God Really Does Answer Prayer

By George Dalton

Seven years ago my father died after a long illness and went home to be with the lord.  At his funeral I met a cousin that I had not seen since we were boys fifty years ago.  You know how you do when you see someone that you were once close too.  “Give me your phone number; here take down my number.”

My wife and I had a ranch in east Texas, part of which was on four hundred acres of leased land.  We sold all of the cattle and equipment and moved to a large city.  Several large bales of hay were left in the field from the year before and the owner asked me to make sure they were removed.  I contacted a neighboring rancher and asked him if he could help me get rid of the old hay.  We agreed to meet back at the ranch one morning a week after my father’s funeral.  While driving to the ranch, my cell phone rang, and you guessed it: it was my long lost cousin.  His words were, “How are you fixed for cash money.”  I was stunned.  I haven’t seen this man for five decades and the first thing he wants to know is how much money do you have?  I asked, “Why, what do you need?”  He responded, “I need to borrow a thousand dollars today.”  I asked, “Why do you need a thousand dollars today?”  He said, “I am over drawn at the bank and if I don’t get a thousand dollars today I will have checks bouncing all over town.”

I knew right then I was in over my head.  I told him I was on the way to the ranch and would call him as soon as I got back.  As soon as he hung up I thought of Gideon and his fleece.  So I started to pray, “Dear God I don’t know this man anymore.  Is he a drug addict, an alcoholic, a gambler?  Father I don’t know him, but you do.  Please give me a sign telling me if I should give him the money he wants or not.”

Remembering Gideon’s fleece, I drove for a few minutes thinking about how could God give me a sign.  I prayed, ”Father use the old hay.  If Bud charges me to haul off the old hay, I will know that you do not want me to give that man the money.  If he offers to buy the hay for any amount over $5.00 per bale, I will know that you want him to have the money.”

Bud walked around the field and asked me how many bales I had?  I didn’t know so we counted them.  Exactly one hundred bales.  Then he asked me how much I wanted for the hay.  I decided that I wouldn’t say a word because I had made a deal with God just a few miles up the road.  I said, “You tell me what it is worth to you and that is what I will take.”  He walked around the field for a few minutes looking at the bales and then said, “I’ll give you $10.00 a bale.  Is it Ok if I pick them up Saturday?”  Do the math.  I had one hundred bales and he was going to pay $10.00 per bale.

I raced home and told my wife that I needed a check for $1,000.00.  When I told her the story, she immediately agreed that we should take the money to my cousin.  When I delivered the check to him, my cousin, that I only had seen once in fifty years, thanked me then informed me that he had no idea when he would be able to repay the loan.  I told him about my prayer and then said, “I made my deal with God.  If you pay me or don’t pay me, that is between you and God.”

I shook his hand and walked out of the Wal-Mart where he worked, a happy blessed man.  Because I knew I had just witnessed God’s direct answer to an urgent prayer.

In This World You Will Have Trouble

One Sunday I made the mistake of teaching from John, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world,” John 16:33 NET.

Right after the closing prayer, one family went out into the sub-zero weather to find that they had left the van’s lights on and their battery was dead.  Another family discovered their four-year-old had gotten into their van, turned it on, and backed over a parking bumper.  The worship leader went home to find her husband gone with a note telling her he wanted a divorce.  That night the church’s hot-water heating pipes froze up and the parsonage’s furnace broke down.  A parishioner offered to thaw out the church’s pipes with a blowtorch and caught the building’s subflooring on fire.  Then things got worse!

The next Sunday, I promised never to speak on that passage again.

“Trouble” seems to be life’s default setting: flat tires, kidney stones, IRS audits . . . the list goes on and on.  So, I’m assuming you and I will be facing some trouble this week.  But Christ offers us “peace” and “overcoming” victory today as well.

That’s why Paul can write, “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed,” 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 NET.

So, have a “but not” week!  We will have trouble, but not defeat!

QUOTE: Life is difficult.  This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.  It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.  Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult.  Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.  ~ M. Scott Peck

Today’s devotion by James N. Watkins is reprinted by permission from www.jameswatkins.com [please make a hyperlink] copyright © 2009.  He is the author of fifteen books, including Squeezing Good Out of Bad, and over two thousand articles.  He has spoken across the United States as well as overseas.

Brewing Up a Good Story

By Rhonda Rhea

I’m so excited that I found biblical grounds that my husband should be the one to make the coffee every morning.  Hebrews.  You know, “He brews”?  And it’s a whole book.  I figure that’s pretty solid biblical grounds, right?  Wait. Did I really twice mention biblical “grounds” in the middle of a bunch of coffee talk?  Okay, so no doubt I need to stay more alert in exactly how I read God’s word.  The extra-shot-of-espresso, high-caff kind of alert.  It’s important not to get lazy.

