Category: prayer

Feb 19

How to Keep Calm and Carry On

 

What are your fighting against these days? Cancer? Addiction? Depression? Discouragement?

Or what are you fighting for?  Your marriage? A wayward loved one? Improved finances? Restored health?

Well, as the Brits like to say:

Seriously.

Keeping calm in the face of impending disaster actually is a recurring message throughout the Bible.

As the Israelites fled from Pharaoh’s enslavement, they panicked when the Egyptian army began overtaking them. “But Moses told the people, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue today…The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Sure enough, the Red Sea parted, the Israelites walked through on dry ground and then the waters rushed back, drowning all the pursuers.

There’s another great calming story  in 2 Chronicles 20. The short background is that the Jewish King Jehoshaphat was told that some great armies were coming to attack him. His response was not atypical from what ours might be—he “was terrified and begged the Lord for guidance.” Shortly, God answered his prayer by sending His Spirit to speak through one of the king’s men:

 He said, “This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow, march out against them… But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!” 

The king and his people believed God and began to worship Him, praise Him and sing to Him. At the very moment they did this, the Bible says God caused the approaching armies to fight amongst themselves and kill each other. The Israelites won the battle without a fight because God fought for them.

Standing still and being calm does not logically sound like a good way to win a battle. But then God’s ways are not always our ways, are they? The armies coming against the Israelites were way too large and powerful to be defeated. The situations were hopeless from God’s people’s perspective—but hope-filled from God’s vantage point.

Perhaps the problem  you or our loved one is facing seems too difficult or even hopeless. But as my pastor, Brian Jones, reminded our congregation recently: “Every miracle in the Bible is preceded by a problem.”

Whatever problem you are fighting against–or for–is setting the stage for God’s divine intervention. I can’t promise exactly how He will deliver–whether the situation will miraculously resolve or if He will supernaturally empower you to get through it.  But if you trust Him, you can keep calm and watch the Lord’s victory.

So stay calm, dear friend, and know that even if what you see doesn’t seem to make sense, God is fighting for you. And please remember…He’s never lost a battle.

(Be sure to open in your browser to hear the music video “Never Lost a Battle” by Elevation Worship.)

 

Dec 04

How much praying is enough?

Guest blog by Julie Coleman author/speaker/teacher/cancer survivor http://juliecoleman.org

Is God more moved to answer our requests by persistence? If we pray hard enough or long enough will that increase our chance of getting the answer we are hoping for?

How persistent is enough? Praying for something 20 times? Fifty times? Five times a day? Ten?

The Apostle Paul didn’t seem to think in terms of big numbers. When his “thorn in the flesh” became unbearable, he prayed to God. Not 50 times or even 20. “I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me,” he writes in 2 Corinthians 12:8.

Three times? I could knock that out in a half-hour. If persistence was the issue, don’t you think Paul would have made the request more times than that? 

You may have heard Jesus’ parable about the “persistent widow “(Luke 18:2-8). The woman was being harassed, so she approached a certain judge for assistance. The judge had no interest in her plea and ignored her protests. However, he finally tired of her constant badgering and gave in to her demands, saying: “Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.”

I’ve always heard it taught that this story teaches we need to be persistent in prayer, so God will give us what we want. But I believe the Luke 18 parable is not so much about the widow, but about the self-absorbed judge.

The judge is a real jerk: ignoring the pleas of the oppressed, refusing to respect God or people. Absolutely self-absorbed. Even when he finally acquiesces to the widow’s repeated requests, it’s all about him. “Because this widow bothers ME…otherwise by continually coming she will wear ME out.” (emphasis added)

Now seriously, is this depiction of the judge meant to represent God in any way?

No! Jesus contrasts the earthly judge with His heavenly Father so the disciples can see how different the two are.

“Then the Lord said, ‘Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you he will grant justice to them quickly!’” Luke 18:6-8

I believe Jesus is reassuring His disciples about the character of God, not giving them a burden of how persistently they ought to pray.

