When Peace Like a River Doesn't Attend My Way...

The song, "It Is Well with My Soul," starts by saying the words, "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul." So many people know that song by heart but I wonder if they know it with heart.

Let me ask you, what gets you down? What draws out your worries and fears? Does the future scare you? Does a coming doctor visit or dying loved one or some financial obligation dominate the thoughts of your life? Maybe there's an ongoing fall-out between you and someone you know, maybe someone you love greatly. God has been doing amazing things in my life lately, and sometimes I struggle with voicing what He's doing. He really got a hold of my wife today and addressed these very issues, which we both have concern for. We're financially strapped, seeking God's will, jobless, uncertain about what the next day holds, all of that stuff.

Anyone can find things to worry about from their little point on the map. It doesn't matter have all the riches in the world and a huge network of friends, or if they're staying the night tonight in a homeless shelter somewhere, going on perhaps twenty, thirty, maybe forty years of second-hand clothes and half-rate meals. Worry has nothing to do with where you are in life. Yes, I said it, and it is true. Let me say it again. Worry has nothing to do with where you are in life. Third time? Worry has nothing to do with where you are in life.

Horatio Spafford wrote those words following the loss of many of his immediate family. What would crush so many people, even many Christians, didn't overcome this man. Why? Oh, if you don't know Christ as your Savior, it would be hard to understand. You see, Jesus doesn't just save people from an eternity in hell. It's not an insurance claim that we buy into--and sadly, I think a lot of people did just that thinking that was that. God wants to lead us into a deep relationship with Him--I think being saved from hell is so far from where He wants to go with His children. Hell's a big reason to trust in Christ, but in some ways I think it is minute once that issue is taken care of for a person as they place their faith in Him.

Nevertheless, I was speaking about peace. You know, when you spend time with God, deep and rich time, that is, you find those worries of life being choked out by thoughts of God (thanks again for showing me your devo book today, Ann).

The antidote to worry and fear and doubt and uncertainty as a believer is to spend the vast amount of your time with God in your mind. Read your Bible. Pray daily and pray exhaustively, and pray as things come to mind. Reach out to hurting people and show them God's love. Show them a difference in this world, too. Christians are far more than moral people, aren't they? Aren't they!? They're far more than church-goers in religious social clubs, right? Return to Him if you've been walking away from Him. Just go to your Bible, pray, worship, get on your face on the ground and just cry before Him. Be honest with Him and with yourself about how you've been living. Don't just pray, "thanks for the food and help my uncle with his doctor's visit this week." Don't you have more feelings about things than that?? Don't you have more going on in your mind than some cold, polished prayer request to break out for the day, or week, or who knows how long ago?

People, listen, God wants you to treat Him in a personal way, not with distance and religiosity. Go before Him in the depth of your heart and pour it out. Watch your worries go away. Will problems cease? No, but you'll be able to look them in the face and not lose hope or grow restless. God is in control. John MacArthur once said, "Assurance is a gift of the Holy Spirit to those who are obedient." Having gone through so much of the Bible, I find myself echoing those words because the doubts about God's love and presence and the promises of peace and joy and hope seem to go out the window when I abandon living like God would want me to.

Today, be open minded to God, just ask Him to lead you in what you do, but don't be so foolish as to stay out of His word or not to pray. If nothing else, pray for Him to have His way with you and be open to what He does. You'll find that those prayers you've been known to pray don't necessarily have to be fulfilled in your ways if you love His ways more than your own. I can pray for health and answers to my problems and such, but you'll be doing very well if you can get to the point where you rejoice more in God's answers than your desired outcomes.

I honestly believe that God has us live in faith far more for the benefit of learning to trust Him than to obtain the answers. Make God the focal point of your mind and the King of your heart. There's nothing more hopeless than when peace, like a river, doesn't attend my way. Let God step in and change that. What happens to you may not change, but who you are in the midst of all that life throws at you will change.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 4:6-7)

Every Circumstance is a Crossroads

Yesterday I spoke about the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality. How greatly you and I need to get away from that. Believers cannot live like that--well, they can, but they shouldn't. I have been disagreed with on this before, that God does have a plan for you and it's more than just simply principles. Yes, if you are an advocate of "Decision Making and the Will of God" by Gary Freisen, I'll probably disagree with you, because I believe God has more to life than putting us out in a field to go where we please within certain parameters using biblical principles. I totally agree with biblical principles; I love God's word because it's God's. I believe that God, while He may not make all things evident and you'll have to choose sometimes, will honor our request for knowing what to do in a given situation.