Isn’t it weird how we can sometimes make God’s Word say things it’s not really saying?  Stringing things together that aren’t related, adding meaning where it doesn’t belong.  Or sometimes we simply neglect God’s Word altogether.  And that’s altogether the wrong thing to do.  The thing is, there are essential life-building truths we just can’t ignore if we want to live a vital, fruit-filled, wide-awake kind of life in Christ.  The Bible is not just a collection of good stories a group of people brewed up.  It’s God’s message to us.  And there is plenty of meaning right there in his word—right there in black and white—without trying to squeeze out something else.  Meaning to last a lifetime.  And meaning to change a lifetime.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  Now there’s some high-powered life-fuel.  And 2 Timothy 3:14-17 lists some of the amazing things scripture does is in our lives.  “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Coffee may partially equip us for a morning.  But God’s word thoroughly equips us for every good work.  His word equips us for life!

I think I’ll be percolating on that truth for a long time.

Meanwhile, I finally figured out that I can program the coffee maker to make the coffee all by itself.  Auto-brew.  There’s no book in the Bible about it or anything like that, but is it okay if I tell you that I thought it was a pretty marvelous “revelation”?

Sitting On A Hill

I just heard a news report that parents and their young children are not getting enough sleep.  I hope they didn’t pay a lot for that research, because we could have told them that.  My husband and I require different amounts of sleep, but both of us need our down time.  As Christians we also need God time.  Not only time to study and pray, but also time to just sit and be still.  Our spirits plea for us to take time to simply listen and be renewed.  Jesus needed the same thing.

It would have been easy for Jesus to keep preaching, knowing He only had a few days left.  This easily overlooked passage tells us, in the midst of it all He went out and sat on a hill.  How many times have I said, “I have so much to do before I can rest tonight”?  Even Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy One Himself, knew He needed renewal each night.  Yes, parents, children, and everyone else are most likely not getting enough rest.  And every Christian can probably use more time to sit on a hill and be still with God.

PRAYER: Dear God, help us set aside the big to-do list each night and spend a few minutes with You in stillness, sitting on a hill.

“So every day Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, but at night he went and stayed on the Mount of Olives,” Luke 21:37 NET.

Today’s devotion is by Cheri Cowell, a student at Asbury Theological Seminary (Orlando).  Cheri writes and speaks on the deep questions of faith.  Her first book Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life (Beacon Hill) is described as a biblically sound, no nonsense approach to making God-centered life choices.  For comments or to inquire about her speaking schedule, visit www.DirectionAndDiscernment.com.

No Fear

 “What was wrong with me?  Why was I struggling so?”  I asked myself.  “Why was it all hitting me so hard?”  The feelings caught me by surprise.   I was overcome with emotion.  Trying my best to hide my unexplained feelings from the kids, and my husband, I hid in the bathroom till I could regain my composure, but the tears didn’t cooperate, I couldn’t seem to hold them back.  Noticing my puffy, red eyes, my daughter asked, “Mom, are you crying?  What’s wrong?”  How could I explain something I didn’t even understand myself?

Questions flooded my mind, causing a panic.  Questions I couldn’t answer.  I felt out of control.  At times I felt I almost couldn’t breath.  “What’s wrong with me?”  I asked.  (No, I’m not pregnant!)  I quickly realized I had been stricken, not by a common cold or stomach bug, but by something far more destructive.  FEAR.  It had me tightly in it’s grip, and wasn’t about to let go.  It consumed me.  I tried to focus on other things, but my mind kept returning to the fearful thoughts that overwhelmed me.  I couldn’t shake it.

Maybe you to, have experienced this kind of fear.  The kind that causes you to think irrationally, react unreasonably or speak rudely.  It is a powerful emotion.  It can cause you to feel hopeless, helpless, and unmotivated.

That day I was fearful of the unknown.  I felt as if every aspect of my life was one big question.  Where are we supposed to live?  What about my husband’s job?  The more questions I asked the more frantic I became because I had no answers.  It wasn’t until I realized that God wanted me to trust Him completely even when I couldn’t see the plan (or control the plan) that a peace came.  Isn’t that what faith is?  It doesn’t take faith to trust God when we can see the outcome.  But it does take faith to trust Him when we can’t see the outcome.  In order to increase our faith in Him and decrease our fear in circumstances, we must focus our minds on Him and meditate on His Word.  We can’t fight fear on our own.  We can, however, fight and win the battle against fear by fighting back with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

PRAYER:  Lord, Thank You that You are the Prince of Peace.  Free me from the grip of fear that too often consumes me.  Increase my faith.  Provide me with Your presence which will guard my heart.  I trust You, Lord, even when I can’t see what’s ahead.  You have a plan and a purpose in it all.  Help me hold on to You.  Let Your Word penetrate deep into my mind and soul so that I can rest in it throughout the day.  Thank You for Your promises. 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does.  Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage,” John 14:27 NET.

Today’s devotion is by Laurie Lovejoy Hilliard of Mom and Loving It Ministries.  Laurie is a speaker and co-author of Bethany House books Mom and Loving It and Hold You, Mommy.  She is married to Charles and has four children, ages 4-14.  www.momandlovingit.org

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