Inconvenienced by Prayer

 I love my pastor, Charles M. Roberts, who turned 80 this summer. He no longer pastors my home church. He retired after 34 years. He started preaching as an interim pastor at another church and they called him to be their pastor. He has served there well over a decade. I have the utmost respect for him. He is a hero of mine. I still keep in touch with him. 

I recently contacted him for some counsel. Mixed with the advice was some wisdom I can't shake. His words were both wise and timely. They were also a little unsettling. Let me share them with you. "We are often inconvenienced by the prayers of others. God could well answer prayers and you be the answer to those prayers. Go with God where He leads."

That phrase inconvenienced by the prayers of others really hit home. God has used many people to be the answer to prayers Brenda and I prayed over the years. Most recently, when she was unable to work after surgery God used others to answer our prayers that must have inconvenienced them as they gave to us sacrificially to meet our needs. 

People pray for God to send help like when hurricanes hit, or wildfires devastate, or tornadoes ravage. Missionaries pray God will send help in financial partnerships or volunteers for short term mission trips. George Mueller prayed God would send help to staff and provide for thousands of orphans. Many were inconvenienced to give donations, some possessions, and some were called to staff the orphanages. 

Today you just might be the answer to someone's prayer. It might not be convenient for you. You may have to sacrifice some time at home with the family, some finances, or in the most extreme cases to relocate to help. This has happened for many families relocating who cared for aging parents. It also could be true of some place on this planet where people are crying out to God to send help. Some ordinary person sitting minding their ordinary business may be interrupted by the call of God to go help. History is filled with people who left their homes to follow the call of God to some foreign land. 

This just happened for a friend of mine. I coached with him for a couple of years at a Christian school. He is the head of the Bible of department. He has filled in for me preaching when I have been out of the pulpit. He recently told me that God has called him to accept teaching in a seminary in South Africa! I was stunned to hear this news. Somebody in South Africa prayed and my friend will be inconvenienced to answer that prayer. He will relocate with his wife and two of his children across the globe to do the work of God. 

It is amazing how God can connect people's prayers with other people who are the answer to those prayers. That is fascinating to me. It is also a little unsettling. None of us know when we might be inconvenienced because someone else prayed. It might be something as small as a phone call to check on someone or a text to encourage another person. It might require a personal visit, a handwritten letter. God may require you to speak a prophetic word in person like He did with me to one of my nieces. He might call you to forego sleep to intercede for someone in need.  He may ask you to give up some money. He may require you to give up some vacation time to go to another state or distant land on a short-term mission trip. It may happen rarely, but God inconvenienced Paul when he saw the vision of the man from Macedonia calling for help. [Acts 16:9-10] Paul was the answer to that prayer. It meant a change in direction and ministry focus. Paul was the answer to the Macedonian prayer. Maybe you are too and so am I. It is part of the great adventure of walking with God to be inconvenienced by prayer.  

Tipping Point

 Several years ago, I went with a group of students to a water park. My favorite thing to do there was to stand under this oversized barrel perched overhead. The barrel was filled with water streaming continuously from a pipe. As the barrel filled, it began to tip ever so slightly. The sign of this brought people running to stand under the barrel all waiting to get drenched by the gallons of water that would pour out. I stood under that barrel several times waiting to get doused with water. With every gallon of water, we could see the barrel inching over further and further until it passed the tipping point. 

In like fashion, God is storing up His wrath for this sinful age. Day after day His wrath, seething anger, righteous indignation, rage and full fury are filling up. The barrel of His wrath is tipping more and more. Woe to us who stand in the path of that wrath when it finally reaches the tipping point. 

People seem ignorant of this fact. People are oblivious. Satan deceives and God continues to grieve. Masses are led astray down a path to eternal destruction. America smugly embraces sin and scoffs at God and His laws. What a dangerous game of chicken we are playing. God does not bluff. He will not change. He will not bend to our will or lower His standards. He will not alter His course. If we continue to defy Him, we will pass the tipping point and woe be to us. Our education, expertise, nor economy can save us then. His justice will be dealt with perfect impartiality. We will all get what we deserve. 

