Competition: The Heart of a Man

It doesn't take too long on my Facebook newsfeed before I can see posts about either hockey, football, baseball or basketball and hear about how "OUR TEAM IS THE BEST".  It seems like competition is woven into the heart of man and some would say that is a bad thing.  I think competition gets a bad rap these days, which is a bummer because I think competition speaks to the heart of what it means to be a man.

Believe it or not, the Bible addresses this topic. Mark 9 tells the story of the disciples arguing amongst themselves about who was greatest. This is classic masculinity in action. Let's keep score and compete to see who wins. When people teach this story, they often teach it like the disciples were doing something wrong, like this desire to be first was a bad thing.

But it wasn't. Jesus doesn't scold them for wanting to be first. Instead, he sits them down and tells them how to actually do it! He says, "Whoever wants to be first among you must be the servant of all." He affirmed their desire to be first, their desire to compete for honors; he just told them they had been keeping score the wrong way. And that's it.

Like I said, competition does get a bad rap, because the gap from healthy competition to unhealthy is very narrow. When we call a person "competitive," what we usually mean is that they like to win and they get very bitter if they don't. The desire to be first place in some sport often goes hand in hand with the desire to cheat or to use performance-enhancing drugs to get there. Things like that cause people - usually women - to look at competition on the whole and say that it's a bad thing, that we should all just get along and be nice to each other so nobody has to lose.

Yet I would observe that those things are not actually the fault of competition at all. When a person cheats, his focus is not on the competition, but on the results. A "competitive" person does not like competing, most of the time; he likes winning - he is obsessed with the result. There might be great competition, but if he loses, he is still unhappy. That's the really interesting thing about the way Jesus addressed competition. According to his way of keeping score, you never really know where you are on the leaderboard. All you know is how you're doing at the competition itself - at being a servant to everyone. We'll find out the final score someday, but until then we can't know it, which keeps us from being obsessed with the results.

Believe it or not, Paul actually commands us to compete with one another. In Romans 12:10, he says, "Love with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor." Find out how your neighbor is doing at showing honor, and one-up him. Love more; love harder. Something tells me men get more excited about the possibility of outdoing each other than they would about simply showing honor without the idea of a competition. See, we tend to think that comparing ourselves to other people is inherently a bad thing, because many times it is, but many does not equal always. It can be a very good thing when comparing myself to my neighbor leads me to conclude that I'm not loving people as well as he is. As a man, that competition might just be what I need to spur me to the next level. Proverbs says that friends are supposed to have this effect on each other, just like iron sharpens iron.

Furthermore, the idea of a reward for one's work is very common throughout the Bible. Hebrews 11 observes, "Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." In Revelation 22, Jesus promises, "Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me." Rewards are a form of competition: some people will get the prize, and other people won't, and it all depends on how you live during your life. But the thing about God's prizes, which distinguishes them from earthly prizes, is that one person winning does not prevent the rest of us from winning. There are plenty of prizes to go around. If I compete with my friend to see who can outdo the other in showing honor, we both win. It's the healthiest kind of competition. It's all the intensity of competing, which men like, coupled with all the gentleness of "nobody loses," except for the people who don't try at all to win the prizes.

Polling company Rasmussen Reports has found that 56% of churchgoers are women. In other words, for every 2 men in church, there are 3 women. Why the disparity? What is it about the way the gospel is preached that appeals to women more than men, and why are all those other men choosing football and golf over church on Sunday mornings? I don't mean to suggest that churches are failing to reach men, because there are still a lot of Christian men in this country; nor do I even mean to suggest that all men enjoy and are motivated by a dynamic of competition. But Jesus himself affirmed his disciples when they expressed a desire to be first. He told them exactly how to do it. Shouldn't we conclude that even Jesus understood that some people simply get more excited when they have the ability to compete against other people? If we can introduce that dynamic back into faith somehow, won't we reach a lot of men who feel that Christianity is a good story but is lacking something?

Of course, the man in me wishes there was some way to actually watch my score go up, because that's what I like about sports and video games: I always know exactly how I'm doing at all times. Showing love is tougher. Do I have a 36%, or is it more like a 58.2%? Because I don't know the score, I just have to focus on the process: loving more, showing honor more, serving everyone. And I have to know that God is watching me, keeping my score, preparing my rewards for the day I take hold of them.

