A Prayer for Understanding...

But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

Are you in a situation you don't know how to handle?

Are people giving you conflicting opinions and advice? Are you afraid you'll make the wrong decision?

 If so, you're in the place where God can speak to you.

 Here's a prayer for you today:

'Lord, Your Word says that You are "the only wise God" and I am desperately in need of You at this time. I'm in a situation human wisdom can't explain and human ability can't fix. There's only one way out-that's through You! Send the spirit of wisdom and show me which way to go. Send the spirit of revelation to help me understand what I can't figure out, for nobody but You can get me through this.Help me to faithfully obey all You show me to do, and to remember that sometimes the wisdom of this world is foolishness to You. Help me to know the difference between human advice and godly advice, and to choose Your way.

I submit this situation to You and commit myself to following You, knowing You've promised to direct my steps. Help me to walk this road with confidence in You; with the courage that comes from knowing I am Yours. Help me to cling to my convictions, yet still love those who misunderstand me. Keep me far from anger and close to Your heart. And though it's an uphill climb, take my hand, light my way and help me to walk on, for in the end I know that all things will work together for my good and Your glory: in Christ's name, Amen.'

Hosanna (Hillsong)

Accepting Pain is Difficult

Accept the Pain, Future will be Fruitful

Don't feel the work you are doing is pain, because there will be always a
reason for that pain or work.

So face the pain, for the pain you face, there will be definitely
happiness ahead.

"Don't ask for a lighter load, but pray God for a stronger back"

Rhema Marvanne: Over The Rainbow

Purchase her songs at www.rhemamarvanne.com

Is Prayer to Saints / Mary biblical?

(Unknown author)

Preface:

This is one of the highly sensitive topics that any Christian born in a Catholic background will even to dare to look into. The majority of the sect will even consider thinking such a way is heretic. I can say this so solid because I myself was born in a staunch catholic atmosphere. Moreover a seminary dropout; I believe God has graciously answered my doubts/questions in His own unique way through the Scripture down the year... Today I can answer my fellow catholic folks and others who dangle in confusion on the topic of prayer to saints and Mother Mary.

Let’s see the Answer below:

The issue of Catholics praying to saints is one that is full of confusion.

It is the official position of the Roman Catholic Church that Catholics do not pray to saints or Mary, but rather that Catholics can ask saints or Mary to pray FOR them. The official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that asking saints for their prayers is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for you. However, the practice of many Catholics diverges from official Roman Catholic teaching. Many Catholics do in fact pray directly to saints and/or Mary, asking them for help – instead of asking the saints and/or Mary to intercede with God for help.

Whatever the case, whether a saint or Mary is being prayed to, or asked to pray, neither practice has any Biblical basis. The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God. The Bible nowhere encourages, or even mentions, believers asking individuals in Heaven for their prayers.

Why, then, do many Catholic pray to Mary and/or the saints, or request their prayers?

Catholics view Mary and saints as "intercessors" before God. They believe that a saint, who is glorified in Heaven, has more "direct access" to God than we do. Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God, it is more effective than us praying to God directly. This concept is blatantly unbiblical.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

There is no one else that can mediate with God for us. If Jesus is the ONLY mediator, that indicates Mary and saints cannot be mediators. They cannot mediate our prayer requests to God. Further, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ Himself is interceding for us before the Father.

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Hebrews 7:25

With Jesus Himself interceding for us, why would we need Mary or the saints to intercede for us? Who would God listen to more closely than His Son?

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27

With the 2nd and 3rd members of the Trinity already interceding for us before the Father in Heaven, what possible need could there be to have Mary or the saints interceding for us? Catholics (once myself) argue that praying to Mary and the saints is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for you.

Let us examine that claim.

(1) The Apostle Paul asks other Christians to pray for him in Ephesians 6:19. Many Scriptures describe believers praying for one another (2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:19; 2 Timothy 1:3). The Bible nowhere mentions anyone asking for someone in Heaven to pray for them. The Bible nowhere describes anyone in Heaven praying for anyone on earth.

