You Can Pray for Everyone

 I was reading a book of daily devotions by Max Lucado, when I was inspired by his teaching on this verse. 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 1 Ti 2:1 NRSVue

He encouraged me to pray for people all around me.

The name of man immediately came to mind, a man who was in my class at school 60 years ago. I looked him up on the internet and read the story of his amazingly successful career. 

There was no mention of Christian faith, so I prayed for him to have a direct personal encounter with Jesus Christ. You can have everything in this life and have no hope for eternity.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Mk 8:36 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 NIV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NRSVue

God is your creator. If you have been successful, it is because God gave you talents and you used them. But never forget who gave you the ability.

I prayed for this man, and I am sure God will answer.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 
For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NRSVue

If you have faith in Jesus, you can ask for blessings for yourself and God will answer. 
You can pray for your family and friends and God will answer.

But don’t stop there.

Pray for everyone. But that is surely impossible. True. But when I go for a walk or go shopping, I often notice someone who looks sad or broken and I quietly pray. I am sure, that when I go to heaven, I will meet some of those sad and broken people who caught my attention and I prayed.

If you follow Jesus, never underestimate the power of God to answer your small prayers.

God wants to help you.

 Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee. It was a long walk, and at noon he took a break at a well in Samaria. 

There he found a woman drawing water from the well.

 It was taboo for Jews to talk to Samaritans. Jesus was also a Bible teacher, and no rabbi was allowed to speak to a woman alone. 

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

Jesus was alone with this woman because his disciples had gone to the nearby town to buy supplies. The woman was surprised that Jesus spoke to her.

So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How do you, being a Jew, ask from me water to drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jn 4:9 LEB

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Jn 4:10 LEB

Are you a little religious, virtuous and idealistic? That's a good start, but there's more. Many pastors preach humanistic philosophy, and their listeners have nothing more than vague ideas about God and eternal reality.

Are you a Christian? Do you expect an eternal future in heaven? That's good. But if you knew what Jesus wants to give you here on earth, you would pray from the heart and expect miracles.

Are you entangled in drug addiction, prostitution, pornography or the occult?
 
The woman in this story was despised in her society, but she may not have been to blame.

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ 

for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” Jn 4:17–18 NRSVue

In this society, only the man had the say. Five husbands had rejected her? Why?
Was she unable to bear sons? 
Had she been sexually abused and was unable to satisfy her husband? 
Was she extremely depressed, traumatised and moody?

How could she survive as a woman who had been divorced five times? As a beggar? As a prostitute?

Jesus did not look at her sins, but at her need. He simply loved her.

Jesus died on the cross for you and your sins. He simply loves you.

No matter where you are, Jesus wants to bless you.

When you entrust your life completely to Jesus, God's Spirit comes and dwells in your spirit.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, Eph 3:20 NRSVue

Why do we expect so little from God? What is your problem?
Have you failed? Jesus can give you strength and wisdom to live a new life.

Are you caught up in a colourless, decent religious routine? Jesus freed the decent Jews of his time from their religious treadmill. Jesus gave his disciples a new life filled with joy, freedom and adventure.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jn 10:10 NRSVue

Are you addicted to pornography? You can never enter God's heaven with pornography, but Jesus can set you free.

Jesus was tortured on the cross. Through his suffering, he took the punishment for all your sins upon himself.

If only you knew how God can and wants to help you, you would cry out for God's help and have a new life.

Small Steps Great Blessings

 In the past, God raised up outstanding preachers, missionaries and heroes of faith in this world. I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhard Bonnke and Billy Graham. 

Evangelists and Bible teachers are still important, but God's purpose is to equip completely unknown and seemingly ordinary people to establish His kingdom in the end times. God wants to work miracles through you and me. 

History books tell us about great generals who won important battles, but who actually fought? The foot soldiers. Without foot soldiers, pilots, technicians or sailors, famous leaders are powerless.

A young Christian began to pray every morning at 6 o'clock in church. Gradually, other Christians came to pray with him. The Holy Spirit began to bless the entire congregation in a wonderful way.
 
A pastor had a desire to evangelise in his town. He wanted to preach on the radio, but he had little money. Someone in his congregation realised that the pastor needed a computer, and he gave the pastor his first computer. Now this preacher has a weekly radio program. 

I was working in the garden recently. I hurt my back. In the middle of the night, I lay awake in bed. I prayed that Jesus would heal my back. I received an impulse from the Holy Spirit. I had to get up and anoint my own back with olive oil in the kitchen. I lay in bed for a few minutes and then obeyed. When I got up in the morning, my back was much better.