I believe we can step out in faith into that situation in our particular response by faith, trusting that we are doing what God would have us to do as we have sought His guidance and promote His will above our own. This is more personal, for sure, and yes, it does step into the experiential. Nevertheless, consider how we do this already--we pray about an upcoming surgery, a big test, a job interview, finding a spouse, etc. Do we pray with enough description? This may be where it could be better utilized. We can pray about that upcoming surgery that what God desires to happen would happen and that our attitude would be to praise Him for His decision. We can pray that God would give wisdom to the doctors and peace to our hearts as we approach that moment. We can pray, but we cannot control the circumstance. Nevertheless, we can control our response.

My dad would probably disagree on this and say something along the lines of, "If there's five quality options, it's up to you to choose. God gives a choice." I agree that God gives a choice, but I also believe that I could pray that God would lead me to one option instead of five and even if there were five options, I could ask God about having wisdom in the decision and choosing that one He would have out of the five. There are definitely four options that I wouldn't end up choosing, and that one that God does have me go with will be with great purpose toward the future of His purposes. Looking at history, I find it very hard to not see the sovereignty of God working in the decisions of men--but what if men simply asked God and stepped out in faith that God was leading them in these decisions? They could at least not second-guess themselves about past decisions when they look at the faith they had in God. I mention our child that we lost last October in some past articles (No Day is Too Dark, and another one prior to that) and I can tell you that this very situation happened with that.

My wife and I prayed to God and asked Him sincerely if He would have us try for another baby. We asked that if He wanted us to have a child, that she'd conceive and that He'd use this child for His glory--and a way of us saying "thank you" to God, a gift to Him. The pregnancy went fine, we saw the baby and still have the pictures from the first ultrasound, a child kicking in the womb. I don't think it was a month later that Ann went to the doctor for a check-up and the baby was dead. Out of the blue, so unexpected, so heart-wrenching and emotional. (Lose a child even through miscarriage someday, maybe you already have, and you'll know how much the loss can hurt, just like losing any other loved one.) I stepped out in faith with Ann and prayed that God's will would be done. She conceived and she lost the baby at the early stages of the second trimester. I could second-guess that decision up the wall and rethink having tried-but I did it in faith and I know that God did what He did with His purposes in mind. I have not lost faith in Him because of His decision, but have only learned that faith doesn't need greener pastures to walk on when you step forth in it.

I could tell you many stories like that, of giving money that we didn't have, or of giving my resignation notice at my job with nothing to go to, yet by praying I was shown what to do in these situations and by faith I stepped forth and did what was instinctive at the time as I looked to Jesus. I left a $30,000 a year job last year to go to a camp and mow for $170 a week for two months, then went back to school and incurred more debt and had no job during that time. I prayed and followed through in faith, and God never let me fall, though at times there were definite uncertainties about the future.

Treat life like this--just ask, and ask, and ask God about how to go about your day, this situation or that situation, just ask. Ask in faith, believing that God has an answer and that He will lead you into the path He wants you to take. Other people may totally disagree with your decisions, but do you live to please men, or to please God? "If I were to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:10) Jesus, the Son of God, sought God's will in everything. He did not put the horse before the cart. You should do the same. Every circumstance is a crossroads--will you ask God how to handle your situation and step out in faith, believing that He will not lead you wrong, or will you step out into your situation, making your decision through only your ability to think it through, and then ask God to bless what you only hope was the right decision? I can project how to handle a situation, but only God knows the situation from entrance to exit and only He knows best. Every circumstance is a crossroads.

40 When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed,
42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."
43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.
44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.
46 Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."
47 And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.
48 But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
49 When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"
50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs?
53 "When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."
54 Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed at a distance.
55 Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.
56 And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, "This man was also with Him."
57 But he denied Him, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him."
58 And after a little while another saw him and said, "You also are of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not!"
59 Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, "Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean."
60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying!" Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.
(Luk 22:40-62 NKJ)

Live Like Your Feet Are No Longer Touching the Ground (Part 2 of 2)

If you'd have read this article earlier, you'll notice that I broke it down into two parts- primarily because I think it went off to a new topic, though it was very relative. So, if you read part 1, it will help make sense of where we come in at part 2. Enjoy.

You see, as you spend time with God and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, obeying the Lord's commands from Scripture and seeking His will rather than your own, you find that everything dealing with God becomes something that strikes you as if you were a cymbal or gong, and you immediately resonate with the truth in sweet bliss, recognizing and embracing the greatness of God. Singing praise to God comes alive, reading your Bible comes alive, hearing God's word preached and taught comes alive, your passion for both the saved and the lost comes alive, etc. etc. etc.!!! Your joy catches and your love anchors, your faith sets sail and your relationship with God goes places.