A careful look at the widow parable yields a much more accurate view of what Jesus was trying to communicate as Luke gives us a big clue in his introduction. “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” (italics added)

The disciples would not lose heart if they understood the character of God. He has a plan for this world and will bring it to fulfillment. Jesus is teaching them: God is on the throne. He wants you to trust Him…even when things get grim. He is NOT that self-absorbed judge. Don’t lose heart when opposition comes and circumstances pile up against you.

I don’t think this parable is about prayer at all. Instead it’s about who God is…and why we should never lose heart.

 

Be sure to open this blog in your browser to hear the music video “Do Not Lose Heart” by Caroline Cobb.

 

 

 

Read more of Julie’s wisdom at http://juliecoleman.org                     

Jul 17

Are you negotiating with God?

Don’t let this adorable, seemingly innocent smile fool you… she’s a negotiator.  Consider our recent conversation.

ABBY: You have any stuffed animals dat were mommy’s when she was a widdle girl?
ME: I don’t think so. I think I gave them all to her already.
ABBY: Can you just check?
ME: Sure, I can do that.
ABBY: An’ if you find any, can you give ’em to me?
ME: OK, I’ll do that.
ABBY: Good, ’cause Mommy said we no can buy any more stuffed animals.

Uh-oh. Scammed by a preschooler.

I don’t think Abby’s negotiating skills are all that unusual as I believe most children are negotiators–wrangling to get what they want, how and when they want it. By the teenage years the art seems to be perfected. (I recall our middle daughter insisting that because she was old enough to have donated blood, she was old enough to do whatever else she wanted!)

But for many of us, negotiating is something we carry into adulthood and even into our relationship with God. I know I’ve been guilty over the years of trying to bargain with the Almighty. I remember in the spring of 1991 just after finishing my chemo, I knew God was calling me to start a cancer support ministry. Honestly, I just wanted to put cancer behind me and get back to my normal life. Hanging out with cancer patients sounded depressing.

However, a few weeks later I came up with an idea that I figured would suit both God and me: I would start a cancer support group, and God would have to let me live because everyone in that group would need me!

But God reminded me that He doesn’t play “Let’s Make a Deal.” (I was surprised, too,  that He knew that TV show!) Instead, He wanted me to get involved—no guarantees and definitely no negotiating.

As most of you know, I reluctantly started a Cancer Prayer Support Group in October 1991 and it became one of the greatest joys of my life. In fact, many of you reading this are people I met in that group. Eventually, that group led to me being hired by my oncologist, Dr. Marc Hirsh, where I met many, many more of you. And then my role as his patient advocate led to my writing my first book, When God & Cancer Meet, which has sold more than 100,000 copies and allowed me to meet many, many, many more of you.

What a great lesson in non-negotiating. I didn’t need to wring blessings from God’s hands.  He was  not interested in my bargaining chips or attempted cajoling. I just needed to follow where He was leading and leave the rest up to Him. When I did, He proved to me one again that He is able to “accomplish more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20)

“So I stop all negotiations with the God of all Creation.
You’re bigger than I thought You were.
You’re bigger than I thought You were.
I will rest in the Father’s hands.
Leave the rest in the Father’s hands.”
–Passion “Bigger than I Thought You Were”

(P.S. Don’t miss the music video below–I honestly planned this whole blog around the words because they are so powerful.)

 

Apr 24

Why Does God Allow Suffering?


This has to be one of the most difficult questions we can ask.

Why do children get cancer?
Why does a young woman fight for her life while an elderly woman prays to die?
Why do brilliant minds get dementia?
Why does one person walk away from an accident unhurt and another is paralyzed for life?
Why do some people have so many trials and others have so few?

Volumes have been written on this topic and I have been enlightened especially by the works of C.S. Lewis and Philip Yancey. But because neither of them is available today to write this blog 🙂 I’d like to share three reasons God may be allowing suffering in your life or the life of someone you love. (Based on the book For Those Who Hurt by Charles Swindoll, copyright 1977,  published by Multnomah Press.)