An Indian Christian woman had a friend who was Hindu. She invited her friend to attend her church service. The pastor gave the Hindu woman a New Testament and she read a little every evening. One evening, Jesus himself came into her bedroom and spoke to her. Then she was no longer Hindu.

A friendly invitation. A small gift. A wonderful visit from Jesus.

Jesus wants to use your small acts of obedience to save people.

What can you do today or this week? Move forward step by step.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9 NIV

God to the Rescue

 As a farmer was walking through his yard, he found a dead chicken. It was badly injured, obviously killed by a bird of prey. When he picked up the chicken, four chicks were still alive. The mother died saving her chicks.

He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. Ps 91:4 CSB

When we look around, we see a world that has fallen apart. Who tore this world apart? God did not do it.

We can blame the devil, but that is only half the truth. We must all admit that we have gone wrong somehow. We need God's forgiveness so that we do not suffer eternal separation from God and His goodness after death.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

There are many Christians who believe this. They hope to be taken to heaven after they die, but their life on earth is only a shadow of the supernatural adventure with God that we see in the Bible.

God wants us to go deeper into his love. 

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Rev 3:20 NLT

You can experience God's personal love in this way. But how? 

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NLT

When you learn to experience God's loving kindness, you must expect attacks from the enemy of your soul, but those who live in close friendship with Jesus can have his supernatural protection.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Ps 91:1–2 NKJV

I know a woman who is familiar with God’s tender love. One evening, as she was driving home, God saved her from certain death. 

It was too late to brake. She couldn't avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle drove through her car without making a sound or causing any damage. It was like something out of a science fiction movie. 

Disasters. Mercy or judgement of God?

 So many people want to sit on the judgement-seat of God, declaring that the fires in Los Angeles are God’s punishment for the sins of Hollywood.

God does sometimes punish sins, but not every disaster is directly inflicted by God.
How dare anyone pronounce the judgement of God without directly receiving revelation from the throne in heaven.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mt 7:1–2 NIV

Supposing you do get a reliable revelation from God, that he is inflicting disaster. Should you self-righteously gloat over the suffering of sinners, as some Christians do, particularly in social media?

Two days before the fires started in Los Angeles, I had a dream from God. I looked up at the dark night sky in my dream. The sky was not black but very dark red. I received a very clear interpretation from the Holy Spirit. The whole world was covered by the blood of Jesus, the blood that flowed from Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago.

This was not a message of judgement but of mercy. The mercy of God is still covering everyone on earth. Of course, the forgiveness of God is not automatically given. Each person must choose to believe and ask for mercy. It is a choice.

A week later, also on a Sunday morning, I heard sad funeral music playing in my head. It would not stop, and I started to realise that God was speaking to me. God mourns and grieves over the suffering of the people in California. He wants us to be praying for mercy for the rich as well as the poor.

If you pronounce judgement over Los Angeles but feel no grief or compassion, you are not speaking for God. You should be ashamed of yourself.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Co 13:2 NIV

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:8 NIV

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 Jn 4:16 NIV

If you have declared judgement on California without feeling sorrow and compassion, please ask God to forgive you. If you have publicly judged the fire victims, please post an apology publicly.

God wants to speak to You

 What is God saying to you now?

There is nothing wrong with seeking wise counsel and teaching but this must not be a substitute for growing up in faith yourself. A Christian who is spiritually healthy is able to receive direct personal communication from God Himself.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; Jn 10:27 NASB95

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Mt 4:3–4 NKJV

Here Jesus shows His faith in the Written Word of God but also in the spoken word of God. God speaks today and He speaks every day.

The Spirit of God brings the written word of God alive, so you know when God is speaking to you personally through a particular Bible text. But the Holy Spirit also speaks to your spirit in many different ways and He does it much more than most of us realise.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20 NKJV

In the New Testament, every believer is invited to hear the voice of God and to share with others what he hears.   

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17–18 NKJV

Of course God also speaks to his children privately. Many of the things you hear from the Holy Spirit are for to keep to yourself.

 

Some Miracles Take a Long Time

 Nowadays, some couples want to live without children. Some women only want to have one or two children. They want to pursue a career first and only try to get pregnant when they are 35. Many then have problems and end up paying a lot of money for artificial insemination.

In the biblical era, it was quite different. A woman was expected to be married, and there was great shame in being childless.

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.

Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.
But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. Lk 1:5–7 NIV

Elizabeth was old and despite her strong faith and devotion, and her many prayers, she remained childless. Had God forgotten her? She was faithful, but was God not faithful?

But God had a plan for her. She was to be the mother of a great prophet. Her son was John the Baptist.

Sometimes our faith and patience must be tested for years before God can perform a great miracle and give us even greater blessings.

When Moses fled Egypt at 40 years old, he was not a prophet and was not at all ready to rule a nation. After 40 years as a shepherd in the desert, he was able to begin fulfilling his destiny.

Abraham was to be the father of many nations, but he received this promise at about 75 years of age. He had to wait until he was almost 100 years old, and his wife was over 90 before they had their promised son.

Sometimes we see miracles happen very quickly. I know of a family that had a baby who was completely deaf. Before the little boy was 18 months old, he and his mother attended a service where the preacher prayed for him. A week later, he could hear a little, and three months later, he had 100% normal hearing.

When Jesus performed miracle healings in the New Testament, it didn't take long. The sick recovered dramatically. This also happens today, especially in revivals, but there are also healings where the recovery time takes longer, but the healing is still miraculous.

For many years I was a member of a congregation with a wonderful pastor. The pastor became ill. He was very close to death because of cancer, but God healed him. His recovery took quite a long time and afterwards he was never strong, but he lived for more than ten years. His ministry after his healing was even better and more blessed than before.

Before the war, there were no antibiotics. A pastor in England became ill with tuberculosis, which at that time was incurable. The pastor believed in miracle healings and he prayed that God would heal him.

The Holy Spirit promised him that if he would pray two hours each day, God would heal him. He believed and obeyed. He prayed every day and he gradually recovered completely.

In the Bible, we read how devout Jews and Christians somehow, in some mysterious way, received messages from the Holy Spirit. God has not changed. He still speaks. It is part of His nature.

Do you know God's voice? You can learn to listen to God. Ask God to help you. He can heal the deaf ears and also awaken a listening heart in you.

Christian Love for Muslims

In 2001, two planes were hijacked by Islamic terrorists and destroyed the Twin Towers in New York. Since then, the world has not been the same. Islamic extremists have been engaged in Jihad, religious warfare, both with weapons and propaganda.

Many of us Christians have not known how to respond. I know an ex Muslim from Saudi Arabia to fearlessly shares the Christian gospel with every Muslim he sees.

God sent him to a secular university, where he completed his doctorate. There were many Muslims at that university and every one of them heard the message of Jesus.

One Muslim tried to kill him with poisoned food. A week later he met him and was astonished to find him alive. He had put enough poison in the food to kill a camel.

My Christian friend calmly answered with a promise from the Bible.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mk 16:17–18 NIV

The Muslim assassin was convinced by the power of God and became a Christian himself.

A Christian girl from England went to a holiday island in Thailand to reach out to people for Jesus. Many Muslims came to faith in Jesus, so other Muslims were determined to kill her.

When she was caught in an ambush, God made her invisible and she quietly walked away.

We must not be intimidated by Muslims. I have met a number of ex Muslims who no longer believe in Islam. Some have become Christians but others are in no-mans-land. They no longer believe in Islam but they are not converted to Christianity.

Some still believe in God and are appreciative if Christians pray for them.

I knew a young Muslim woman who wanted to know more about Christianity. She said her next door neighbour was a Christian who cared for her as if she was her own sister. They were both refugees and spoke the same language.

This woman asked me to help her learn more about Christianity, so I went to a Christian bookshop and bought a cassette tape with a reading of Mark’s Gospel in Persian.

If you are friendly with Muslims, you may be surprised to find how many are open to Christian love and truth.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mt 28:19 NIV

Millions of Muslims are becoming Christians today. How is this happening?

Christian TV, friendship and love from Christians, miracle healings, supernatural dreams in which they encounter Jesus.

Pray for Muslims and don’t be afraid.

Receiving from God

Receiving from God.

Everyone has received from God. Life, abilities, talents. Everything.
Everyone is born with different talents, inclinations.

But talent is not enough. You need to develop your talents. Beethoven was incredibly talented but he worked extremely hard to write great music.

The same thing applies to spiritual gifts. John Wesley was wonderfully gifted to preach, teach, evangelise and write spiritual literature, but he did not achieve any results without very hard work.