(2) The Bible gives absolutely no indication that Mary or the saints can hear our prayers. Mary and the saints are not omniscient. Even glorified in Heaven, they are still finite beings with limitations. How could they possibly hear the prayers of millions of people?

The one instance when a "saint" is spoken to, Samuel in 1 Samuel 28:7-19, Samuel was not exactly happy to be disturbed.

It is plainly clear that praying to Mary or the saints is completely different from asking someone here on earth to pray for you. One has a strong Biblical basis, the other has no Biblical basis whatsoever.

God does not answer prayers based on who is praying.

God answers prayers based on whether they are asked according to His will 

¹⁴ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

(1 John 5:14-15).

There is absolutely no basis or need to pray to anyone other than God alone. There is no basis for asking those who are in Heaven to pray for us.

Only God can hear our prayers. Only God can answer our prayers. No one in Heaven has any greater access to God's throne that we do through prayer

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

(Hebrews 4:16).

Pray to Jesus our Savior

Recommended Resource:

The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God by James McCarthy.

Mary had a li'l Lamb

1 Kings 8:24

New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

Go Back and Make It Right

Numbers 22:34

New International Version (NIV)

 ³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

Jeremiah 15:19

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹⁹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

   “If you repent, I will restore you
   that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
   you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
   but you must not turn to them.

A lace-maker was working on a very intricate design when she noticed a mistake at the beginning of her work.

 To the untrained eye it was inconspicuous and she could easily have camouflaged it, but moments like that separate the professional from the 'dabbler'. She worked all night, painstakingly unravelled her work till she reached the flaw, fixed it and started over again.

When the angel blocked Balaam on the road, Balaam said,

 'I have sinned. I did not realise you were standing in the road to oppose me...if you are displeased, I will go back.'

There are times when you need to go back and make things right. 

 Now, God doesn't usually send angels to tell us we're off-course; He speaks through His Word, through a trusted friend, or through our conscience.

 Joni Eareckson Tada says,

 'If the Holy Spirit reveals we've made an error, it's pointless to go on unless we go back... Sometimes you get so far in life and realise...the threads just aren't coming together; you've made a mistake somewhere along the line. Your sins have come home to roost. We do ourselves a disservice when we merely make a quick mid-course correction. If you want the ends to come together, then ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you "dropped the stitch".'

'We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.'

 If the Holy Spirit is dealing with you right now about some unfinished business in your life, stop, go back and make it right.

It's not easy, but God will honour your humility and obedience.

The Doctor Who Came Back From the Dead

Dan Wooding (June 15, 2011)

"I was dead for 1 hour and 25 minutes, but came back to life after my wife prayed a simple prayer." -Dr. Sean Thomas George

 A Christian group of doctors and medical professionals listened in shocked amazement as one of their own told the incredible story of how he came back from the dead.

Dr. Sean Thomas George, an Indian born doctor who is now a consultant physician in a West Australian hospital, told his extraordinary story before more than 220 Christian medics on the first day of the 8th Annual International Christian Medical Conference called "Spirituality and Medicine" held June 11-12, 2011 in Brisbane , Australia . (Photo: ANS)

"I was dead for 1 hour and 25 minutes, but came back to life after my wife prayed a simple prayer," said Dr. George, who provided all kinds of medical data that put on a large screen for the other doctors to check out.

On October 24, 2008, he reportedly returned from the dead to amaze colleagues who had battled for almost 55 minutes to revive his lifeless heart.

His story began when, five days after running a medical clinic in Vanuatu , Dr. George was returning from a clinic session on the south coast of Australia with his intern when he felt minor chest pains and was "unusually hot."

"I decided to stop the car," he said, "and as I got out, still feeling the discomfort, I called my wife, also a doctor, to let her know what was happening. She suggested that I drive straight home to Kalgoorlie ."

As he did, he said he felt "divinely directed" to enter a clinic in Kambalda, 31.6 miles from Kalgoorlie , where he used an electro-cardiogram (ECG) to diagnose a heart attack and receive the few drugs they had there.

