Weary

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Weary in Praying

 

Daniel 10:12

"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words."

Daniel had many great attributes that could be written about, but maybe the greatest attribute was his prayer life. When you read the Book of Daniel, you see that prayer was a mainstay in his life. In fact, when his enemies wanted to find something with which to destroy him, they knew that if they made a law not to pray that they could finally have him killed. Though Daniel was a great prayer warrior, even he had times when it seemed that his prayers were not answered. However, though it seemed that his prayers were not answered, he continued praying until the answer came through.

One of the hardest things to be consistent with in the Christian life is your prayer life. It takes work to pray. There are many people who spend time daily in the Scriptures who's prayer life is hit and miss. The reason is because praying goes against the desires of the flesh. To be consistent in prayer, you constantly have to crucify your flesh. Therefore, because of the difficulty of a consistent prayer life, many will stop praying for a request if they don't get an answer within a "reasonable" amount of time.

Let me encourage you that God hears your prayer. Notice in the verse above that Daniel's prayers were heard the first time he prayed. Though at times you may think that God does not hear your prayers, you must place your faith in the fact that God says that He hears your prayer. Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." If God said that He would give us what we ask, then that would mean that He must hear us when we pray. Though you may not think that God has heard you, rest in His promises that your prayers are being heard. Just because you don't feel that your prayers are not being heard does not mean that God doesn't hear them. God's promises are not based upon how you feel, they are based upon the fact that God said He would do it.

Furthermore, you must not give up hope that your prayers will be answered. You will notice in the verse above that though Daniel's prayer was answered, it took several days for the answer to be delivered. The Devil will do anything he can to keep the answers to your prayers from getting to you. That is why you must not give up. Keep praying until the answer comes. You may think that it is worthless, but God has heard your prayer and the answer is on the way. He promised that He would not only hear your prayer, but He also promised that He would answer it.

What prayer are you growing weary in waiting for? God promises that He will come through if you don't quit. Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." If you will keep on praying, you will reap the results of your prayer. Whatever request you have stopped praying for, let me encourage you to pick it up and keep on asking because the answer is on the way.

Promotion

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An Unorthodox Way to Promotion

 

Daniel 3:30

"Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon."

Being promoted is one of the most sought after things by organizations and people. Organizations want to be promoted to a higher status in the minds of people, many churches seek to be recognized nationally, and many people seek to become famous or have higher position in their jobs. However, the way to promotion will be acquired in an unorthodox way. Let me explain by telling you two stories.

The first story is about the Prophet Balaam. In Numbers 22, Balak was afraid of God's people. He heard the stories how God delivered Israel from Egypt, and he knew he would soon face these people. He sent his servants to Balaam to ask him to come and curse Israel. He promised Balaam wealth and promotion if he would come. Balaam first refused the invitation, but eventually he compromised and went to curse God's people. Through a series of God's intervention, Balaam realized the error of his way, but he still went. Once Balaam was in the presence of Balak, he blessed Israel several times to the point that Balak ran him out of town. Though Balaam thought he would get promotion and wealth through compromise, the only thing he got was the back door.

The second story is about the three Hebrew children. Nebuchadnezzar built an image and commanded that all people bow down to the image when they heard the music play. When the music started, everyone bowed down except for the three Hebrew children. Nebuchadnezzar gave these three young men another opportunity to bow down to his image, but they refused and eventually were thrown into the fiery furnace. After a few minutes, Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnaced and noticed that the Son of God had come to help deliver them from the fire. The uncompromising stand of the three Hebrew children resulted in their promotion. If they would have compromised, they would have been like everyone else.

Promotion must not be sought after. One of the differences in these two stories is one sought promotion while the others sought to do right. One coveted money while the others desired God's blessing. When you seek promotion, you will do anything to get it.

Moreover, compromise never gives promotion. You will often hear people say that if you will compromise in a few areas that you will be able to get promoted. This is a lie of the Devil! Compromise has never brought promotion, and if it does, it will change who you are and you won't like what you will become. An uncompromising stand will always cause you to stand out above the crowd. Compromise will always cause you to be like everyone else, and those who are like everyone else never get recognized.