Peace In The Midst of the Storm

In this world you will have trouble. John 16:33 

I wonder if the disciples were shocked when Jesus said this? After all, by this time they had seen Jesus perform many miracles—water into wine, multiplying bread and fish, people healed, and raised from the dead. Why would the disciples expect trouble when God could work miracles? Furthermore Jesus had told them to ask “for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:14). 

The real key is in the first half of the verse, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” In Jesus we have peace. We don’t necessarily have peace in our circumstances but we can always have peace in Jesus. God could prevent difficulties but rather he often chooses to let us experience his peace in the midst of them. Being at peace in a difficult situation is a miracle in itself because it shows the world we are trusting in God; it also adds to the devil’s demise. 

When we trust God in difficult circumstances we demonstrate our belief in something greater and more enduring than temporary relief from our problems. We believe God is doing a work that has eternal consequence. We are relying on Paul's words which tells us, “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). 

Nevertheless it is important for us to believe God not only has the ability to perform miracles but does perform miracles from time to time. This gives us the faith to know God is indeed powerful and compassionate. However, whether God intervenes directly in our circumstances or not we know, “His works are perfect, and all his ways are just” (Deuteronomy 32:4). 

Let’s choose to trust him and avail ourselves of his peace. 

A New Heart

And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Matthew 17:16

On December 3, 1967, in the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a team of doctors, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed the world's first heart transplant. Although the recipient, Louis Washkansky, lived for only 18 days after the surgery, other transplant recipients followed who lived for several years. Heart transplants now are relatively common, with specialists and equipment in many large hospitals capable of performing such operations. But in 1967, Dr. Barnard was venturing into new and unexplored regions of medicine. Until he successfully performed the first transplants and established the procedures for doing so, no other doctors or hospitals could even think of attempting a heart transplant. There was no cure for a severely diseased heart. Just as the man in our text discovered there was no cure for his son's demon possession. Until the Lord Jesus arrived.

The man had brought his son to the disciples, and he had high hopes of a cure. After all, these men were students and associates of the great Healer from Galilee. Surely they would know the methods and procedures of their Master. We don't know what attempts the disciples made to heal the lad; all we know is whatever they tried, it did not work. And the boy and his father were no better off. The lack of a cure meant only one resort: the only One who could heal. Many today are looking for a cure for their sin and guilt, and are going to the wrong places. Instead of going directly to the Lord Jesus, people are flocking to many other fonts of false relief. The cults are prospering as they spread their confusion and false doctrine, just as the mainline denominations of Christendom are spreading their doctrine of religion and good works. Other people are attempting to slake their thirst at the cisterns of pleasure, wealth, power, and philosophies. Like the powerless disciples, these cannot cure. But sadly, they prevent many from seeking the One Who can and will cure.

We who are saved can sing of the sin cleansing power in the blood of the Lamb. We have found that our incurable disease of sin is not incurable after all, not when the case is turned over to the Great Physician. That which is impossible with the efforts and money and ideas of men is gloriously possible when the Lord Jesus steps in.

There are some patients with diseased hearts who cannot be cured, not even with a heart transplant. But there is not one sinner who cannot be saved by the blood of Christ.

Faith Laughs At Impossibilities

      Peter in prison! What a jolt!

      We are too far removed from the actual scene to catch the atmosphere of dismay the Christians of that day felt.

      Peter had moved from Pentecost to prison, from jeers to spears. He was guarded by sixteen soldiers. One wonders why such a defenseless man needed such a group to watch him. Could it be that Herod feared the supernatural, seeing he knew that Jesus escaped such a group that guarded Him?

      Had Peter been hedged in by sixteen hundred soldiers, the problem would not have been increased nor the escape less sure. Peter was bound not only by two chains, but also by the thick walls of the prison, by the three wards of the prison, and finally by an iron gate.

      When Peter is in prison, does the church organize a plan to get him released? No. When Peter is jailed, do the believers offer a plea to Herod or suggest a price to offer the lawmakers for his freedom? No. Peter had released others at the hour of prayer; now others must believe for his release.