Crazy, amazing things will happen when you really walk with God with Him in control. Sins from the past will come to you one day, things you'd thought you forgot--perhaps because all the sin you've been doing in the present has drowned out those things you did not deal with. You'll feel horrible because of the recognition that you need to seek God's forgiveness for these things and that perhaps the matter needs reconciled with the party you injured. Nevertheless, God will make it clear to you what you need to do as you go on your knees before Him, seeking His forgiveness and furtherance. God wants to set us straight. Opportunities will start appearing, and perhaps you'll find yourself facing trials you didn't ever face before--like a car breaking down continually out of the blue; finances going out the window; a deep sense that you need to be greatly generous with your money and yet finding this as a test of faith as this sacrifice may jeopardize your security; you may offer God the blessing of a child, try and conceive, and then find that you lose that child in miscarriage three months later. God so eagerly desires to conform us to the image of His Son--and were we to be conformed completely to His image, how elated we would be!

All sorts of crazy things happen to people who walk with God totally open to doing what He makes clear to do. Still, the depth cannot be found through any other means in this world. It is not easy, and it is a daily conscious effort to seek God's hand in all your matters and to stay close to Him. I write this from personal experience, and no, I am in no way an expert on this--just a person who knows that God is real, His forgiveness is real, and a life that is not simply moral and religious, but deeply personal with God, IS ATTAINABLE. It is in such a path that you will find the Spirit of God making clear to your soul that you ARE a child of God. You will know that He DOES love you and DOES want what's best for you. Prayer will change in time and will not remain the "genie in the bottle" type of praying that people who don't regularly walk with God find themselves doing--"God, heal this...God, I need this...God, I want to know your big picture will for my life...God, make my life comfortable and pain free and give me all that I desire and don't make me sacrifice what I hold dearest..." I think that's what it really boils down to. God is not a genie in the bottle to make your life pain free and successful by age-old definitions of success (money, fame, power, comfort, etc.). He is a God that Has created you to want more in this life than what can be attained from material goods or popularity--He's made everyone to want Him though it knocks our pride to think that we'd need Him.

If you're living this life in your own strength, good luck. You'll need it--and you'll never find what will really make your soul cease from striving for inner peace and deep joy in even the mundane and love that transcends sinful humanity.

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." If you need a heart to be alive, you need a heart to live. If you need a brain to be physically alive, you need brain to function. Paul wrote this to the Galatian believers because they had been fooled into thinking that though they came to a relationship with God by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they somehow needed to henceforth find God's approval through doing moral acts(which are always in relationship to the Old Testament Law) of righteousness. God honors faith, not works righteousness. He honors people who act in faith and live in faith and seek Him in faith. "Faith without works is dead" says the book of James, and so faith always results in action, yet the action is not done to find God's favor but rather to live as a pleasing, living sacrifice to God as a form of worship. (See Romans 12:1-2) Do you want what I talked about? If you're unsaved, believe that Jesus died and rose again to save you from your sins. You're a sinner and will never make it to heaven in your own power. God doesn't ever say that there's second chances beyond the grave, nor does he work on a weighted scale of good versus bad or person compared to person. Faith alone. Saved but feeling empty or distant from God? Live by faith and do what's right and do what you know you need to do. Spend time with God every day and seek Him to the extent that you're pining after Him. "I will not stop seeking You until I find You--and yet, when I find You, there's no end to the seeking of You, for You are limitless, God, and are the source of all that would make my life the best it could be." It's true, I tell you from my heart, it's true. Pray, seek, obey. Be open to whatever God would want to do with you and I know you will start to live like your feet are no longer touching the ground.

Get Me Out of the Way

21 From then on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, "Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to You!"
23 But He turned and told Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you're not thinking about God's concerns, but man's."
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.(Mat 16:21-24 HCSB)

I really don't think Peter meant wrong in what he did in verse 22, but I think that Peter was more about what he wanted for Jesus than what God wanted for Jesus. This caused Jesus to confront him, rebuking him and thus using the moment as a teaching moment to his disciples that those who would follow Him must get behind Him. To get behind Him, it is imperative that any particular person would deny himself (rejection of our will), take up their cross (death to our will), and follow Him (submission and pursuit of His will).

