The man giving the tour then took me to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly.  'These trees could go without rain for another two weeks,' he said.  'You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them.  This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture.  Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area.  While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth.'"


The trees Dr. Bailey described had been deprived of water in their developmental stage on purpose.  This was not an act of cruelty or some punishment.  It was done knowing that harsh times would come when water would be scarce.  It was done so the trees would push their roots deeper into the soil, seeking out the precious water of life.  It was done so that they might survive.


Paul talks about problems and trials and great tribulations because he personally knew all about problems and trials and great tribulations!  He experienced them first hand.  He was tortured, beaten, stoned, flogged, shipwrecked, imprisoned, chained to guards night and day…  Paul knew trials!  Yet he endured to the very end; his faith never wavered.

In my research for today’s message, I found a very interesting piece of information.  The Nicene Council was an important meeting held in the 4th century that was crucial not only to the early church but even to the church today.  At this meeting, of the 318 delegates in attendance, less than 12 had not lost an eye, or lost a hand, or walked with a limp on a leg that had been lamed from torture for their Christian faith!  Fewer than 12 out of 318 had not suffered some horrible cruelty simply because of their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord!  Yet their faith did not waver.

In an article, “You Gotta Keep Dancin’” published by David C. Cook back in 1985, Tim Hansel wrote:

“Most of the Psalms were born in difficulty.  Most of the Epistles were written in prisons.  Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire.  Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress from jail.  Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England.  Semi-paralyzed and under the constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless in his attack on disease.  During the greater part of his life, American historian Francis Parkman suffered so acutely that he could not work for more than five minutes as a time.  His eyesight was so wretched that he could scrawl only a few gigantic words on a manuscript, yet he contrived to write twenty magnificent volumes of history.

“Sometimes it seems that when God is about to make preeminent use of a man, He puts him through the fire.”

Sometimes God puts us through the fire before He can use us for His purposes.  And the thing about fire is… it purifies, it strengthens.  Gold and silver are made purer and more precious by fire.  Iron is made stronger in the flame.  But all that is hard to remember when the bottom falls out and life starts circling the drain.


King David was certainly no stranger to tribulation, and I think he speaks for all of us in our times of trial when he says, in his 6th Psalm, verse 2…

2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

--Psalm 6:2 (ESV)

O God, I am languishing - I’m too weak to go on.  Help me, Lord, for I am troubled all the way down to my very bones.  David knew tribulation.

But God assured us long ago that even during out darkest times, our greatest trials, we are not alone.  Our Father spoke to us through His prophet Isaiah, in the 41st chapter of his book, verse 19, when He said…

10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with My victorious right hand.

--Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

A little trouble pops up and we think we can stand against it or wait it out, and come out OK in the end.  We don’t remember that assurance from Isaiah’s prophecy - we think we can get by without God’s help.  But when everything seems to come against us, when the rain won’t stop, when one trial is followed by another like waves on an angry sea, then we need to call upon the Lord for help.

I believe the author of the Book of Lamentations clearly understood this.  I believe he might have been going through something very similar to us when he wrote this from chapter 3, verses 21 through 25…

21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.

--Lamentations 3:21-25 (ESV)

The steadfast love of God never ceases.  His mercies never end.  Great is His faithfulness to us!

How true is ours to Him?


Paul tells us to thank God and praise Him and rejoice even when we are going through those terrible times!  Even when our body is wracked by disease or the treatments to combat the disease.  Even when our hearts and spirits are broken because a loved one has gone home to be with God.

Rejoice, because all these hardships build up our endurance!  And endurance develops strength, not only in our bodies but in our character, too.  And that character strengthens our confident hope of salvation, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For you see, faith wins out!  By faith, we have been made right in the eyes of God.  We have peace with God because of what Jesus did for us.  And by that act of our Lord and by our faith, we stand here now in a place of undeserved privilege, in God’s great and wonderful grace.  And we stand confidently and joyfully, looking forward to sharing in God’s glory.

King David fully understood this, too – not only the hardships but also the undeserved privilege, the expectancy of sharing God’s glory.  That is why in his 103rd Psalm, verses 1 through 4, he proclaims…

1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things He does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

--Psalm 103:1-4 (NLT)

Let us rejoice in our trials.  Let us praise the Lord with all our hearts and never forget all the good things He does for us.  He forgives our sins.  He heals our diseases.  He saves us from everlasting death and pours out His love and tender mercies upon us.

And yes, sometimes He forces us to push our roots deeper and deeper into the soil.  But it’s just so we’ll find the true Water of Life, the Living Water that is our Lord and Savior Jesus.


As Paul said, when we were utterly helpless, when there was no other hope left to us, Christ came at just the right time, and died for us sinners.

Rejoice, and praise the Lord.  For faith wins out in the end.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, faith is one of the many gifts You have given us, but it is up to us to nourish and exercise that gift.  You tell us so many times in our Bible that if we just keep our faith and hold onto it, that we will be so richly rewarded beyond all imaginings in the end.  A huge part of keeping our faith,  Father, is remembering that You are always by our side, through the good times and the bad, knowing that those bad times strengthen us and give us confident hope of our salvation.

Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, as we lift up to You our prayers spoken directly from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, it is only because of Your selfless act on the cross that we stand now in this state of grace, of undeserved privilege.  Because of You, we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s wonderful glory.  For when we were completely and utterly without hope, You came and atoned for our sins with Your precious blood.  Thank You, O Lord.  It is in Your blessed name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.