      Right through the book of Acts, which might be called The Acts of Prayer, we find prayer and more prayer. Dig into the book and discover this power that motivated the early church. In the twelfth chapter of Acts we find a group that prayed. Though a host encamped against Peter, in this were these believers confident: there was a God who could and would deliver. The one never-failing rescue operation was prayer. There was no hedging about in the prayers of those who made intercession for Peter. Prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him. They did not seem to be concerned whether Herod should die or not. They did not pray that they might escape Peter's fate. They were not asking that they have another exodus to a more hospitable country. They prayed for one person: Peter. They prayed for one thing: his release. The answer proves the point: "Whatsoever ye shall ask,... that will I do"

      Some shabby interpreters of this story have said that when the pray-ers heard that Peter was at the door, they were unbelieving. I cannot accept this assumption. I am sure that they prayed with expectation. I like to think that they were for the moment staggered by the immediacy of the answer. They could be excused if they raised their eyebrows when Peter said, "I got out quite easily with an angel escort " (Next time you pass through the magic self-opening door at your supermarket, remember that the first door to open of its own accord was operated from above!)

      Angel deliverances seem to find no place in our modern theology. Perhaps we would like the Lord to answer our prayers with the least embarrassment to us. After all, who expects that the angelic ranks should be disturbed just to bring deliverance to a praying soul? But supernatural results came for many of the praying saints of apostolic days. The Lord geared a property-damaging earthquake to get deliverance for an apostle. Prayer is dynamite.

      There is no weapon formed against prayer that can neutralize it. Some things can delay answers to prayer, but nothing can stop the full purpose of God. "Though it tarry, wait for it."

      The first requirement in prayer is to believe.
            -Believe that God is and that "he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
            -Believe that God is alive and therefore has power-not only for Peter's deliverance, but for ours.
            -Believe that God is love and that He cares for His own.
            -Believe that God is power and therefore no power can stand against Him.
            -Believe that God is truth and therefore cannot lie.
            -Believe that God is kind and that He will never abdicate His throne or fail in His promise.



      Reflecting on the story of Peter, I am rebuked, humiliated, chagrined, stung. Why? Because there are some great modern saints, Watchman Nee for one, who for years have suffered and been held captive by communists and others. Many of the saints today are shut up in prison. The same fate has befallen some of God's choice witnesses in Vietnam and in the Congo.

      Such perils to other members of the Body demand concern, concentration, and consecration to a committed plan of prayer on their behalf. I fear that prayer has not been made to God without ceasing for these suffering kinsmen.

      Mr. Bunyan shows us his Christian held captive by the Giant Despair in Doubting Castle. The key to his deliverance was Promise. We Christians are in captivity on many levels today personal, domestic, church, and missionary enterprise. But fetters break and dungeons fall when prayer is made by the church unto God-
            -Prayer without ceasing;
            -Prayer that might shatter our status quo;
            -Prayer that drains us of every other interest;
            -Prayer that excites us by its immense possibilities;
            -Prayer that sees God as the One that rules on high, almighty to save;
            -Prayer that laughs at impossibilities and cries, "It shall be done";
            -Prayer that sees all things beneath His feet;
            -Prayer that is motivated with desire for God's glory.

      The praying of the believer can become a ritual. The place of prayer is more than a dumping ground for all our anxieties, frets, and fears. The place of prayer is not a place to drop a shopping list before the throne of a God with endless supplies and limitless power.

      I believe the place of prayer is not only a place where I lose my burdens, but also a place where I get a burden. He shares my burden and I share His burden. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." To know that burden, we must hear the voice of the Spirit. To hear that voice, we must be still and know that He is God.

      This calamitous hour in the affairs of men demands a church healthier than the one we have. This blatant manifestation of evil in the youth and in the violation of God's commandments throughout the world calls for a faith that will not shrink.

      Can we let our prayer swords rust in the scabbards of doubt? Shall our prayer harps hang tuneless on the willows of unbelief
            -If God is a god of matchless power and incredible might,
            -If the Bible is the unchangeable Word of the living God,
            -If the virtue of Christ is as fresh today as when He first made the offering of Himself to God after His resurrection,
            -If He is the one and only mediator today,
            -If the Holy Spirit can quicken us as He did our spiritual fathers, Then all things are possible today.
      The seas were boiling, the winds were howling, the sails were tearing, the spars were flying, the stars were hiding, Euroclydon was blasting. The people were cringing and crying, sobbing and sighing. One man alone was praising. All were expecting death save Paul. Amidst a scene of hopelessness, if ever there was one, Paul cries, "Sirs, I believe God" (Acts 27).

      As things seem to fall apart these days, I am going to join Paul. I am going to say in faith, "Sirs, I believe God." Will you join me?

