The Privilege of Prayer

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple." Psalm 27:4 (KJV)

An invitation has been extended from the High Court of Heaven. It was not sent out to a select few, but was posted for all who hunger for something higher, something better, something more real than the hoopla and hullabaloo of the world's surface traffic.

We have been granted access to the Throne of Grace, and the invitation does not require any dress code. "Come as you are," it says. No need to rehearse what you will say, no need to primp on appearance — no cause to try and impress. And, what's more, you don't have to have it "all together" either.

"Come as you are IN YOUR TIME OF NEED," it says. What this means is that when you feel the least acceptable, THAT"S when you are the most welcomed!

Come broken, come dirty, come troubled, come fearful, come confused, come undone — the Lord waits for you! He will meet you — and change you! You will not leave the same way you entered. What a privilege!

The Bible says, "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in our time of need!" (Hebrews 4:16).

The old Gospel song puts it this way, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear; all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

"Have you trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

"Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer. Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer; in His arms He'll take and shield you — you will find a solace there!"

The invitation has been sent to YOU — accept it even now and come before the Throne of Grace, and discover anew the privilege of prayer.

One Step Closer to a Yes

"Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around." (Proverbs 13:12, The Message)

A friend in the promotion business says, "Every time someone tells me "NO!" I get happier — because I'm one step closer to that person who will say "YES!"
Some people cannot bear to be told "NO" even once; let alone repeatedly. And then there are others who stop just one person too soon. All they needed was to ask one more time. But they didn't. Disappointment can do that to you if you let it. Especially if it seems to be unrelenting — one blow after the next.

Years ago I discovered a splendid little poem that has anchored my life in those times when everything seems to be going wrong — times when your hopes are dashed, your dreams have faded, your deepest desires thwarted, and when so many great expectations become inexplicably disappointed. Maybe you will find it helpful, too.
"Disappointment. HIS appointment. Change one letter, then I see that the thwarting of my purpose is God's better choice for me!"

It is true, as the proverb says, that unrelenting disappointment can leave you heartsick. But the rest of the proverb is also true — "a sudden good break can turn life around." One doesn't come without the other.

Draw yet another breath, my fellow traveler; though you have paused alongside the road — you have not stopped. Your journey is not finished. There's a bend in the road up ahead. And the bend in the road is not the end of the road — unless you fail to make the turn.

Tip your hat respectfully to old man Disappointment, and then be on your way; for God has something better in mind for you. And though you have heard "NO" perhaps a thousand times — you are actually one step closer to a "YES!"
And that single "Yes" can turn your life around!

Prayer is A Cure for Anxiety

Tip! Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the selfish insignificant interests of one person. The littlest prayer expands out by the will of God till it touches all words, preserves all interests, and develops man's greatest wealth, and God's greatest good.

"Commit your way to the LORD; Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass." (Psalms 37:5)

THIS PSALM from which our text is taken shows us the spirit of optimism. The Psalmist says: "Do not fret. Evil is transient, evil-doers shall be cut off in a little while and the wicked shall not be anymore." You will not remove the evils of the world by all your anxiety or worry, or by your anger. It is not worth while to lose your peace of mind over it. But be quiet in your heart, full of prayer, looking up to God that He would step in and deliver us.

Also in this Psalm we can see excellent preservatives of the inward calm of the soul when face to face with anxiety, or with high-handed wrongs done to us.

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness." (Psalms 37:3)

Think on Him. Expect great things from your Almighty Guide and Friend. He cannot fail you.

"Delight yourself also in the LORD; and He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalms 37:4)

If your life is twisted-up concerning earthly things, of course you will be at the mercy of outward things. Familiarize yourself with God's way of thinking and start looking at things through His eyes. If this is the way of your life, you will lose your taste for things of the earth, while you will have great desires for the things of eternity, and God will give you perfect satisfaction in these, because He will give you Himself! The petitions or desires of your heart are very sacred to God, and He will never, never forget them. "He shall give you the desires of your heart."

"Commit your way to the LORD; Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass." (Psalms 37:5)

This could suggest "Commit (Hand-over, Give, Entrust, Assign) your way to the Lord." It is not enough to just hand over the responsibility of selecting our way to God in the great crises of our life. We must do so in the small decisions of every hour. Our lives are made up of trifles. To neglect these is to leave it to drift at haphazard. We need to continually look up to our Heavenly Friend, saying, "I cannot see over the hedge, I must leave with You the decision whether I should go this way or that."

Tip! But how do I know that I am praying in the will of God? Every true attempt to pray is in response to the will of God. Even as clumsy as it may be and untaught by human teachers, but it is accept-able to God, because it is in obedience to His will.

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. " (Psalms 37:7)

The other words we could us for "Rest (is, silent, quite, or relax) in the Lord". There is so much clamoring in the world, and often our heart becomes filled with its noise, so much so that we cannot hear His still small voice. But when every sound has died down into silence, we will hear the voice of God our Father telling us of things which will answer our questionings and calm our doubts. Let your requests be made known unto God, and His peace will guard your heart against all intruders.