CS Lewis was a wonderful Christian writer and a profound original thinker, but his books did not just fall out of the sky. He was an academic teacher at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He was an expert in English literature. He was a professional thinker and writer. God used his talents and skills to win many people to faith in Jesus, people who were not attracted by any form of conventional Christian religion, whether Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical or fundamentalist.

Jesus was not just a preacher but also a story teller. God used story tellers like CS Lewis to show children and adult intellectuals the eternal truths of the Bible.

One Christian writer tells how the Narnia fantasy stories taught him to believe in the Christian values of right and wrong, and the battle of good against evil. He explained that conventional Christianity turned him off.

“Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings.” Barney Zwartz

We can receive from God by responding intuitively to music and stories.

We can also receive from God through prayer and God’s answers to our prayers or the prayers of others for us.

Sometimes answers to prayer come quickly and easily. You are running late for an appointment and you ask God for a place to park in a crowded city. Less than a minute after your prayer, a car pulls out of a parking place in front of you.

Once I cried out to God from the depth of my heart for a friend who had taken a fatal overdose. I prayed non stop for hours. A week later my friend recovered completely without any physical damage.

Then there are persistent prayers. I prayed for my unbelieving parents to believe in Jesus. I prayed for my mother for 25 years and for my father for 40 years. Both made peace with God on their deathbeds.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NIV

Biblical Meditation

 New Age is an alternative religion. In New Age, feelings and experiences are emphasised. In New Age meditation the imagination and especially the visual imagination is encouraged and developed.

Christians must of course avoid false religions. This is particularly emphasised in the Bible.

“You shall have no other gods before me. Ex 20:3 NIV

God's people must not only reject other gods. In the Old Testament, the Jews were not allowed to imitate the worship practices and religious customs of other religions.

Many Christians therefore avoid all intense meditation because meditation is very prominent in Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga and New Age.

But this causes problems because the Bible teaches us that we must not only read, learn and study the Bible, but that we must also meditate intensively.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. Ps 1:1–2 NIV 

 What is the Hebrew word ‘hagah’?

to roar, growl, groan, to utter, speak. to meditate, devise, muse, imagine. (Strong's Lexicon)

What does this mean? Our relationship with God and his word involves all aspects of our thoughts and emotions, including our imagination.

So are we allowed to meditate and visualise?

In the Bible, God's truth is repeatedly presented with vivid visual illustrations.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, I am about to set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of jewels, and all your wall of precious stones. Is 54:10–12 NRSV

Should the Holy Spirit express himself in this way, but forbid us to think in this way?

New Age does not come from God, but from darkness. The devil cannot create anything. He copies everything from God, the Creator of all things.

He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Mt 22:37 NRSV

Your thought world includes maths, logic, memorising, music, making plans, etc, etc.

But your world of thoughts also includes memories, dreams, daydreams, musing, meditating and all kinds of imaginations, including visual ones.  

Dreams and daydreams can be sinful or sacred. We must not abolish our imagination, but sanctify it with the Holy Spirit through God's Word.

Friendship with a Holy God

 There are Christians who worship Jesus, but they are motivated by religious duty, not spontaneous love.

Some pray with a prayer book. Others pray without a prayer book, but their prayer is a religious routine.

Some misunderstand the Lord's Prayer.

Jesus said we should know our heavenly Father as ABBA. ABBA means Papa or Daddy in Hebrew.

But there is another extreme. There are Christians who want to treat Jesus as their mate, and a very permissive mate at that, who supposedly doesn't take little faults like pornography addiction seriously.

I once heard of a young Christian who was enthusiastic about reading charismatic paperbacks and discussing revivals. His girlfriend was a prostitute and his life was far from chaste and holy.

I sometimes see supposedly devout Christians who consider sex before marriage normal. I am amazed that they do not suffer painful pangs of conscience. I could never live like that.

God is love. He longs to love people as friends.

 In the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses and David were friends of God.

The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. Ex 33:11 NIV

But there is no true friendship without love and respect.

God is holy.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Heb 12:14 NIV

Arthur Blessitt is an American missionary and evangelist. When he was a young preacher, he evangelised in a red light district. Like Jesus, he did not stay away from sinners and prostitutes, but like Jesus, he was also holy and faithful.

He asked permission to preach in a nightclub with naked dancers. He went backstage and spoke to the naked young women who were having a rest.

Many men would be overcome with sexual thoughts and feelings in this situation but God gave Arthur Blessitt the gift of grace to minister with God's holy love.

After listening to the loving sermon for a while, the women began to have chaste feelings and they covered their naked bodies with towels.

