Our God...

"will fight for us..."

Nehemiah 4:20

NKJV

 

The following true life story is dedicated to my sweet friend, Lottie, who began chemo today to battle ovarian cancer for the third time.  Please keep her and all cancer patients in your prayers.

I love you, Lottie. God be with you every step of the way...


 

 

For I Am Persuaded...

"The Gospel is able to take us all the way home..."
Allister Begg, Truth for Life Ministries

This week has been like riding the waves of a tsunami, as I have tried to absorb the news that one of my brothers has been diagnosed with lung cancer.  He is four years younger than I am and has had a difficult life.  He is scheduled for surgery to remove a growth from his lung in October.  He was scheduled this week but cancelled it out of fear that he would not make it through the surgery.  My heart goes out to him, but he must have the surgery if he is to have any chance at all of beating this.

In my brother's case, he was in denial pretty heavily when he called me to tell me he has cancer.  He spent most of the hour long conversation joking about inconsequential things, while avoiding the matter that was most on his mind.  I had no idea what he was dealing with.  At the very end of our conversation, just before we hung up the phone, I "happened" to ask him what I thought was an innocent question about his health.  He answered instantly with the blunt statement "I have lung cancer."  I had to ask him to repeat what he said, to be able to absorb the shock of what he had just told me.  He said it a second time and then waited for my response.  

There are some moments like this that take us beyond our ability to express in words what we are feeling. Without prompting, completely unbidden, a rush of memories flooded my heart of my brother as a little boy; as a handsome young man at his wedding; later, watching him holding his new born babies in his arms...

Of course, not all of my memories are happy ones.  My brother has had more than his share of heartache in his life from the very beginning.  In many ways, he has never healed from some of the most painful experiences he has gone through.  Remembering those moments makes me cry with him for things that happened that never should have...  I remember it all...  And I close my eyes and wish it wasn't so.  

There is an old saying "If wishes were horses, beggars would fly..."  But we don't live in a world of fairy-tales and castles, and beggars that fly.  We live in a real world that hurts us and fails us sometimes, worse than we want to admit.

What are we to do when the heartache overcomes us?  When we wish it were different, and know it is not?  I am convinced that it is at these times that the Gospel of Jesus Christ matters most. When we can't fix life, explain it away, or stand the pain that we are carrying, we need the Gospel. We need to know this just isn't all there is.  We need to know there is a God who sees us and understands the depth of our pain.  We need to know that He is able to carry us all the way home.  

I am in the middle of one of those times with my brother.  I do not know if he will make it through the surgery in October.  He has a myriad of health problems that have weakened him even before this diagnosis.  I would be a liar if I said I am not afraid for him.  I am. Right now, in the midst of my anguish for my brother, I am doing the only thing I can do for him - I am carrying him to the Lord who has a hold of him when I do not.  I stand at the foot of the cross and claim the saving grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for my brother.  

I heard a teaching recently by one of my favorite preachers, Allister Begg, of Truth for Life.  I don't remember a lot of what he said, but I remember these words.  "The Gospel brings us all the way home.  Do not fear and tremble in the face of death if you know Jesus Christ.  For there is not one bit of you that will end up in the trash bin of the universe except your sin."  I love that.  And tonight, I find great comfort in the truth of those words.

My prayers are with those of you who are going through something in your own life that has rocked you to the core.  And, if you would, lift up a prayer for my brother.  That God will be with my brother through the surgery and through all of his tomorrows. 

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."  Romans 8:38.39  NKJV

Stay on Your Knees...

"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but, we trust in the name of the Lord our God."Psalm 20:7  NKJV

Ever feel like giving up in prayer?  Like you're not getting anywhere, so why bother?  I think the enemy of our souls fears us most when we are in prayer.  I believe that is where the real work of heaven is going on.  I am part of a very small prayer group where I live (three or four people most of the time).  But, in that little prayer circle, I can actually feel the power of God falling as we submit our needs to Him and acknowledge our complete dependence on Him.  


Years ago, I was in a similar prayer group.  I wish we had kept a journal of our prayers and tracked the answers.  I bet we would be amazed.  One prayer we prayed repeatedly at that time was for the release of Martin and Gracia Burnham, the missionary couple who were kidnapped in the Phillipines in the '90s.  We prayed for them over and over again.  I was long gone from that little prayer group when our prayers were answered and Gracia was released to her children and Martin to heaven.  I wept when I heard the news of their release.  I remember thanking God for hearing and answering our prayers, long after they had been prayed and I no longer even remembered praying. I was so humbled to realize that God still remembered...


We had the great privilege of "standing in the gap" for them.  You don't hear that term very much any more. But, I believe it is one of the most powerful ways God uses His people.  When people are in the fire, being tried to the utmost, losing strength, faltering in faith, desperately trying to hold on, God calls to His people to surround them in prayer.  What a privilege.  Please join me as we lift up to the Lord the suffering church, wherever it is found.  In a sick bed in America, a prison in Iran, a mass grave in a war torn country far away... This day, while we are still able, let us stand in the gap for them.  Let us pray...

For loved ones suffering from cancer...

"May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;

May the name of the God of Jacob defend you,

May He send you help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen you out of Zion;

May He remember all your offerings,

And accept your burnt sacrifice.

May He grant you according to your heart's desire,

And fulfill all your purpose.

We will rejoice in your salvation,

And in the name of the Lord our God, 

We will set up our banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;

He will answer him from His holy heaven

With the saving strength of His right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses;

But we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They have bowed down and fallen;

But we have risen and stand upright.

Save, Lord!

May the King answer us when we call.

Psalm 20, NKJV