All over this world this week, millions of plans will be made in hopes of arriving at some kind of wishful expectation through the means of these plans. This week alone, Christians, maybe even you or me, could easily begin to make plans in hopes that it would provide a channel for God's blessing to be received. Churches will do this and have done this, and it begs us to see whether we set up plans in hopes that God will take the bait or whether we will ask Him and wait and see how He moves--and then we make our move. We do this now and then when we're uncertain and someone who knows what they're talking about (or seems like they have a handle on the situation) is there to take the lead for us. (It would be helpful for you to read the blogs from the last few days.)

Let me tell you something--Jesus says that He is near to us. "The Lord is near," says Philippians 4:5. He's at hand--and He's just waiting for you, always waiting for you, to simply ask Him how to handle your situations. I am hopeful to become a pastor some day soon, if God wills, and while I can establish all of these "goals" for a church as to how we'll bring about wonderful change where it's needed, all I can say at best is that I can't go running out into the crossfire in hopes that my devised paths will lead us to better days-and hope that maybe just maybe God will come along with us. No, I would say to you that God wants to be our "point man," guiding us in our moves and in our objectives and blessing us in His ways--and it may even be contrary to what we think is going to be to our benefit at times!!! But take heart, God does know best and He can be trusted.

No matter where you are in your life, you should know that you don't need to "go it alone." God would give you wisdom and you could make decisions with confidence if you asked Him and stepped out in faith with your decisions. He'll be there to catch you as you step out into the unknown, and even if your other fellow humans scorn you in your decisions, you can take heart that God has not abandoned you, but rather has led you in this. Don't get careless and ask God to bless you after you make your plans. That kind of living is comparable to the age old saying, "Shoot first and ask questions later." Maybe you're looking into a career change, dealing with problems in your home or workplace, you want to quit something--maybe you've even contemplated ending your life to "solve" your problems. Could I intrude and simply say to you, "Ask God first"?

Jesus, who is God in the flesh, the Son, made it a continual point to seek the Father's will and not His own. If Jesus did that, how much more do you and I need to do that?

Seek the Father's will for all your plans and responses, and having done that, then step out in faith, trusting that as you trust in Him, He will lead you to do what He wants you to do. How many sins would be avoided if people just stopped before doing them to say, "God, what would you have me do in this circumstance?" and trusted Him as they submitted their will to His own? Lord, even if I am the only one to do it among all those I am surrounded by, get me out of the way.

Live Like Your Feet Are No Longer Touching the Ground (Part 1 of 2)

I heard recently, and it's by no means uncommon, that the thought of spending eternity worshiping God, perhaps just singing praises to His name forever, sounds rather like a drag. This, coming from Christians, of course, who hope for eternity but feel uncertain about wanting to be there if the "fun" stops in the life we know of in this world.

I want to challenge this thinking face-to-face and totally blow this kind of garbage thinking out of the water. Do I think that this will be the case for all of eternity? No, I think other things will happen in our time with a God who is sooooo above our finiteness and creative ability. Nothing relative to God will ever cease to amaze any of us when we see God face-to-face. Nothing. I am certain that we'l be saying things more like, "Why was I holding on so much to 'that'?! How could I have been so naive? God is so incredibly amazing! I never want to leave His presence and I'm so glad that I don't have to!"

I believe that people who loathe such an idea of eternal worship do so not because it would be such an "eternal letdown"--nothing with God is less than beyond description in greatness--but rather because it's hard to imagine doing something eternally that their heart doesn't want to do now. It's hard to imagine wanting to do any thing in the future that you don't desire to pursue now. If it's so great then, why would it not be so great now? If we do not seek the heart of God today, and want to worship Him as we come to know Him better from time spent with Him, it's no surprise at all to hear words like "boredom" and "wait" used in regards to heaven, or heavenly worship, or God.

Seek His heart today with all your heart, and in so doing, live like your feet are no longer touching the ground.

Just Like Jesus

It has been said that we are most like the people we spend time with. If you look around, I know you will find this is true. Spouses often reflect each other more than anyone; children, too, can tend to reflect their parents more than any other person. This idea is interesting, true, and scary all at the same time! We inevitably become like those we surround ourselves with. It's no wonder parents love it when their kids have "good" friends who set a good example.

As your mind and my mind are on that (take a minute more and linger on it if you need to), I'd like to turn to the person of Jesus. Hypocrisy is a humongous problem in churches, and it's no surprise when you think about it. Yes, I believe that there are many churches out there not preaching the truth of the gospel (salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ), and thus those who falsely coming in the name of Jesus only bring confusion to the cross. For those who are genuine believers, the question arises as to who they are spending their time with. What are they listening to throughout their day, either by circumstance or willful decision? What fills their mind throughout the day, and how much do they really seek God? Let's make that more personal--how much do YOU really seek God?