Freedom In Christ

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (KJV). In order for our relationship with God to be pure, we must be free. Without freedom, we are still in bondage to the things of this world. If the spirit of the world is our master, we will never freely serve the Lord. Instead of agreeing with Him, we will seek to have Him agree with us. Without the Spirit, we cannot know the things of God; much less understand them (see  1Corinthians 2:9-16).

Without realizing it, it would be easy to misuse the verse that says, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). How often have we heard people say, “I’m walking by the spirit of the law,” which is another way of saying “I am going to walk a little bit in the flesh?” It is similar to “a little white lie.” It is still a lie and is ungodly. Walking a little bit in the flesh is still walking in the flesh. Using Scripture to do so is dangerous ground.

Without freedom in Christ Jesus, we would still be trying to earn the Father’s love and involve ourselves with dead works, trying to somehow make our way into heaven. When we walk in the freedom that comes with the Law of the Spirit of life, we will cease from our own feeble attempts to manipulate God. For example, why should we incorporate the Word of God in our prayers? Are we to quote Scripture to God in order to hold Him accountable to His Word in order to get what we want? That is fleshly prayer and borders on witchcraft. When people twist the things of God to fulfill fleshly desires, they are walking in rebellion. The reason we use Scripture in prayer is so that we come into agreement with God and pray according to His perfect will. 1 John 5:14-15 clearly says, “If we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (KJV).

When we walk in love, we will freely ask the Father for those things we desire without manipulation. Our love bonds us to His will and desires, which in turn causes us to ask for those things that are pleasing to Him. If you feel the need to manipulate anyone to get what you want, it is time to examine your heart through the Holy Spirit. We obey Him because we love Him, not because we are trying to earn His love. Everything we do for Him will spring out of the relationship. With freedom comes the desire to please Abba (Daddy), Father. In that liberty is fullness of peace and joy. Everything Jesus did was the result of His love for the Father. He had, and always will have, complete confidence in His relationship with Him. God desires us to have the same confidence. Why else would He desire to conform us into the image of Jesus?

Burning Fire or Cold Ash?

We are not so much called to a particular place or task. We are called upon to commit ourselves to God. He then takes us where he wants us and uses us in the way he chooses. We are not indispensible to the mission. The mission will be completed with or without us. 

We often look out upon the harvest field and we see a particular need. We then tend to sell ourselves to the need we are observing. But, there are billions of needs among billions of people in a million different places. We can’t be everywhere at once and we can’t serve in more than one place. Rather than commit ourselves to a place or a people shall we not commit ourselves to Christ and then trust him to direct our lives. It is a deception to believe that the needs far away are greater or more important than the needs nearby. A lost soul is utterly lost whether he is in the jungles of Africa or living in the house next door. 

It seems we sometimes are tempted to compromise the sovereignty of God by relegating it to an inferior position behind our organizational efforts. A high school teacher could assure you that they would be deeply offended if they walked into their classroom every day and their students were clamoring to inform them of what plans they had for class that day. Organization and structure is a necessary part of any ministry but we must take care that it does not squeeze God out of the picture. Paul says that God has “…arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (1 Cor. 12:18) Utter chaos would erupt if the body parts gave direction to the head but when the parts yield to the head a wonderful symphony of movement can be experienced. We are parts of the body, when we yield to Christ we become efficient kingdom builders. 

God’s operational modus is much different than that of the secular world. We so readily adopt the secular idea of go, go and go. We preach consecration and commitment and we tie those ideas to frantic action. We have to do more, go further and be better. But God says for us to “Be still, and know that I am God.” Strength and efficiency are found in the quietness of God. The idea here is to calm down, put away frenzy and trust God to do what he will. 

Moses was a man called and prepared by God to do a great and wonderful thing. He would deliver the people of Israel from slavery in the land of Egypt. Exodus chapter 2 tells the tragic story of how Moses got in the way of God’s plan for his life. He saw one of his fellows being mistreated by an Egyptian and he took care of business. He defended one of his own. His act could probably be justified to some degree, but his failure was he chose to do it his way instead of God’s way. 

Moses was well educated, he had lived among the Egyptian elite, he understood their culture, he was a fine, masculine specimen and extremely intelligent but in spite of all those things he was not yet ready to be used of God. So, God sent him away for forty years for further training. 