The only way you will be promoted in whatever area you are in is to stand by your principles, even when the threat of persecution is there. You must remember that principles never change, and you must be moved by principle and not by promotion. Principles will always bring persecution, but also principles always bring promotion. Remember, according to Psalm 75:6-7, promotion comes from God. God is not going to promote someone who compromises; He is going to promote those who stand by principle.

Churches who seek to be a mega church must compromise in order to become that. The church that God blesses is the church that does right and is not worried about how big they are. He looks at the church who stands by principle, and that is the church that He promotes. Likewise, the Christian who stands by principle and never compromises is the Christian whom God will use and promote. Stop seeking promotion through compromise and seek to do right through principle. It is the latter that God will use to promote you.

All the time

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Keeping God Good All the Time

 

Psalm 77:9

"Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah."

Psalm 52:1 says, "Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually." You will notice that it says that God is good all the time. However, in the verse above it seems that the psalmist forgot this verse when he said, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" In one psalm we read that God is good, and when you find the same person who said God was good almost questioning the goodness of God. It can almost seem as if God's goodness is fickle. Yet, when you read the remainder of the psalm you see that the psalmist took three steps to get himself out of the funk of questioning the goodness of God.

Face it, there are times when you boldly say that God is good all the time, and then there are times when you struggle with saying and believing God's goodness. When times are going well, it is easy to proclaim God's goodness, but when times are unsettled, it is certainly difficult to see God's goodness through the hardships. However, you cannot allow yourself to stay in the doldrums of self pity, and you must get yourself back on top side if you are going to continue to help people and be positive about life. There are three steps you can take to help you get through those tough times when you doubt God's goodness.

First, remember the works of God. Psalm 77:11 says, "I will remember the works of the LORD:..." You will see that the psalmist decided to remember what God did in the past. Too many people stop remembering God's past works and only dwell on what is happening in the present. You must always remember that the goodness of God is not dependent upon your circumstances. While you think God is not being fair, or that He is not being good to you, there is someone else who is proclaiming the goodness of God. Remember, you don't know the whole picture, but you must take time while you can't see the whole picture to remember what God has done for you in the past. You will never be successful at this until you start writing down and recording when God is good to you. It is when you are going through the tough times that you go back to your records and read the good works of God from the past.

Second, meditate on the works of God. Psalm 77:12 says, "I will meditate also of all thy work,..." Meditating is thinking. In other words, to meditate on the works of God is to think about the works of God. What I do in this step is I take God's good works that I remembered and begin to talk to Him about those works. I talk out loud to God about what He did for me. I find this helps to heal my doubts of God's goodness. Christian, if you will take the time to meditate and talk out loud to God about what He did for you in the past, you will find that God will begin to talk to you again. God gets excited when people talk to Him about the good that He has done.

Third, talk to others about the works of God. Psalm 77:12 continues when it says, "...and talk of thy doings." You will find that when you tell others that God is good, even when you are doubting His goodness, it will have a way of bringing you around to believing He is still good. Many times when a preacher is preaching on the goodness of God, he is talking himself into believing God's goodness because he is going through rough times. Every time he is done preaching, the preacher has talked himself out of his little pity party by telling others of God's goodness. Talking of God's works will help you to overcome your negative thoughts concerning God's goodness.

God is good all the time, but when you feel He is not good, you must take these three steps to get you through your rough time. Eventually you will see God's goodness, but until then, keep believing His goodness by remembering, meditating and talking of His works.

How God Speaks

How God Speaks to You

 

Proverbs 1:23

"Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

One of the questions I am often asked is how do we know when God is speaking to us. Proverbs 1:22-25 shows us four ways that God speaks. You will notice in verse 22 that God addresses three different people. He addresses the simple, the foolish and the scorner. The simple person is not a bad person, they are a person who doesn't know any better. The foolish is one who knows better, but won't do anything about it. The scorner is one who graduated from being foolish to criticizing God's ways and His Word. However, you will find that God speaks to each of these groups in the same way.

