Sept. 13 through Sept. 20, 2009

This week’s devotional thoughts are in a different format than we normally use. Instead of citing a scripture passage, I’ve shared stories from either my own experience or that I know to be true. These true stories, based on Biblical principles can help bolster our faith as they give us hope and encouragement.

Day 1, One man’s secret for living life to the fullest
You can’t always help overhearing conversations in restaurants and the one I overheard the other day is worth repeating. Someone asked the fellow at the table next his secret for success. “Well,” replied the man, “First, I’ve learned to accent faith in God, life and my fellowman. Second, I believe in and practice the power of prayer in every area of my life—personal and business. And third, I try to cooperate with the leadership of the Holy Spirit in everything I do. If a person does that, then I believe he can live successfully and live life to its fullest.”

Day 2, Learn to lean on the Lord, He will bring about best outcomes for you.
The youngest child of an abusive mother, she was place for adoption before she was ten years old and was adopted by an loving older professional couple. She married young and quickly became the mother of four children, but her husband was not ready to settle down and the marriage ended in divorce. She gathered up what inner strength she had left, found a better job and sat about making a life for her and the children. A few years later, she met and married a wonderful man and life was good again. Then a series of circumstances overwhelmed him and he began drinking heavily and became physically abusive, which ended that marriage. Through the years she had moved up the ranks at her employer to a good position. One day she was called in to the manager’s office and terminated because “corporate feels we have to cut costs”. With only nontransferable skills she was forced to return to school to upgrade her skills. She confided to her adoptive mother that she was afraid she that since she had been out of school for so long she wouldn’t be able to master the new material. Her adoptive mother looked her in the eye and said “Lean on the Lord and do your best—then you’ll be able to do it!” Taking this sage advice, she turned her fears over to God and never scored lower than 85% on any test, and recorded 100% on the main test. Today, she is settled in a good career, bright prospects for the future—and about to marry again—this time to her high school sweetheart.

Day 3, Be open to those times when we can become instruments of God’s help to other people. While we can’t always “witness” in the way conservatives define it, but we can offer hope and encouragement by sharing how faith has helped get us through difficult times. Recently, I had a gentleman in my office to discuss his career. During our discussion he had mentioned his church a couple of times. Sensing that he was fearful of the career uncertainty that lay before him, I ask for and received his permission to tell him how his faith could help in the coming days. A few days later he wrote the following in an email: “Bob no matter how my situation turns out, and we both know it will work out, I will not soon forget our conversation. I truly do feel that one of those "God Things" happened last Friday in your office. Stop and think, we didn't have any knowledge of each other until that meeting. Yet in a very short time, in our own ways, we had a connection with God.”

Day 4, Never be afraid to pray for the seemingly impossible!
“I need a prayer partner” the woman said, “We need to sell our house, and we need to sell it in 30 days!” That’s a tall order, but she and her prayer partners began praying. Ten days past but no one had even looked at the house. Fifteen, then twenty days went by. But they kept praying for what even the most optimistic real estate agent would call a miracle. On day twenty-five a couple said they’d take the house, but on day twenty-seven they changed their mind! But the valiant prayer group kept praying and on day twenty-nine a buyer appeared, offered to pay cash and the deal was completed on the thirtieth day.

Day 5, Follow God’s guidance, He has already opened the way and has a blessing for you!
My late uncle, The Reverend Robert L. King (Big Bob King, to those who knew him) said that early one morning he got an inner stirring to go visit a particularly difficult individual who lived in the community for whom the members of his church had been praying for several months, but to no avail. To say that this individual was anti-church was an under statement, in fact he had threatened to kill my uncle if he ever invited him to church again! Uncle Bob, aware of this fact tried to quell the impression that he needed to visit the man, but the feeling only intensified. After putting it off as long as he could, he got in his car and drove out to the man’s tobacco farm. As he approached the antebellum house, he saw the man working with some of his farm hands at the curing shed. Filled with trepidation, he turned the car down the dusty lane toward the shed. As he started to get out of the car, he noticed that the man was holding a large knife—and decided to get back into the car “for a lengthy time of prayer to be sure this was God’s leadership and not just ‘gas’!” He bowed his head and began to pray. Suddenly, he heard something slam against the windshield of the car. Startled, he looked up and saw the farmer leaning on the windshield peering at him, the menacing knife in hand. With visions of the knife slicing through his neck, he slowly opened the car door. The man rushed around, grabbed him in a bear hug and said, “Preacher, I’m glad to see you! This morning, out in the field I gave my life to the Lord and was planning to call you to see about getting baptized this Sunday!”

Day 6, Keep hope alive through faith
I once asked a person who had endured more than her share of sorrow, hardship and disappointments how she was able to maintain her courage and composure during the dark days of her life. “I realized very quickly that I could get up everyday and decide things were either hopeless or hopeful. Since I am a child of God and believed that he would see me through, I knew that no matter how bad it got, the darkness would pass and things would be better. Therefore, I choose to face whatever came along with hope, because with God, there are no hopeless situations.”

Day 7, Entrust your situation to God and be amazed!
The doctors told her that by the time her breast cancer was discovered, it had advanced to a critical point and that there was only a 30% chance it hadn’t spread. More testing confirmed this bleak diagnosis and surgery was scheduled for the following Monday. After the initial “Why me Lord?” shock had worn off, she and her husband sought out the prayers of friends from church. She was supposed to check into the hospital on Sunday afternoon, but insisted on attending church that morning. As the minister began the pastoral prayer she felt a burning sensation in the diseased breast. The burning sensation became worse during the sermon. As the choir stood to sing the closing hymn, the burning suddenly stopped. About an hour after checking into the hospital the technicians took her down to X-ray. That evening, her surgeon came in with a puzzled look on his face. “The tumor is only half the size that it was.” The decision was made to go ahead with the surgery. As soon as the doctor left the room, the burning sensation began again and continued until midnight. For some reason, the surgeon decided he wanted more X-rays before operating and they were made early the next morning. After he and his team had studied them, he rushed into the room and said he didn’t know what was happening, but he needed more test before operating. Instead of surgery that Monday, she endured what seemed to be an endless battery of tests. Tuesday morning, she was informed that she could go home because there was no tumor and the blood tests were normal—there was no trace of cancer anywhere in her body.
God Bless You In Every Way, Everyday, All The Way!
Robert Hidde