Patient in Affliction

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12:12 (NIV)

Flying home after a long week of travel, I received a TSA Pre-Check security pass, while my husband Paul had to go through regular airport security. There were long lines in each, but my line passed through with ease. Afterward, I searched the large crowded airport for Paul’s security line. When I saw him, I realized I was going to have to wait, patiently. I watched from the distance as he struggled with his belt, shoes, carry-on bag and cane. Then I saw the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease exacerbating. 

The affliction of Parkinson’s Disease makes everyday life a struggle, and stressful situations only make it worse. When he was being searched thoroughly by security, I could see Paul was trying to be patient as well. It broke my heart to see my once very capable husband afflicted with imbalance and struggling to cope with the stress of airport security. 

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

Paul and I are patiently allowing his affliction of Parkinson’s to bring us closer to God and to each other. We are patiently waiting for healing. We want the trials of affliction to do its work in us so we will be mature. 

To our old nature, we would never count afflictions like a neurological disease as joy. But the new nature looks for opportunities to allow the Holy Spirit to produce growth. The, “Why me?” of affliction has now changed to, “What is this affliction for? What do you want me to learn through this, Jesus?”

Isaiah 41:13 says, “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Are you letting the Lord help you in your afflictions? Are you, in turn, helping others who are in affliction? 

In hindsight, I should have forgone my welcomed TSA Pre-Check pass and gone in the regular security line to help Paul navigate. But the Lord took hold of his right hand and helped him. As we pray for those who are patiently waiting for healing from afflictions, help them to keep looking to the Lord for help. 

Our God Hears,

Linda Cochrane

Subscribe via RSS

Are You Talking to Me?

Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” — Judges 6:11b-12

The story of Gideon in the book of Judges (Chapters 6-8) is an extraordinary tale of transformation and victory. It’s got everything a great story entails — intimidating adversaries, an unlikely hero with a broken identity, overwhelming circumstances with incredible odds, and an epic rise to glory. Get me a bucket of popcorn. I’m ready to watch the movie! 

Israel’s story in the book of Judges is a circular tragedy of national rebellion against God resulting in oppression at the hands of enemies, an eventual cry for help to the Lord, and His divine response to raise up a man or woman as deliverer. In this case, God’s man is Gideon. And he’s the perfect warrior for the Lord. You know, the kind who’s hiding scared in a winepress, looking over his shoulder and questioning the voice of God. 

Yeah, Gideon’s got some issues, and that’s exactly why we love him so much. 

I know what you’re thinking. What does all this have to do with my prayer life? I suggest it has everything to do with how you relate to God. Like Gideon, we also struggle with our identity, face huge obstacles, and question God’s voice and direction for our lives. Yet, hidden within the winepress with Gideon is a wonderful truth for us to encounter. And here it is … God views you very differently from how you view yourself, and He speaks to you on the basis of how He sees you. 

Here’s the context in Judges 6:6-16. God sends an angel to meet with Gideon in the midst of his crisis of security and provision. But God chooses to speak to him on the basis of who he is becoming, not the frightened man he sees cowering before him. In other words, God looks beyond Gideon’s current condition to see his potential, because the God of Gideon’s destiny knows there’s a mighty warrior locked inside this chronic worrier. The application point is this. When God speaks to us, we discover who we really are and receive an invitation to come out of hiding so we can live out our calling. That’s if we are willing to listen to His voice and trust Him!

The truth is that the Father wants to relate to you on the basis of your identity in Christ, not based on your current circumstances or past wounds. He’s calling you out of your hurts and hiding onto the battlefield of life, where you gain victory through the authority of Christ. The Father is searching the earth looking for sons and daughters who will put their trust in Him no matter the circumstance. This is where He gets the greatest glory as we trust Him with radical odds and unsolvable circumstances. Gideon’s little army of 300 skilled water-scoopers (apparently an essential skill when chasing down your enemy) routed vast enemy armies totaling over 120,000. That’s right, those are 400 to 1 odds. There’s no mistaking who gets the glory in this story! 

The odds may be stacked against you right now, but God sees your predicament as an opportunity to show you who you really are. He wants to say to you, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” So draw near to the voice of your God this week, and discover the confidence to live out your calling in Christ. The world is waiting for a new hero to rise.  