I'd like you to try an experiment in your life (though I'm being a bit facetious here) with the person to whom you're closest. For the next two weeks, talk to them for the time that you usually talk to God each day. Talk to them at the depth of conversation that you talk to God, too. (i.e. just ask them for things to make your life easier if you're like most people). Listen to them for as much time as you listen to God each day, and have someone else talk to you on behalf of them for the times you sit listening to someone preach versus the time you spend alone with God. Make sure, too, that for the times you differentiate between hearing and listening, too--we're quite good at hearing God, not so great at listening intently to Him. For the rest of the time, do not be near them at all. Stay away from them and just make it a goal to absolutely avoid them for those periods of time. Think about other things and invest your time elsewhere. Finally, see how this affects the quality of your relationship. See how much your way of relating changes and how much you remain like them. See how much they become a stranger to you and how much insight you lose into their personal perspective. In many ways, you'll find your answer as to why you or I or many other believers simply don't seem that much like God or find it incredibly difficult to maintain feelings of closeness to Him.

To be like God, you must be near to Him. You must stick close to Jesus by spending meaningful time with Jesus in no lesser place than His word! You must seek the Holy Spirit to lead in your steps throughout the day through continual prayer. You must long for God and find adequate time daily to listen to Him and to talk to Him. You must praise Him, you must imitate Him, you must seek His power to do what He'll reveal for you to do as You seek His guidance in each moment-by-moment activity. I think it's then that you will finally begin to understand what "abundant life" means. You cannot and will not reflect God or know His heart well without spending deep quality time with Him on a daily basis.

13 'And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jer 29:13 NAS)

18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. (Psa 145:18 NAS)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
(Gal 5:22-25 NAS)

4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
(Joh 15:4-5 NAS)

13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.
15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.
(Joh 16:13-15 NAS)

Prayer in Reverse

God-

Please give me no peace without seeking it from you in prayer.
Please give me confusion without seeking direction from You.
Please give me no opportunities to share your love without seeking them from You.
Please give me no service to Yourself without seeking that placement from You.
Please help me to fail in Your estimation without seeking Your help to succeed on Your terms.
Please help me to be empty and disgusted with my life without seeking Your heart continually.
Please help me to fall into sin if I don’t seek Your help to live righteously.
Please help me to end my life in regret if I don’t live My life seeking Your help to get through.
Please make me know that I did not do this life in my own strength.
Please make my life so much better when I’m close with You than when I fall away.

I know that You, God, will honor these requests. Please help me to be mindful of that which I have asked of You. I know that this is how You have been working my life, but I want to joyously embrace the way that You have made my life to work when I am or am not close with You.

In Jesus’ name I make these requests, with love—

Sam
Saturday, June 19, 2010

SuperNatural Resources

God in His grace has given us natural resources throughout the world to use for our benefit. Things like oil, rocks and minerals, wood, dirt, water, all sorts of things are tapped into all the time to better our lives, whether it be in to have a home to go to, a car to drive, a way to keep our food cold and to heat it when necessary--the list is endless.

Could you imagine if we were to go through life with those resources on hand but never to tap into them? Imagine this: you were the only person in the world, put in the middle of nowhere, there's no signs of any other human beings--could you imagine what your life would be like if you never utilized the resources here? It's easy enough to imagine that you wouldn't last long at all-but how quickly we take these resources for granted.

Believers have been given supernatural resources for getting through life, and at many times in our lives, we can be so foolish to take those resources for granted. Not only this, we fail to utilize them and thus have lives that are nothing less than a fight to the death to spiritually get by every day. God has given us His word and prayer as two of the most powerful resources for living righteously. To neglect these resources is to step into a spiritual void, hoping to survive on nothing but will power and our own strength. Our own strength would never replace our use of natural resources--how could we be so foolish to think that we can make it without these things? Take the opportunities that God gives you to utilize your spiritual resources for living a godly life. You'd be worried if your gas tank was low in the middle of nowhere, right? How can it be any less important to enter this week running on the fumes of past prayer and time in God's Word?! Use your resources.

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb 4:12 NASB)

17 pray without ceasing; (1Th 5:17 NASB)

18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, (Eph 6:18 NASB)

9 "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
10 "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
(Luk 11:9-10 NASB)