Ern:
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write or call you. I'm at the lowest
point a person can be in their life. I'm getting divorced, no job, no money
& on the verge of homelessness. And to add to all that I was diagnosed with
leukemia 3 years ago & just recently diagnosed with prostate cancer &
recently had the radiation seeds put in. As soon as our divorced is
finalized in January, I'll have health insurance for 30 days and then I'll
be without insurance. I'm sorry to contact you with nothing but bad news but
that's all I have.
To my knowledge, my friend has still not surrendered his life to the Lord. I shared this with just a couple of family members and friends. Ironically, my oldest daughter and one of my close friends responded immediately. Breana has known him since she was two years old, and calls him "Uncle" to this day.
I write this because I think of how people will say; "I will pray for you." I am sorry, but most of the time people say this because it appeases their conscience about not doing something. In reality, most people don't know how to pray and can't because God doesn't hear the prayers of the unsaved. UH OH, did I just loose some friends with that last one. The only prayer God hears of the unsaved is their cry for salvation.
Lets assume that we are saved and say we will pray but don't - what a disgrace to God and those who ask us to pray. While I'm prying, do you even read the Christmas story as recorded in The Book of Luke on Christmas Day - Sorry, I am hurting for him and not thinking...God still answers prayer, and still uses people primarily to do it with. Santa can't help my friend, but maybe Jesus will use you and me too?
This Christmas season is for people just like my friend because; Jesus came to heal the broken hearted! Pray with me, at least once, that my friend will respond to Christ' calling him.
ern
PS I know I need prayer in being more loving to you all and not judgemental. Pray for me too....
First, Ernie, I think it is a wonderful thing you are doing to boldly write and spread the Word of God to a lost and dying world. And with no fear to speak the truth on matters that many would cry controversial. Jesus will surely say,..."Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
ReplyDeleteMatthew 25:21
The Bible is clear, "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
1 Peter 3:12
In order to be righteous in the sight of the Lord and to be certain that your prayers are heard, one must:
1) Hear, John 5:24,
2) Believe, Hebrews 11:6,
3) Repent, Acts 2:38
4) Be Baptized, Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16
5) Confess, I John 1:9
6) Then, love the Lord thy God with your whole heart and do as Jesus commanded even if it means speaking the Truth when it is difficult.
"Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah29:12-13
"Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Acts 10:31
"And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." 1 John 5:14
This is the tough part, though.
Sometimes, God says no.
But surely Ernie, when I say that I will pray for your friend, I will.