Pray Without Ceasing

Each Monday evening from 7:30 to 8:30 I host "Praise, Prayer and Power for Today" on NewVision FM.  It is 90.1 FM or you can listen on the computer at NewVision.FM.  My husband, Jim and our good friends Walt and Bev answer phones and take prayer requests.  We have been doing this for over two years now.  Each week, as we leave the studio, I am emotionally drained.  Praying for so many people with the most heart wrenching stories takes an emotional toll.  However, I would not want to do anything different.  I know and remember all the times in my life when I have counted on the prayers of others to get me through.  When Jim and I lost our youngest child to leukemia, when our marriage almost ended, when my mother died - those were the times when we needed the most prayer and needed others to lift us up, because in our own stregth we couldn't do it.  Then at work, we have an employee prayer chain for anyone who wishes to join, and the prayer requests sometimes take your breath away.  We have a young mother with a terminally ill daughter, someone's mom who has pancreatic cancer, a man who recently suffered debilitating pain from arthiritis, a man whose young daughter died in a foreign country and again the list goes on and on.  All of these things help me to understand what Paul meant when he said, "Pray without ceasing."  You can not hear all of these requests and not have a desire to pray and then pray some more.  I know there is not a magic formula or a guarantee that prayers will be answered the way we think we should be.  But we do know that God's ear is inclined to our prayers, and He always answers in the BEST way.  He only admonishes us to pray without ceasing.  We must have faith that He will take care of the rest.  Please join me and pray without ceasing.

He Has Promised

God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  He has promised to meet all of our needs.  I have seen Him prove Himself over and over.  There have been times in our married life when we scraped together change to be buy milk for our kids.  There were times when we really didn't know how we were going to pay our bills, yet God has proved Himself faithful.  Through all this, though, God has taught me many things.  I remember once when I had $10 hidden away.  It gave me comfort to know that I had that money should we need milk or gas.  However, one day the Lord quietly whispered to my heart and asked, "You find comfort in knowing you have that $10.  Should you not more so have comfort in Me and My riches - in My promises?  I want you to take the $10 and give it away.  I want you to trust Me totally and completely for My promises are yes and amen!"  It was with some anxiety that I did what I was told - that is, several days later.  For you see, I had no peace while clinging to that money.  Once I gave it away, I was at peace, and the Lord proved Himself faithful.  He has not, or will He ever, leave me or forsake me.  He has met all our needs.  He has proved Himself faithful.  The older I get the more I trust.  It is such a wonderful feeling of freedom from this world and security it Him.  He has promised.  Won't you trust Him today?

Grace

We often hear that grace is unmerited favor. However, today I heard a song that explained it better than I've ever heard before. The words are "Grace keeps giving me the things I don't deserve. Mercy keeps withholding things I do." Take a few minutes to think about this.Think about it some more. How can we ever praise God enough for His grace and mercy.