America is not guaranteed to survive. How God blessed this nation, and we turned our backs on Him. We mocked Him, rejected Him, denied Him, and in many conceivable ways tried to remove remembrance of Him in our society. We will reap what we sow. [Gal 6:7-8] We need to listen to the prophet [Joel 2:12] and return to the Lord with all our hearts in sorrowful repentance pleading for His mercy over His judgment. 

We are nearing the tipping point. A point of no return. Every day that we do not experience God's judgment is another day of mercy and a chance to repent and get others to repent. These are sober days. We must wake up to the reality. We are fast nearing the tipping point. Other nations have experienced this, and we should learn well the lessons from history. Ask Sodom and Gomorrah. Ask Babylon. Ask Rome. Even ask Israel. This is not a path we want to continue down. May we return to God before we pass the tipping point. 

Apathetic Arrogance

 I could sit here and write for some time about the ills in America. They are many. I have no intention to do that at this time. I'd rather point the finger at the church. Not any one particular church, but all churches who stand for Bible truth and worship God and His Son Jesus. We are much to blame for the troubles in our society. 

The apathy in most churches is appalling. There is a spiritual chill in the hearts of God's people at worst. The majority fall into lukewarmness which makes Jesus want to vomit. Few are on fire for the LORD. Many mouth the words of worship songs, but seldom worship with all their heart and soul. Many listen to Bible saturated messages they do not intend to live. There are a fair share of preachers who deliver ice cold sermons born more from intellectual academia than birthed in the prayer closet of the Holy Spirit. 

Programs are offered without prayer or power. How many every openly share the gospel though many will "amen" the preacher or teacher when the point is made that we need to do so? All believers have eyes to see what is happening in society. So, let me ask what is your local congregation doing about it? Getting up another boycott or protest? When does your church gather to pray exclusively? The church I serve never does anymore, but that is about to change. 

The arrogance of the church to think we are alright. We convince ourselves we are doing a good job. Show me across the nation the impact all of our churches are having on society. Sex trafficking still happens. Pornography is still booming. Homosexuality is being shoved down our throats from television programming to parades. Abortion is still an issue and flaunted by liberals. Adultery is not extinct. Hypocrisy is still turning people away from Jesus. The people of God are still mostly tight lipped that Jesus saves. Preaches give happy talks to promote greater offerings from which they can pad their pockets. Altars are still barren week after week. Baptisms are rare these days though church budgets have grown. Church attendance is still on the decline. Fewer volunteers find ways to serve leaving the minority to carry on the work alone. Weekly the masses carry on business as usual in congregations across the land. There are woefully few calls for repentance. There are even fewer who respond. Some churches have become clown shows. They put on a show but fail to usher in the shekinah glory of God in revival. For all our crusades, conferences, and cruises our culture has not changed.  America is not altered. We are drifting further from Bible truth. We are certainly not inching closer to revival or spiritual awakening. I talked to an evangelist couple recently who told me that they have not ministered in one revival meeting nor have any scheduled for all of 2024. They have been doing evangelism for 30 years and this is the first time not one revival meeting was scheduled. 

Does the church recognize that we are headed full steam into a head on collision with Holy God? This is not a collision that will bode well for us. Even the faithful followers of Jesus will not be able avoid the devastating consequences. We stack meetings on top of meetings to plan, strategize, and organize. What we do not is gather to agonize in prayer. Society is degenerating into lawlessness. How does the church respond? Not prayerfully standing in the gap. We call for all sorts of meetings, but where are the people calling for prayer meetings? 

Th American church is apathetically arrogant. If we really knew how God felt about us, we would run to the prayer closets in repentance privately and call for sacred assemblies to publicly repent. I am betting you will not see a solemn assembly scheduled on your church calendar. We don't think we need to repent. If we only see ourselves through the eyes of God in His holiness. We would think differently. 

I know my message is not popular. I will not be invited to preach at the conferences or large church gathering. I am tucked away in a small country parish preaching Bible truth that few want to hear. I can do no other. I am calling the people of God to repent. To humble ourselves and admit our arrogance. To turn away from our apathy. I will continue to beat this drum while we still have time. One day it will be too late. May we heed the call to repent before we pass the point of no return. 

27 Days

 It has been 27 days since I last wrote anything other than prayers and messages. Life has been a blur of getting Brenda back and forth to physical therapy and doctor appointments. Then there are my weekly responsibilities at the school, and of course time devoted to message preparation. It has not been idle time. 