Our God Hears, 

AJ

Subscribe via RSS

No Longer Naive

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17 NASB)

Our praying community recently engaged in a discussion that went beyond understanding diversity and began to unwrap what it means to be a friend, as well as a sister or brother in Christ. It reminded me of my high school years in the late ‘70s in Florence, Mississippi, where I played football with a great and very diverse group of young men. One of my football friends, a young black man named Stanley Spells, caught me one time and said, “Mark, you just don’t understand. You don’t know what it is like.” You see, I had no problem with racism in Mississippi, because I was naive and lacked understanding. I claimed to be a friend and yet did not understand Stanley’s walk down a dirt road to a difficult home. I certainly had no claim to being even a football brother, because I did not walk side-by-side into difficulty with Stanley, Booker or any of my other football friends of color. Being naive stopped being acceptable — at least not for one who claimed to follow Jesus and be His friend. (John 15:14)

King David had friends; however, when trials came, he found them to be aloof and no friends at all. (Psalm 38:11) As ones who would be friends of God, we have an obligation (a command really) to one another to take a step closer to each other, understand each other enough to love as a friend, and be bold enough to stand with a brother or sister in adversity.

And how about those of us who find ourselves betrayed by a friend? Well, if we are fortunate, we will find a little bit of the character of Job in us. Job was obedient to God and prayed for his friends that they would be saved from God’s wrath and restored. The One who is responsible for justice stayed His hand because of the prayers of a wounded friend. Oh, and by the way, Job got a pretty nice blessing in the end. (Job 42:10)

Let us become worthy friends and seek out those brothers and sisters we so need! Our lives will be so much richer and full of blessing as a result. 

Mark Petersen

Subscribe via RSS

Sacred Echoes

“Lord, in the morning you will hear me; in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer.” Psalm 5:3 NET

Over this past week, I found myself in three different scenarios, yet each one resonated with a distinct confirmation that the Lord sees me, hears me and cares about my concerns. They felt like holy moments between God and me — sensing His presence and hearing His voice speak to me through others, who confirmed things that were on my heart, though not shared. 

Christian author and speaker Margaret Feinberg uses the words “sacred echoes” to describe “moments where God speaks the same message again and again to your heart. He often uses the repetition of a phrase, word or idea represented in Scripture not only to get, but keep, our attention.”

For me, this week has been filled with sacred echoes that have felt like abundant rain in a parched desert. God has been speaking very clearly to encourage me that He sees me and hears me. 

The referenced Scripture reassures us that the Lord hears us and then that we are to wait expectantly for an answer. My sacred echoes from this past week have brought this Scripture alive to me in a fresh way. It inspires me to look expectantly for those sacred echoes that the Lord has specifically for me. 

Will you join me in waiting expectantly for those moments – where the “persistent voice of God” reminds us that He is with us, that He is faithful and that He is fighting on our behalf?

Our God truly hears and sees,

Lynne Bauman 

Subscribe via RSS

Throne of Grace

“Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.” Psalm 93:2 (ESV)

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

“Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal … Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’” Revelation 4:6, 8 (NIV)

The course of history was changed by two courageous and humble intercessors of extraordinary prayer. Recognizing their divine appointments as a kairos window of opportunity, Esther and Nehemiah obediently stepped into the call to intercede on behalf of others. God demonstrated His grace by granting these godly children the unexpected favor of two powerful Persian kings. Their prayers resulted in God’s people being delivered from destruction and, about 30 years later, Judah experienced a spiritual awakening.

As the Lord’s redeemed, we can freely enter the King’s presence with limitless access. Recognizing the truth that God is sovereign, and that all things and people are subject to His authority, we come into His presence in the hope that He always holds out His grace to us and, in His mercy, receives us. Partnering with the Lord, we trust in the powerful promise that the Spirit and the Son are interceding for us. (Romans 8:26, 34) Lovingly bringing the burdens of others to God’s throne, our prayers become one with His, as we seek His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In living to please God by listening to His still, small voice, we grow in the knowledge that our intercession is used powerfully by God to show forth His glory.