The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them. Ps 25:14 NRSV

A Hearing Heart, Listening to God

 King Solomon was humble in the beginning and wanted to please God. He asked God for wisdom so that he could rule justly.

But we need to look at the text more closely. What is the nature of this wisdom that Solomon received from God?

So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people? 1 Kings 3:9 AMP

What is a hearing heart?

First of all, we need to listen to our own hearts when we have a conflict of conscience. We all have these conflicts. Sadly, Adam and Eve ignored their conscience.

But it is not enough to obey our conscience. Our conscience can be shaped by our upbringing, our culture and our religion.

Our conscience can be too liberal or too strict.

There are Christians who think sex before marriage is normal. I can't understand why they don't feel painful remorse.

On the other hand, there are women who have had a very strict religious upbringing. They have been taught to regard sexual feelings as sinful. When they are engaged and kiss their boyfriend, they feel strong remorse. Even after marriage, they do not enjoy sex.
 
If you have a listening heart, your heart will be open to God's Word. You will learn from the Bible that sex before marriage is forbidden.

You will also learn that sex with your spouse should be delightfully pleasant.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine, Song of Songs 1:2 NRSV

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. Jn 10:27 NRSV

There are laws in the Bible that are meant to sensitise our consciences. But there are also teachings designed to free us from a guilty or legalistic conscience.

Only through divine wisdom will your conscience be cleansed and sanctified, but also freed from legalism.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1 NRSV

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5:1 NRSV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1 NRSV

God's Plans for Young People

 In many churches, we see almost only older people or perhaps a few children. Where are the young adults?

Many are walking away from God, some as teenagers and others in their 20s.

This is nothing new. Jesus told us about the prodigal son.

As a grandfather, I sometimes wonder what I have done wrong.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the father was perfectly loving and unblemished, like God Himself, but I must acknowledge with shame that I am not a perfect saint.

When my children were young, I was often legalistic or overwhelmed by my personal problems.

Step by step, I had to learn to recognise my mistakes and understand God's ways better, but in the meantime, my children were often frustrated by my mistakes.

Thank God I am teachable and my adult children now realise this.

If you want teachable teenagers or adult children, you must be teachable yourself.
Nothing is more off-putting to teenagers than parents and older people who are opinionated and inflexible.

In the old Christian culture, the priests, pastors and parents were always supposed to be unquestionably right. Right was right and wrong was wrong. Preachers and parents were supposed to know everything and always understand everything better.

But this tradition no longer works.
The world has changed drastically. People with old ways of thinking can no longer cope with the new reality.

Should we simply throw holiness and justice overboard? Many do, but God has not changed.

Jesus is our guide and is always ready to solve our problems.
How does Jesus appear in the Bible?

The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17 NRSV

God's truth is eternal. Jesus himself is God's truth.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NRSV

God's truth is indispensable, but Jesus first revealed grace and only then the truth. Jesus appeared as an itinerant preacher who demonstrated God's grace through kindness and miraculous healings.

Only later did he reveal his true identity, that he is the Son of God.

We need God's grace and wisdom so that we can understand how to apply God's truth in new situations.

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. Jas 1:5 NRSV

But God himself is at work. A recent survey in Germany showed that the young age group, i.e. those under 30, are more faithful than older age groups.

But we older Christians must learn to accept a different Christian culture, because God himself expresses himself differently to young people than he does to us.

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Is 43:18–19 NRSV

For many older Christians, today's culture seems like a desert where nothing can flourish, but God has wonderful plans for the new generation.

God Can Rescue You

 How can Jesus save you from your troubles? You don't know. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has a plan for you.  

They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.

But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Lk 4:29–30 NIV

How did Jesus escape the angry crowd? A mystery.

How can Jesus save you from your misery? You don't know. It's a mystery, but He can.

How did the Holy Spirit plant the holy seed in Mary's womb so that she became pregnant and Jesus was born nine months later?

It's a mystery, but with God nothing is impossible.

Gaby Wentland is a preacher in Hamburg who was once a missionary in Africa. She now has a different mission in Germany. She helps asylum seekers and enslaved prostitutes.

She says there is more prayer in brothels than in most churches.

A German evangelist heard God's still small voice whispering in his spirit. He was told to go to a brothel. He was shocked, but he wanted to obey.

In the brothel he found a decent woman from a distant country who had been enticed to come to Germany to find work to help her poor family.

The evangelist was able to help her escape from the brothel and return to her family.

God has ways of helping His children. Don't you see a way out? God has good plans for you.

