Don’t Get Discouraged

Scripture

I cry out to the LordI plead for the Lord’s mercy.  I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles. 

~Psalm 142:1-2, NLT

Quote

Always pray and never give up.

~Jesus

My mentor in the ministry was Calvin C. Inman. He was the most disciplined man I knew. He told me time and time again, “Jack, the most difficult thing to do in the Christian life is maintain a proper balance between prayer, bible study and evangelism.” You get one thing going and another lags behind. Well I didn’t understand fully what he was teaching me then but I understand now. I started out as a zealous witness but was really bad at bible study and prayer. By grace, I developed my bible study habits but struggled with prayer. Now I love bible study and prayer but I am a horrible witness. I’ve been putting pressure on myself to wish a dozen people Merry Christmas every day. I have not got to a dozen yet. As a witness, I am lazy and slothful. I am not bragging, I am confessing and I will not be offended if you pray for me. When it comes to prayer, the devil stays on me consistently. He says things like–“God is not listening to you and why should He? Prayer makes no sense so why do you keep praying. God will do what He likes no matter how much you pray. Your prayer has nothing to do with nothing. You are wasting time when you pray.” Those are just a few of his lines, he has more.

Charles Stanley has some good advice for those who are discouraged in their prayer life. [1] First of all, remember that God definitely hears every prayer and every prayer matters.  Don’t confuse unanswered prayer with unheard prayer. [2] Be careful about your intake: what are you listening to the most? TV, Radio, the voices of men or the word of God. Faith comes by reading the word of God. [3] God has many ways of answering prayer: yes, no and wait. I heard one preacher say, yes, no and you have to be kidding! Let Him conform His will to yours. Sometimes we are intent on changing His will but it is our will that needs to change. [4] Be honest with yourself and with Him. Do like David, tell Him all about your troubles. Confess your pride and weakness. It’s not like you’re going to disappoint Him by being honest, he already knows more about you than you do yourself so for heaven’s sake be transparent. [5] Trust Him completely and understand that His will is best. He doesn’t always give us what we ask for because He has something better in mind.

I pray daily {might miss a day every now and then} for REVIVAL in America, the UK and Israel. I asks God to restore Trump the rightful president. I ask Him to save the IMB and the SBC from the social gospel and cultural marxism but I will be honest, I do not know what His will is in any of these situations. If judgment has come to America and God is using the left to discipline us for our sins, so be it! May His will be done. I don’t like it but if that pleases HIM, I will not resist. I want Him to be pleased. Is He going to save Southern Baptist from themselves? I don’t know. I hope He does; I pray that He does but the bottom line is this–I don’t know His future plans or how this will unfold–He does. I trust that HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING. I can assure you that the dems, the marxist, the muslims and the world don’t know what they are doing. Actually the dems and marxist are now one people. Just poke your head through one of the port holes to heaven and you will see: God is on the throne. He is running the show.

Extra

Made the rounds yesterday and I am asking you not to forget Terry, Becky, Gregg, Traci, Sarah and Edith Bennich in your prayers. Mrs. Edith is not doing well and not making much progress. Terry was awake and talked to me some. Gregg has a treatment plan and will start soon.

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