Covered with garments of salvation and clothed in Jesus’ robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), we will be gathered one day in Heaven with all the saints. Standing on the vast sea of glass before the throne of unfathomable grace, we’ll be in the presence of the Father and Jesus, worshiping them forever. In the lyrics of his 1779 hymn, John Newton wrote, 

“Behold the throne of grace! Your promise calls me near:

There Jesus shows a smiling face and waits to answer prayer.”

Therefore, let’s keep filling up Heaven’s golden bowls of incense with our prayers of intercession. (Revelation 5:8)

Our God Hears, 

Barb Wibling

Subscribe via RSS

Face Time With God

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in Heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.” (Rev. 2:17 NIV)

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3 NIV)

We can never be and will never be completely happy or at rest until our greatest desire is for Him. There are treasures — manna hidden for us — in the heart of God. There is an expression of who we are that only He knows. The only way we can know our true selves is by spending time with God. Much of what God has for us will only be found in the secret place. When we take time to look into the eyes of the Father, He shows us what He sees and how He sees. He is moved by our pursuit of Him and shares His heart. Like a father with a young child, He wants to show us the wonders of His Kingdom. 

He is waiting for you to draw near. You are His beloved one. Make time for Him this week. Be intentional about giving your heart to Him in the secret place. Ask Him what’s on His heart, and ask Him how He sees you. He can’t wait to share His perspective with you.

Our God Hears, 

Joe Halpin

Subscribe via RSS

My Holy Spirit

Recently, a new believer asked me, “When am I going to get my Holy Spirit?” She had heard about being filled with the Spirit and wanted this for herself. So she prayed for the Lord to fill her and asked others to pray for her as well. But she felt no different. When my friend came and asked me about it, I found the use of her word “my” so endearing. Brand new to the Lord, she didn't realize that “my Holy Spirit” wasn’t the best terminology, but she wanted His sweet presence. While the Holy Spirit comes in us to change our lives for Jesus, He also desires to work through us for the common good. Yet, my dear friend reveals how a heart awakened longs for everything Jesus has to offer us. 

The Spirit of God wants to be your Comforter, Counselor, Advocate and Empowerer for ministry. He wants to be your Guide and Teacher, your Renewer of life, and the Revealer of Jesus to you. So when was the last time you asked the Holy Spirit to fill you? If it’s been a while, perhaps you stopped asking because, like my friend, you didn’t feel any different. Don’t give up! God is faithful to His promises. In Acts 2:4, Scripture reveals that, “everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit …,” so much so that those around them thought they were drunk at 9 a.m. in the morning, and a revival broke out right there that would change the world for Jesus. Lastly, a man named Paul who was utterly transformed by the Spirit exhorts us in I Corinthians 14:1, “Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives — especially the ability to prophesy.”

Keep on asking the Holy Spirit to fill you with the love and power of Jesus!

- Linda Cochrane

Subscribe via RSS

First Love

You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!  - Revelation 2:3-4

I’ve been married for 15 years, but I can still remember when we first fell in love. She was all I could think about, and my insides were shipwrecked with infatuation and wonder. We were about to take the train to Manhattan for our very first date. In my love struck state, I stepped carelessly onto the train headed Northbound instead of South. We eventually made it to New York and had an amazing time, but I still have a terrible sense of direction. 

I wish I could tell you that every day of our marriage has been like that perfect first date. But that would be a lie. Truth is, we’ve struggled through many difficult days together, and loving one another is something we’ve had to choose over and over again. 

It’s no different in our relationship with God. Life deals us disappointments.  But in the midst our pain, God loves us. So I ask you… how’s it going lately? Is your love for Jesus burning brightly, or has the flame begun to fade? When passion for God wanes, it is often replaced by hollow religious activity. 

I encourage you to do whatever it takes to restore your first love for Jesus. Everything else should flow from this love relationship between you and the One who gave everything to draw you close. Jesus is worthy of your whole heart. So stir up your affection once again. Spend time remembering the ways God has been faithful to you. Look Him full in the face and be overwhelmed by His goodness and glory. 

It’s time to fall in love with Jesus all over again.

Our God Hears,
AJ

Subscribe via RSS