"The pain," he said, "was getting worse and 11 minutes after the ECG my heart completely stopped beating. Not only did I have a heart attack but I went into cardiac arrest."

For the next 60 minutes, a team of doctors and nurses used over 4,000 chest compressions and gave him 13 electrical shocks, but neither his heart nor lungs responded.

After one hour and 10 minutes, the doctor was pronounced dead.

Ten minutes later, his wife arrived from Kalgoorlie and was told to go in and say goodbye.

"Being a doctor herself," continued the doctor,

 "Sherry knew that medical science had proved that if the blood supply to the brain was cut off for over three minutes the brain would begin to die, and in 20 minutes the brain would be completely dead.

 But as she and I had trusted Jesus Christ as Almighty God and Savior, she decided to humbly ask Him to intervene.

 "Holding my hand, she prayed,  ‘Lord Jesus, he is only 39, I am only 38 and we have a ten year boy. I need a miracle.'

As soon as she said this it was as though someone had breathed life into me again and my heartbeat came back."

Four hours later, Dr. George was flown to Royal Perth Hospital where doctors carried out an emergency procedure to clear a severely blocked artery on the right side of the heart.

"The doctor thought I would not survive, and even if I did, I would be completely brain dead on a ventilator.

 In Perth ICU, I had kidney and liver failure and was still in a deep coma."

Three days later, on Sunday, against all odds, the doctor opened his eyes.

 The next day, he was moving his hands and legs. On Wednesday, he was fully conscious and off the ventilator, and his memory and brain were fully functional. Then, two weeks later, he was discharged and returned to full-time work after three months of steady recovery.  Said Dr. George:

"It has proved to me that Jesus really is Creator God and Sustainer of life and that He hears and responds to the humble prayers of His servants. I now also understand that eternity is only a breath away.

"I don't think there are any documented cases of patients who were clinically dead for so long, have come back to life with their memory perfectly intact and neurologically no deficits at all," he said.

"This is something that only God can do, because medically it is impossible."

The Ant and the Contact Lens

A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona.

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of that rock.

Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather.

 As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens.

Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there.

Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry.

 She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it. 

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found.

She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says,

"The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom.

At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff.

 One of them shouted out,

 "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it?

 An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it.  

********

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist.

When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words,

 "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

At the risk of being accused of being fatalistic, I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say,

"God, I don't know why you me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy.  But, if you want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Communion on the Moon

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first two men to successfully navigate from the Earth to the Moon, walk on the surface, gather samples of lunar rocks and return safely to Earth in July of 1969. Aldrin says he did have a communion service on the moon's surface shortly after landing the Lunar Module "Eagle" on the Sea of Tranquillity. He told the story in an article in Guideposts magazine in 1999, an issue of the publication that commemorated the 20th anniversary of the lunar landing.

When the Eagle touched down on the moon on Sunday July 20, 1969, Aldrin took out the communion elements that he had brought along for the trip and put them on a small table.  He then radioed the Houston Space Centre to request a few moments of silence. Aldrin began his radio transmission to the Houston Space Centre,

"Houston, This is the (lunar module) pilot, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way."

At the point, NASA had decided to blackout the broadcast of the communion service.

From the lunar surface, Aldrin then read "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5, Revised Standard Version). and took communion.

In Aldrin ‘s own words..

The first food and drink consumed on the moon was the reserved sacrament of communion. At first, it was kept secret. To mark the 40th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing, Bosco Peters has posted the details of this Christian act of worship 235,000 miles from the earth. The First Communion on the Moon is now one of The Episcopal Church's 'lesser feasts and fasts', he writes.

“In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup.I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas.

 I agreed reluctantly…Eagle’s metal body creaked.

I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquillity.

 It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”

The memoirs of Buzz Aldrin and the Tom Hanks’s Emmy-winning HBO mini-series, From the Earth to the Moon (1998), made people aware of this act of Christian worship 235,000 miles from Earth.