I have thought about writing many times. I felt the subconscious pressure that it has been a long drought. Too long. I could not get in the creative groove. Truth is I did not feel inspired enough to write. Now sitting in my office waiting on an appointment that is will start in about 12 minutes, I could not put it off any longer. I had to get back in the saddle and write something. 

I looked at the date of my last post and did some mental math to deduce that 27 days passed since I last jotted down anything. I don't think most people missed it all. Life kept right on churning without my input. I know I am not a highly sought after author. 

I write for three reasons. First and foremost, God called me to do it. Before I was ever saved I had a passion to write. Writing is an extension of my ministry. Though I love to preach, I also love to write. Secondly, I want to glorify God and help people through the writing ministry. I am not sure how much good it does. I am not a best selling author. Nor do I have thousands of people hitting this site to read my latest posts. I still hold onto the hope that some God inspired idea will help someone on some given day in some way. I am not looking for accolades. I am not after padding my pockets with money. If I can help people and glorify God doing it that is reward enough. The last reason I write is, it is therapy for me as I work through Bible passages and write about the things God shows me. Sometimes I have work through my own difficult seasons and writing helps me do that more effectively. 

On this day, it simply started with the thought of the number 27. It reminds me of Psalm 27:14-15. God has used these verses in my life time and time again over several decades. I can read them and recall times and places where God ministered hope to me. We all need hope. Hope the the trial will end. Hope that seasons of peace will follow the stormy seasons. Hope that God will make a way when things look hopeless. 

There are times when it seems like things will never get better. I recently talked to a man who told me about he and his wife both losing their grandmothers within days of each other. On the way home from one of the funerals, the a/c went out in their vehicles and this couple has two small children. Then the husband got Covid and their oldest son. The husband also got another illness that set him back. It was a difficult season for them. 

I met another man who lost his wife two years ago and still grieves over her. Last week they found his adult daughter dead in her apartment. Grief compounded on top of more grief. A good friend of mine told me about his daughter being in and out of the hospital recently with an illness she has battled for seven years. She is so sick that she cannot take care of her two young boys and had to ship them to grandparents while she tries to recover. Doctors have been unable to give her relief. It is easy to lose hope. 

In all of these trials and the many others you might be facing, we all need a little hope. We need that extra measure of strength to keep going and not to lose heart and give up. David felt that way, but he wrote a key phrase that has helped immensely over the years. He penned that he believed he would see the goodness of God in the land of the living. Sometimes from the middle of the storm it is hard to believe that. The dark clouds of doubt can overshadow the rays of hope. We might be tempted to believe things will never get better. 

Christians believe in the hope of Heaven. David believed he would see hope and God's good working while he still lived. I hope that is true for all of us. I trust that in the middle of the pain, the crisis, sorrow, the adversity, and confusion that God will make a way to lead us out of all that. The tough part is that we have to wait on God. Nobody taught me the theology of suffering and how God uses it in my early days as a follower of Jesus. There is purpose in the pain. We may not understand it ever this side of Heaven. We are forced to wait and trust. 

Many have walked long enough with the LORD that we do not doubt His faithfulness. If we wait long enough and persevere, we will see Him do His work. He will come through. In the midst of our suffering, there are valuable lessons we can learn. Sometimes the suffering is used to refine us and make us more like Jesus. Other times, the tests are meant to strengthen our faith and for God to get more glory. On some occasions, suffering is a consequence of our sin. There are many times when suffering is just part of living on this sin infested planet caused by other people. In all of it, we are called to wait on God and to trust Him. 

When I played football at Howard Payne, our coach gave us a motivational talk at the beginning of the season. I do not remember the details of that talk except the book from where he got his talking points. The title of the book was Tough Times Don't Last But Tough People Do. It is those tough people who suffer with a joyful heart, who persevere, and who keep believing God for better days who inspire me. Some of them I read about in history. Others I see before me in this congregation. They are the people who inspire hope. 

27 days came and went without my fingers pounding this keyboard for writing purposes. Hopefully today as that streak is broken, somebody somewhere will get a little dose of hope. With God's help, I hope the flow of posts will continue like a stream from God to offer water for thirsty souls in need of a little hope.