Why God Allows Suffering in Our Lives

  1. That we might be prepared to comfort others.
    All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

2.  That we might not trust in ourselves.
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we never would live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. We have placed our confidence in him and he will continue to rescue us. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

3.  That we might learn to give thanks in all things.
And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. 2 Corinthians 1:11

I certainly can’t make sense of your/your loved one’s suffering for you, but I hope you will ask God if one of these is might be “the reason” for that suffering. I believe that knowing our suffering has a purpose can make it easier to bear. 

Perhaps Shannon Wexelberg’s words in the music video “Different Kind of Miracle” will resonate with your weary heart: If I had my way every time I called to Heaven, would I know Him like I know Him today? While I’ve waited so long, He’s been working all along…Could it be He is using all this in my life? Could it be this prayer I’ve prayed is not quite what He’s after? And I will find He’s done a different kind of miracle in my life.

(Be sure to open in your browser to enjoy.)

Mar 13

Have you raised a HALLELUJAH today?

A diagnosis of cancer or any difficult trial brings with it many responses, but “Hallelujah!” is not usually one of them. When I found out my cells had gone awry and allowed cancer to grow inside me, gratefulness was pretty much the last thing I felt. 

But I kept thinking about the admonition in the Bible to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). I knew that did not mean I had to be some sort of masochist and praise God for ­every­ awful thing that happened to me. Instead, I believed it meant I could have a thankful heart no matter how depressing my circumstances were.

So a few weeks after my diagnosis in 1990, I began to look for something for which to be thankful. It was one of those conversations between my head and my heart.

Let’s see . . . I have cancer at the age of 36 after taking good care of myself physically. No, ­can’t think of anything worthy of thanks there.

My three little girls may have to grow up without a mother. Nope, that ­doesn’t work either.

My husband already has buried one wife and now has a 60-percent chance he’ll outlive another. Naw, that isn’t inspiring any words of praise.

­I’m going to have to take toxic chemotherapy, when I ­don’t even like to take an aspirin. Not much there to feel grateful about.

Finally, it came to me.

Dr.  Marc Hirsh! I have a Messianic ­Jewish oncologist—who knows, maybe the country’s ­only Messianic ­Jewish oncologist—practicing medicine just seven miles from my home. I humbly bowed my head and heart and for the first time since hearing the dreaded news “you have cancer,” I thanked God in the midst of my circumstance.

“Father, you know I ­don’t feel any thankfulness about my situation, but I want to thank You for leading Dr. Marc Hirsh here to be my physician.”

I can ­only imagine God smiling and saying, “Now you’re getting it. Just wait to see how ­really thankful you’re going to be when you I use this doctor to change your life.”

After that prayer, the rest is history, as they say. (If you want to read the earlier incredible story of Marc’s spiritual journey to faith in Jesus as his Messiah, you’ll have to read my first book, When God & Cancer Meet.) But the short story of our “doctor-patient relationship” is that our families became close friends and in 1996 he and his wife Elizabeth offered me a position in his office as a patient advocate providing emotional and spiritual care to cancer patients and their caregivers. I ­can’t imagine what my life would have been like without being a patient advocate for nearly 20 years.

If you or your loved one have a cancer diagnosis or are facing some other unwanted difficulty, I’m wondering if in the midst of your circumstances you have found a reason to raise a HALLELUJAH–literally “praise song” (hallelu) “God” (Jah)).

I think the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk penned a wonderful example of offering a “sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15) even when everything around him was going wrong:

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
And though there are no grapes on the vines;
Even though the olive crop fails,
And the fields lie empty and barren;
Even though the flocks die in the fields,
And the cattle barns are empty,

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! Habakkuk 3:17,18

Go ahead, be thankful in all things—even when the hair follicles have no “blossoms,” even though your strength “fails”” and even though your dreams “lie empty and barren.” Go ahead and “Raise a Hallelujah” because a prayer of thanksgiving can unleash the power of God in our lives in amazing ways! (Don’t miss the music video below–open in your browser to view!)