Pray A Blessing! Push The Rock?

PRAY FOR BLESSINGS!

PUSH THE STONE AND GROW THE FAITH...

1/28/09, I write this letter to dear minister friends in the heat of heartbreak and disappointments in ministry.

To my Dear Co-laborers in the Lord:

Ellen and Brent: I have carried a heavy burden for the both of you.

I have been praying and seeking God’s face for you.

I. IF GOD --- THEN WE CAN...

A. This year I have prayed the prayer Moses gave Aaron to bless the people for my friends and fellow laborers in the harvest. The task before us is great.

Numbers 6:23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, [24] The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: [25] The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

[26] The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

[27] And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

B. I pray for several reasons. It is all I know to do, but prayer is enough. You are facing spiritual strongholds and the battles are not yours, they are God’s.

It is easy in the heat of the battle to question our skills and our talents and cry out:

O, God, I can not do this.

Then we limit and handcuff God’s work by seeing what we can not do instead of focusing on what God can do.

C. In my first pastorate an old lady came right up in my face and said:

BETTER PREACHERS THAN YOU HAVE TRIED HERE AND FAILED?

At first I thought: --- mean --- crazy old woman.

Then in the quietness of my study I thought: SHE IS RIGHT.

I can’t do this. Everything was against me...

Then the Holy Spirit spoke God’s word to me...

Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things?

If God be for us, who can be against us?

D. I PONDER DO I TRUST GOD? Do I trust in His word?

Do I trust in Deed? Reality?

Do I have a complete trust and confidence in God?

Where is the security I seek?

E. I have never seen what I have dreamed? It appears I have failed?

At times all I have is HOPE AGAINST HOPE?

Yet some of the great men of the Bible had to function beyond the realm

of the visible. We do not want to tread in the realm of faith?

Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the

father of many nations; according to that which was spoken,

So shall thy seed be.

Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

II. CAN MY HEART DECLARE... IF I DIE IN THIS WORK ---

IF I SEE NOTHING. I HAVE NO TO LITTLE VICTORY?

GOD IS STILL GOD... BUT IF NOT O, KING ... GOD IS STILL GOD...

A. CAN I LOOK INTO A FURANCE HEATED 7 TIMES HOTTER THAN THE

NORM AND DECLARE GOD CAN?

B. WHEN THESE 3 MEN FELL IN THE FURNACE THERE WAS A HEART

STOPPAGE...

The three boys did not know what God was going to do?

Is it well? Is it well with my soul even if the ship sinks?

Daniel 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. [18] But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

[19] Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

[20] And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

[21] Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

[22] Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. [23] And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

[24] Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.