PRAYER

My God and Father, enable me to commit my way on You, to trust You, and to believe that when I stand with You in the perfect daylight I will understand what now I take in trust. In Jesus' name AMEN

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 3

Tip! It takes a quiet heart, peace of spirit, and clear vision (long range, if you please), to interpret trouble in terms of strength and high living.

Trouble will make you either bitter or better. Notice how very much alike these words are, and how very little is needed to change them; just the letter "I." Yes, dear ones, it is the "I" that changes the whole matter. When the "I" keeps out of the question, out of the difficulty, life will be better; but when the "I" is introduced and we get mixed in the trouble, life will become bitter and we harden. Too many times this "I" gets in the way; the poor, little, hurt ego gets a slap and down the street it runs, screaming for attention. The dear little ego sits in its doorway and weeps tears of self-pity until its eyes are so red and inflamed that it just cannot see things as they are or should be.

It takes a quiet heart, peace of spirit, and clear vision (long range, if you please), to interpret trouble in terms of strength and high living. Little souls, small people, are usually hurt all the time; the ego within is unduly important and consequently is easily hurt or flattered. Such souls have too small a world and hence everything relates directly to the self within. They will have a very difficult time, to say the least.

Frequently such souls are persons who are seeking justice, fairness, and a proper adjustment of life. They never seem to learn. We are not here for justice; we are here to live. If you expect to be a spiritual and victorious Christian, you may as well learn here and now to drop justice out of your vocabulary as far as it may relate to your life. We do not get justice now. God's Saturday night of settlement has not yet come.

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

Some live as though life and the Christian experience were some kind of slot machine: you put in a dime's worth of kindness and pull out three yards of blessing; then five cents' worth of charity and you think God must bless you next Saturday night. Be very good, kind or generous and next week the winds will blow you a fortune. It is true that what we sow that shall we also reap, and bread cast upon the waters shall return, but God is not too clear on the time element. So we will not always receive our justice here and now.

Jesus never taught His followers to expect justice. Paul did not receive justice. Even great leaders in history did not always receive justice here and now. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean that the Christian or the spiritually-minded one is not conscious of the hurt or the trouble of the injustice. Believe me, dear souls, the Holy Spirit makes one all the more sensitive to the pain, the hurt and the wrong, but the victorious soul has found the gift of grace and the love of God sufficient to hinder the trouble from marring his spirit.

The closer one gets to Christ the more sensitive they will be to pain, to little, petty, mean ways and all the train of unkind and unlovely things which would vex the heart and tarnish the spirit. The eyes are now anointed and they see in them privileges of overcoming and high living. I am sure we have all lived long enough to have had some injustice done us. Yet today God has given us grace not to harbor any resentment or hard feelings. To have trouble or injustice and know the feeling of it, and yet live above and far from its damaging power, is a sign of real spirituality, a sign of Christian character that He has fashioned in the life.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 4

Tip! The closer one gets to Christ the more sensitive he will be to pain, to little, petty, mean ways and all the train of unkind and unlovely things which would vex the heart and tarnish the spirit.

Someone learned of a real injustice done me in material things one time, and he was horrified to know it came from a Christian source. Such treatment as that," he said, "is absolutely wrong. I would not stand for it."

Of course it was wrong and very unfair, and at times I was amazed and tried, but I kept my heart and life open for justice and the right thing to be done by me; however, I was neglected and seemingly forgotten. But God had taken me quite a long distance on the road and I knew He would take care of the matter; so I took of His grace and love and stood it. It never caused me a resentful spirit, nor did I allow the hurt and the disappointment to fester into a sore. And today I praise God for the realities of His life in my heart to keep it sweet when trouble and unfair dealings would chill it to indifference and hardness.

Had we time we could trace through history, both sacred and secular, scores of noble men and women who were not spared the hard places in life. They were good, moral, kind, noble, and yet came under the disciplinary measures of trouble. Certainly Paul knew trouble or he never could have written, "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck" (2 Cor. 11:23-25). Yet out of it all he comes purified and strengthened, a noble expression of God's grace and an example for the ages to come that trouble may be used to build a Christian character.

In the Old Testament we find Joseph and Job and many others demonstrating the same truth. Surely Joseph might have said, "All these things are against me. Where is God? Why do "I" have to put up with all this confusion and trouble when He promised me great victory and triumph?" Yet listen to him after in faith he comes through, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" (Gen. 50:20). We are following in the steps of Christ, who said that the servant was not above his lord. And we read of Him, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

What are you seeking in your trouble today? Is it deliverance or development? You may have the one and not grow, or you may have both and grow. Get the development first and the deliverance will be yours, too. Let this servant minister to you in a way no other servant can. Take the positive attitude and use your trouble as one of the most skillful and wonderful instruments God ever placed into your hands for the working out of the character of Christ to be duplicated in you.

Trouble, if correctly used, will bring you great peace and a deep surrender of spirit which nothing else can work in you. I have not gone far on the way but I can give as my personal testimony that these deeper revelations of truth and clear understanding of the things of God have come only through suffering. I cannot offer you any other method. May God grant you grace to take your share of "trouble". Don't pray for exemption, but may He teach you and use this strange servant to build your life into noble proportions of strength and beauty, and from your life healing streams of understanding and love will flow to broken lives and timid, fearful hearts "For he who suffers most has most to give."