We so often feel comfortable in our ability, but God is not looking so much for ability as he is availability. He wants a heart that will submit to his will, a heart wise enough and willing enough to get out of the way so God can do a great work. In order to get us to that place, God sometimes allows us to experience long periods of feeling useless. We may feel insignificant and unappreciated until we finally realize that God’s way works and our way doesn’t. 
There must have come a time during those forty years of exile that Moses felt like he would never really amount to much or accomplish any great thing for God. But God has a habit of choosing “the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; … the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) 

God didn’t call Moses out of exile until he was prepared. In Exodus 3 Moses saw a burning bush. He was fascinated by what he saw. I’m not so sure that instantaneous combustion was so unusual in the hot desert but what was so perplexing to Moses was the fact that the bush was not consumed. It just kept burning and burning. 

Did Moses compare himself to the bush? Moses had a ‘crash and burn’ moment in his life and it cost him forty years. Did he look at the bush and say? “I wish I could have just kept on burning. Instead, I was consumed by the flame of my own passion and self assertiveness”. Did Moses look at the burning bush and say, “Lord, make me to burn continually for you. Don’t let me fail. Don’t let me falter but let me burn eternally in my passion and service for you.” John Wesley seemed to get the idea when he admonished his fellow clergy to “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” 

God called to Moses by name, “Moses, Moses!” Why does God seem to choose some for greatness and others never are called? Was Billy Graham, Mother Theresa and D.L. Moody more special than others in the eyes of God? Do Charles Stanley, John MacArthur and John Piper have certain, peculiar traits that make them more special in the eyes of God? Of course not. They are affective in service because they made themselves available. Many others will live out their entire lives in mediocrity because they never inquired why God never called them by name. They were sent into the wilderness and their fire was never rekindled. They passed their days and years in a heap of cold ash. 

How did God choose that particular bush? I don’t think it was difficult, I don’t think he spent a lot of time trying to make that decision. I think any old bush on the desert floor would suffice. You don’t need special talents, you don’t need a great education or a stellar record or even an especially winsome personality to do great things for God. You just need to be willing, to be available, and leave the rest up to him.

A Prayer: Smiling when your heart is weary

Dear Lord,

Help me to remember that on my darkest days, there is always someone who is experiencing something worse. Help me to smile even when my heart is weary, overburdened, and sick with worry. Lord help me smile to help brighten someone else’s day, encourage someone else’s heart, help lift another broken spirit. Help me to remember that the very thing I need and long for I must first give it away. In order for me to have sunnier days, I must learn to brighten someone else’s day. Lord help me to remember how a simple smile can change the chemical reaction in my own body and bring a natural form of healing to the inner most parts of my being. Lord help me smile when no one else is smiling around me, when the world is filled with sorrow, and even when I am not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the naked eye.

Lord remove the veil of darkness, and give me hope. Open my spiritually blinded eyes that I may discover he truth, that even when I’m not able to smile, you are still smiling down upon me and anointing everything I touch with my hands. Lord, your grace and mercy is sufficient and you continue to smile and laugh when our enemies mock us, accuse us, and plot against us, because you see that their day is arriving. Lord, you said for me to not let my heart be troubled or afraid. You promised to carry me through every storm, heartache, and everything that threatens the plans you have for me. For you are still in control. Lord, let your light be a reflection in the midst of a darkened path, and when I stumble my way through the darkness, cover me with your protection and give your angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart; be acceptable in your sight. Lord, create in me a clean heart and renew in me a right spirit, that in all of my ways I will acknowledge you and you promised to direct my path. Lord, fight every battle I am faced with, and help me to remember that You are the potter and I am only clay. While people may win battles, they never win the war with you on my side. Help me be still while you mold and shape me into the woman or man I am purposed to be, and bless everyone that crosses my path today, that they may be blessed with the beautiful smile you drew across my face with your own hands.

Help me to remember when my family and friends forsake me, that you will never leave my side, and in those moments when I’m feeling all alone, help me to remember that you are closer. You said that you are near to those who have a broken and a contrite spirit. Lord, tech me how to smile more. For we never realize the power in a smile, or what extending an encouraging word to a stranger, offering a compliment, or a performing a simple gesture could do to make someone else’s day brighter. We never know how the simple things in life could save life until this precious gift is suddenly snatched away from us. Lord, no matter what is going on around me…give me the strength to just smile.

