God Prepared Me ... Again!

I was going through a very intense time trying to get the book, Fighting for Your Prodigal through Prayer, submitted to the publisher--a REALLY rough time.

Reading the Bible one morning, I came across this verse: "For in You, O Lord, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God" (Psalm 38:15). 

This reminder that He hears my prayers boosted my faith exponentially!

This is something I already know—I wrote a book on prayer, and I've seen so many prayers answered—but this reminder was timely. I needed it right then.

But it became more than that. It became a preparation for something that was coming.

A few days later, someone I love dearly publicly declared a blatant anti-God statement. 

At the time I read the declaration, I was taking a short break from literally sitting with my computer in my lap reading through the proof of the manuscript. I was reading prayer starters that placed her before the throne of God, and I realized that I have placed her there many times before, and that God heard those prayers and remembered those prayers.

See? I love this person so very much, and because of that great love for her, I desperately want her to know the Lord, His majesty, His intense love, the peace that only He can give, and the joy of being in relationship with Him! It's a life like no other! Why wouldn't I want her to experience it?

And because of that love, I will continue to pray for her. I won't stop.

And God has promised to hear every prayer.

Even Now is Beautiful (Or Will Be)

Sometimes circumstances in the life of our prodigals seem anything but beautiful, but there is a promise that says otherwise:

"He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NKJV). 

So where does this promise fit into this chapter of life, this chapter that is so full of pain caused by bad decisions by our prodigals? How can God actually say this will be beautiful in time?

So many other promises say the same thing in a different way:

1. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28, NKJV). 
2. "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness" (Psalm 30:11, NKJV). 
3. "To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified" (Isaiah 61:3, NKJV).

The promise that God will bring beauty out of even really ugly situations is true. 

This first part is really good, but the verse doesn't stop there. It goes on to say: "Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

You can know that the prodigal is thinking about eternity and the consequences of their actions, even when their actions do not reflect this.

And even though He sometimes gives us raindrops to bring a ray of beauty to our situations, we cannot always see that God is working, but He is. 

We may not know how all of this ugly fits into the beautiful plan of God, but He redeems it all!

"Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives" (Nehemiah 4:14).

Nehemiah was leading the construction of the walls of Jerusalem, and the surrounding enemies did not want them protected by walls. They laughed at them, despised them, and tried using propaganda against them (Nehemiah 2:19). They mocked the Jews (4:1) and planned an attack against them (4:8).

Nehemiah told them, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses" (4:14).

We do not have to fear the enemy of the souls of our prodigals. We simply do what Nehemiah told the Jews: "Remember the Lord, great and awesome." Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You."

Need perfect peace? Need to be free of fear of the enemy? Keep your mind on who God is and what He is capable of. The truth in that will put the lies of the enemy out of play!

Then you can prayerfully build walls of protection around and fight for your prodigal siblings, children, and spouses!

"When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, 'Do not weep.' Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise.' So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother" (Luke 7:13-15).

'Nuf said!

Ants were everywhere!

And there did not seem to be a defined path!

I killed as many as I could with tissues, but I soon realized a few tissues wouldn't do it.

We had one ant bait pod, which we strategically put out, but when I awoke this morning, there were hundreds of ants, so many more than last night. The inside of the pod was solid black from the ants.

I realized one ant bait pod wouldn't be enough, so I made a WalMart run before work and put out two more.

Because things seemed to get worse instead of better, I seriously doubted the pods would be effective, although we have used these pods before with great success. But when I got home from work, I found just two ants. TWO!

Now . . . what does this have to do with raindrops? I realized that although our heavenly Father has come through so many times with great success and His package (Word) promises great success, we sometimes expect to see more problems and little or no progress. We are actually sometimes surprised that He actually does what His Word says He will. Sometimes we try to help with our meager efforts (tissues), but what we really need are more prayer, promises, and praises (pods).

However, it doesn't matter what we either openly or covertly anticipate, God is Faithful, and what He said He will do. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).

Have you memorized The Lord's Prayer? You know: "Our Father which art in heaven . . . ."

"Our Father." That is as far as I got.

I was praying and decided to use The Lord's Prayer as a prayer starter, but when I said, "Our Father," I had to stop and thank God that I am part of an "our." I have family and friends that I love and that love me. I am so very grateful to be part of an "our," but our fellowship is not complete, inhibited by an inability to completely connect through a common relationship with Jesus Christ.

Recently two more family members have been saved, and it is such a joy to have full fellowship with them again. For some I am still prayerfully waiting.

I am praying for the day that God will truly be Father to everyone in my "our."

Redeemer is one of my favorite names of God.

Not because of anything I have done or anything that I am, the Father redeemed me. He sent His Son to pay for MY sins. He redeemed me!

When we used to sing, "I'm redeemed by love divine," it was so moving; and when we sang "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so," I wanted to scream, "SO!" Other songs about being redeemed and the very thought of being redeemed by our God make me feel so thankful!

Then I realized, that if God can redeem you and me, He can redeem our prodigals. If God can save me, He can save them! He did, and He can!

He IS their REDEEMER! Jesus already paid.