Month: March 2016

What are you passionate about?  Are you transferring that passion to your children, your grandchildren?

Last evening after coming home from church, I saw a picture on Facebook that had passion written all over it.  There was a happy, fulfilled, fun-loving grandfather taking a selfie with his grandson on his back. The gleam in grandpa’s eyes was priceless.  You see, I have known this man for many years, more than I want to count (Ha!).  He is passionate about his walk with Christ, his precious wife, his own children who are all now married and gone, the ministry he shares with thousands every year, and many other things.

I also know that this grandfather has a real passion for hiking and running.  He has served for many years at a camp in the mountains of western North Carolina that is known for its four waterfalls.  He has hiked and ran to the well-known falls multiplied times.  It is no wonder to me to see this selfie of grandfather and grandson standing in front of one of the waterfalls.  Furthermore, the status read, “I had so much fun tonight going to a waterfall with my grandson.  I think we have many more hikes in our future.”

You see, when you are passionate about something, you want to share it with others!  What really struck me about this picture was grandad carrying his grandson to his favorite place.  He was willing to be uncomfortable for a while, to sweat some, to be inconvenienced a bit, to take a small risk, and to make time to share his passion with someone he loved.

In particular, parents and grandparents, are you passionate about Christ?  Does the Word of God, the mind of Christ, resonate in your heart?  Are you growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ in such a way that you cannot hold it in?  You just have to share it with someone!  Are you willing to be inconvenienced a bit to make sure the children around you know Christ in a personal way?  Can they see your passion for Him?  Would you be willing to “carry them on your back” so they could experience Christ?  Would you sweat some?  Would you take risks?  Would you plan the time and take the time?

Children become passionate about who and what is passionate to us.  If you took a selfie of you teaching your children and/or grandchildren about Christ, what would be seen?  Would there be passion in your voice, a gleam in your eye, a delight in your soul, and a heart to do it again?  They are watching and listening.

Psalm 16:7-9, 11

7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set the Lord always before me;

Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.

11 You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 

Psalm 86:8, 10-12

8 Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord;

Nor are there any works like Your works.

10 For You are great, and do wondrous things;

You alone are God.

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord;

I will walk in Your truth;

Unite my heart to fear Your name.

12 I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,

And I will glorify Your name forevermore.

Have you been praying a long time for someone to be saved?  Do not give up!  (2 Peter 3:9)

Yesterday afternoon I was invited to the home of one of our dear senior saints.  She had something very precious that see wanted me to see.  Ellie’s husband passed away 14 years ago, but she has a wonderful reminder of the greatest day in his life.  Gene was not a born again believer when they married, but in God’s mercy at the age of 31, he trusted Christ as his Savior and Lord.  His own personal testimony is hand-written in this picture.

I was led to the Lord Jesus, by my father-in-law, in his house trailer at Warsaw, Ind., on a Monday afternoon, August 20^th, 1962.  I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and in return, he has promised me eternal life & some day a home in heaven with him, & our heavenly father and all the true believers, which are from the past, the present, & future.

May I always love him & serve him & thank him, for washing our sins away on the cross of Calvary.

I probably would not have accepted him, had it not been for all the prayers of my wife, my folks, my relatives, and my friends that love me.

Two things stand out to me in Gene’s testimony:

1. The last sentence acknowledges prayers of importunity from Ellie, his folks, his relatives and his friends . . . . “that love me.” What an example of “loving your neighbor” (Matthew 22:37-39)!! You pray for them without ceasing (1Thessalonians 5:17). Do not give up praying for lost souls!

2. The fact that family was used of the Lord to reach Gene for Christ speaks volumes to me. The devil likes to tempt us into believing that the most difficult people to reach are those within our own family.  Truth is, they are the easiest to reach.  You know them; they know you.  Barriers do not have to be broken down by a stranger.  Are you burdened about your lost loved ones?  Talk to them soon about Christ. Do not give up sharing the gospel with folks who desperately need it!

Importunate praying never faints nor grows weary; it is never discouraged; it never yields to cowardice, but is buoyed up and sustained by a hope that knows no despair, and a faith which will not let go. Importunate praying has patience to wait and strength to continue. It never prepares itself to quit praying, and declines to rise from its knees until an answer is received. (E. M. Bounds)

Luke 18:1-8         Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” 6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

When you pray, how often do you cry out to the Lord?  Charles Spurgeon has eloquently recorded in his Treasury of David the following commentary about Psalm 18:6, In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God.

Prayer is that postern gate which is left open even when the city is straitly besieged by the enemy; it is that way upward from the pit of despair to which the spiritual miner flies at once when the floods from beneath break forth upon him. Observe that he calls, and then cries; prayer grows in vehemence as it proceeds. Note also that he first invokes his God under the name of Jehovah, and then advances to a more familiar name.

my God

Thus faith increases by exercise, and he whom we at first viewed as Lord is soon seen to be our God in covenant. It is never an ill time to pray; no distress should prevent us from using the divine remedy of supplication. Above the noise of the raging billows of death, or the barking dogs of hell, the feeblest cry of a true believer will be heard in heaven.

He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

Far up within the bejewelled walls, and through the gates of pearl, the cry of the suffering suppliant was heard. Music of angels and harmony of seraphs availed not to drown or even to impair the voice of that humble call. The king heard it in his palace of light insufferable, and lent a willing ear to the cry of his own beloved child. O honoured prayer, to be able thus through Jesus’ blood to penetrate the very ears and heart of Deity. The voice and the cry are themselves heard directly by the Lord, and not made to pass through the medium of saints and intercessors.

My cry came before Him

The operation of prayer with God is immediate and personal. We may cry with confident and familiar importunity, while our Father himself listens.

The words cry out, cried out mean “to cry out for help, to shout, to implore for aid.”  These are days of distress, trouble, battle, fainting, and longing.  The battle rages against the devil, the flesh and this world. Our Heavenly Father Who has given us complete access into the Holiest (Hebrews 4:16; 10:1-19) desires that we cry out to Him for His ear is open to our supplications.  Let us relinquish our weak praying in exchange for prayer that comes from the agony of our souls.  May even weeping, singing, and scripture be heard by God, Who for His glory, will accomplish His will which is always good.

Psalm 34:15        The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.

Psalm 34:17        The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 56:9          When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me.

Psalm 57:2          I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.

Psalm 84:2          My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 102:1        Hear my prayer, O Lord, And let my cry come to You.

Psalm 107:28      Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.

Psalm 119:145   I cry out with my whole heart; Hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes.

Psalm 119:146   I cry out to You; save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.

Psalm 141:1        LORD, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.

Psalm 142:1        I cry out to the Lord with my voice; With my voice to the Lord I make my supplication.

Enter your “War Room” today and cry out!  Make haste to do so.  Our gracious Heavenly Father will meet you there!