When God Is With You

Jesus asked the question, “Where is your faith?” It is a fitting question for some have endured trials that have weakened their faith. They have endured the kind of trials that make the strong weak, that make the rich poor, that make the healthy sick, that make the bold fearful, that bring those brimming with hope for a particular thing close to hopelessness. This can happen when you have been tried for a long time without deliverance. When like Hannah you have been pregnant with desire for years but have no son. When like Joseph you are wrongfully imprisoned with no hope for freedom. When like Job one bad situation after another rains upon your existence leaving you shattered, broken, even sick, a mere shadow or your former self, wondering if God is punishing you for the sins of your youth. 

To your mind, it seems impossible for things to be the way they were before or even better. Who will replace what you have lost? Who will retrieve what has been stolen from you? Who will resurrect that which has died? Who will mend what has been broken? Who will dry your tears? Jesus can and will if you will only hold on and believe him. 

The Jews were in a similar situation after they came out of Babylonian captivity. When Cyrus sent them back to Jerusalem with an order to build the temple there was much happiness. They encountered opposition almost from the beginning but continued building during his reign. Eventually, however the kingdom changed hands and when the new king, Xerxes, received a letter from their opposition against the construction of the city, he sided with the opposition and commanded the stoppage of all building in Jerusalem. Thusly, work on the temple, stopped by force, was discontinued for about a decade. 

This killed the people’s faith such that in Haggai 1:2 we find them saying, “The time has not yet come for the rebuilding of the house of the Lord”. You can almost read their thoughts. “If the time for the rebuilding had come God would not have allowed the work to be stopped”. “Where will we get the materials to build the temple when we are hardly making it as it is?” “God’s hand must not be with us else he would not have allowed the work to be stopped”. “Are we still being punished for our sins?” “Darius will probably continue Xerxes policies.” All these and more they must have thought and discussed amongst themselves. 

When God showed them how he had stunted their financial progress because they did not resume the building of the temple they feared the Lord and began to do what he said so God sent the prophet Haggai to them again. Haggai 1:13-14 reads, “Then Haggai the Lord’s messenger gave this message to the people, “I am with you”, declares the Lord, so the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of people. The came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty their God”. 

God had to remind them that he was with them as he is reminding those of us who trust in him today. When God is with you he will silence those who oppose you. When God is with you he will send supernatural provision. When God is with you he will enable you by stirring up your spirit to faith. When God is with you there is no need to fear. You only have to be make sure that you have not neglected his will in your life and if you have correct it. 

The text said that God stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the spirit of Joshua and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. A people who did not have any faith now had the faith to do what God wanted. When God is with you a delay may occur but that does not mean that he will not stir what needs to be stirred in you and others so that his purposes and your desires may be achieved. The book of Ezra shows us how God stirred up king Darius to command the resumption of the building of the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Darius commanded the costs for the rebuilding of the temple to be paid by the royal treasury. He also commanded the death of anyone who interfered and more. God indeed had stirred up even Darius the king of Persia. 

Some have been under trial so long that they have forgotten that God can and will bring deliverance. Some have wondered what kept him from doing for them as he has for others. Now trust has waned but you must know and believe that God is still with you. I want you to remember Lazarus for a moment. He was dead for four days. No one believed Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead except Martha but her faith was weakened by the fact that Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus called him out from the tomb and he came forth wrapped in the grave clothes with no stench on him. Is there anything too hard for God? Is there anything impossible with him? If he could raise Lazarus from the dead, stir up Cyrus, Darius and the Jews to accomplish his purposes for the benefit of the Jews can he not stir up those that you need and you for your own benefit. Certainly he can! 

Remember God is with you. Pray for God to be with you. Believe that God is with you. Why should we pray for and believe that God is with us? Why should we desire for God to be with us? Ecclesiastes 3:14 states, “Whatever God does will last forever”. He is able to sustain what he gives. He is able to keep the ashes out of your life and maintain the beauty in it. He is able to keep you filled with the oil of gladness and heal your mourning heart. He is able to keep you in a garment of praise and take that spirit of heaviness from you forever. What God does will last forever, his salvation is forever, for his grace is built to last forever, his peace is forever, his joy is forever, his love is forever. God is eternal. Who else is like this and on whom else can you rely for these things? 

Since God can be relied upon let us pray that he will stir up the spirits of others in our behalf and not just that but that he will stir up our own spirits to continue in the faith, to do his will that we may inherit the eternal life he has promised. Let us watch and pray as he says that we may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that will come to pass and stand before the presence of the Son of Man. He said to pray this always. If we pray it he can and will do it. Expect this and expect your deliverance here in this earth also for when God is with you he will work all things together for your good.