He is waiting for your cry for help. Right now.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NIV

God Wants to Help You

 Jesus wants to bless you a lot, not just a little here and there. He wants to help you. You may have read this idea in the Bible or heard it in a sermon. 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jn 10:10 NASB95

You are a believing Christian. You believe in the Bible, but somehow you experience blessings here and there, but also frustration.

Today God wants to encourage you. He wants to refresh the dry areas of your life.

Imagine you have fruit trees. Some are thriving and bearing fruit, but others are just leaves.

At home you find love, but at the office you find frustration, or maybe vice versa.

In your private prayer time you find joy and peace, but in church you find stress.

Everything in your life matters to Jesus. Nothing is unimportant because God loves you completely.

God wants to help you in the difficult areas of your life.

He is waiting for your cry for help.

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NASB95

God Still Heals Today.

 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Jn 15:7 NRSV

If you remain in close fellowship with Jesus, you can ask for wisdom, and God will make His way clear to you.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Jas 1:5 NIV

We often have problems when we seek wisdom everywhere, but not first from God's Word and not always with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine you are sick, but you are still functioning somewhat normally. You are not paralysed by pain and it is not a matter of life and death. You go to the doctor and take medication for weeks, but your symptoms remain a problem.

Some time ago I was praying. I heard a thought in my mind from the Holy Spirit.
How long are you going to put up with this problem?

God has promised in the Bible to heal all my diseases. I have experienced God's miraculous healings several times. Why shouldn't I pray and expect God's healing this time?

(He) forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Ps 103:3 NIV

Are you a Christian? Then you believe that God forgives all your sins. If not, you would be condemned. If God only forgives some sins and not all, then we would all go to hell.

If God promises to forgive all your sins, then you must know that the same God in the same Bible has also promised to heal all your diseases, all of them.

In my dictionary, I find two very different words, ALL and MANY.

When God promises to heal all sicknesses, He doesn't mean some sicknesses.

So should we never go to the doctor, never take medicine and never need an operation? God never said that. Even good doctors are God's servants, whether they believe in God or not.

God is Thinking about You

 Are you stuck? Are your thoughts going round in circles? Your repeated prayers of confession don't change anything. Have you asked God what he thinks about it?

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jer 29:11 NKJV

God is thinking about you every minute. God is the creator and author of all things. His thoughts rule the universe, but he is not overwhelmed by it all. He still thinks about you every minute.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Perhaps you are already familiar with this verse. You know that God loves all people, but in God's heart you are not just a specimen of humanity. You are you. God loves you.

Have you already entrusted your life to Jesus? Maybe you still think of yourself as an unworthy sinner who seeks God's mercy from far away, but God thinks differently. Jesus hung stark naked on the cross. He endured the shame to abolish your shame.

Perhaps you have not yet surrendered your life into God's hands. You are still a sinner in God's eyes, but still dearly loved. God thinks of you with love. He wants to adopt you and love you as his own child.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

Are you stuck? Are your thoughts going round in circles? Your repeated prayers of confession don't change anything. Have you asked God what he thinks about it?

God wants to tell you his thoughts.

‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer 29:12–13 NASB95

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NASB95

Bible Texts to Help You Pray

 Here are some Bible texts with short comments to help you pray.

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. Ps 8:2 NIV

God hears the prayers of young children and newly converted Christians. Are you not a hero of faith? No matter, let God hear the cry of your heart. He wants to help you and perhaps surprise you.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NLT

• Maybe you're praying and you're not getting an answer. Don't worry about it. God wants to hear you. Please don't give up.

• Seek more help.

• Seek more wisdom in the Bible so that you can pray better.

• Ask other Christians to pray with you.

• Ask God to give you intuitive insight into how to pray.

• Ask God to reveal to you if you are clinging to a sinful attitude so that your faith is blocked.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognise that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 1 Jn 3:1 NLT

Do you believe in Jesus? You must understand that God wants to bless you.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Rom 8:31–32 NRSV

There are some Christians who have a distorted image of God. They see themselves as wretched sinners who deserve nothing and therefore should not expect much from God.

When the prodigal son returned to his father in Luke 15, he asked for the grace to serve as a servant. How did the father respond?

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. Lk 15:22–23 NIV

Are you weak in faith? You know that nothing is impossible for God, but you doubt whether your weak faith is enough to get an answer.

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.

Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Mt 13:31–32 NIV

Start small and never give up. Your little faith can grow until you know God better and your faith becomes strong.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4 NIV