The first way God speaks is through His Word. Notice in the verse above that God said, "...I will make known my words unto you." Christian, God cannot speak to you if you don't daily read His Word. God has something to say to you on a daily basis, but cannot get His Words to you if you won't read Them daily. Furthermore, God speaks His Word to you through preaching. Often a person misses God's message to them because they are not listening to the preaching. Be careful about becoming sidetracked during the preaching with daydreaming, writing notes, texting and simply not listening. God has something to say to you, but you must listen to the preaching to hear it.

The second way God speaks is through your heart. Verse 24 says, "Because I have called, and ye refused;..." This is God convicting someone in their heart. Many times God will use His Holy Spirit to speak to your heart through the form of conviction. It is very important that you listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, for God is trying to say something to you.

The third way God speaks is through helping hands. Verse 24 says, "I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;" God uses people to do His works. Often, when someone is not listening to the preaching and the convicting of the Holy Spirit, then He sends someone to help them get their life back together. You will often see this method when people show interest in you to get you to come back. When God sends someone to help you, don't reject His help through this person, for God has something to say to you.

The fourth way God speaks is through counseling. Verse 25 says, "But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:" When you go for counsel, God will speak through the preacher to help you to do right or to get right. Be careful about having your mind made up when you go in for counsel for God has a message for you to help you to do right.

The sad part about these four areas is that when a person will not heed God's Word, then destruction comes. Verse 26 says, "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;" Notice, because the person would not listen to God that destruction came their way. It is not always God's judgment that caused their destruction, but many times it was because they did not listen, therefore, they could not hear God's warning to keep them from that which would hurt them.

By way of warning, don't plug your ears to God's voice. You may be running from God by trying to experience the world's way, but destruction will come if you won't listen to the voice of God. For those who are doing right and want to continue doing right, be sure to keep your ears open to God's voice in these four areas so you can avert the "calamity" that will come your way by not heeding the voice of God.

Peace

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Increasing Peace

 

Isaiah 9:7

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

Peace seems to be the cry of the world. When you look at political leaders, they all talk about having world peace. Churches desire to have peace in their congregations. Christians want peace with other Christians outside of their congregation. Families want peace between family members. Yet, peace is not a possession that someone holds. You can't legislate peace. You can't decide to have peace. The reason is because peace is a byproduct of actions.

In the verse above, God tells us there will be world peace someday. That day will be when God comes to set up His kingdom during the Millennial Reign. In the verse above, you find the elements that will cause the world to have peace. In fact, it will not just cause peace, but it will cause peace to increase. If every leader would practice the steps that God will perform to set up peace, then they will discover peace in their own realm.

The first step for peace is having clear boundaries of authority. You will notice that God will have a government. That means there will be different positions of authority that God will set up. In order for peace to increase in your realm, every position of authority must be clearly defined in what they will do. You will not have peace when the roles of authority and what they can and cannot do is not clearly defined.

Second, you must have organization. You will notice that there will be order in God's government. Likewise, you must have organization in whatever you are trying to accomplish if you want peace. Disorganization causes unrest and disharmony. This is why it is highly important to make sure there is organization in what you do.

Third, there must be judgment for peace to increase. Judgment is achieved through several venues. First, judgment requires decisive decision making. When leadership won't make decisions, then you will have unrest. Second, there must be clear rules by which all must live. Judgment cannot be achieved when there are no clear rules. In other words, rules must be established so that everyone will know what is expected of them. Last, there must be a clear direction. Rules are important, but the direction of philosophy must also be defined for you to have judgment. In other words, what are you trying to accomplish? Judgment consists of these three things.

Last, for peace to increase justice must be practiced. Once judgment is set in place, then justice must be enforced. Justice is being fair with all enforcement of all the rules. There can be no favorites for justice to be achieved. Likewise, justice consists of just punishment. In other words, everyone must experience the same punishment for the same violation. If you punish one person but not the other, then you will find that peace will flee away. Justice is the key final element for peace to increase.

If these steps are followed, then peace will be established. Whether it is a church, business, nation, school, or family, these steps allow peace to increase if followed. You must remember that peace is not an object you hold, it is a byproduct of following the steps listed above.