James 5:13-16 New American Standard Bible 1995
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, [a]anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer [b]offered in faith will [c]restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, [d]they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective [e]prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Life is filled with highs and lows.
Navigating the terrains of our ups and downs of life can be a OMG challenge.
Thankfully the Bible gives us some insight on how to approach our hardships and our joy.
God doesn’t leave us on our own in either season -in our lives, there is no struggle that He is not present for or celebration He doesn’t know about.
What does God say about the hard times?
The enemy of our souls continuously wants to speak the lie of aloneness in our ears when things start to feel and act like so much more than we can handle.
We become paralyzed in the belief that no one is there to support us, thoughts of guilt or shame may stop us from being open about our struggles, and the idea that no one can understand what we are going through can keep us stuck alone.
Without the availability and resources and support of others or a strong grasp on God’s love for you in those hard moments, hopelessness can begin to set in like an ugly fast spreading disease, like plaque building in your hearts arteries.
The Bible tells us that “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12).
This is precisely why the Bible instructs us to turn to God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in prayer when things fall apart and we suffer.
Psalm 13 New American Standard Bible 1995
Prayer for Help in Trouble.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
When we begin to connect with God through prayer and study of his Word, hope can return to our hearts!
We are reminded that we are loved and never alone.
God gives us the strength we need to share our stories with others that can support us, further breaking the chains of aloneness and hopelessness.
When you are in a season of suffering, bring it all to Jesus… bring all of the frustration, desperation, loneliness, or anger and lay them at the feet of Jesus.
Luke 18:1-8 New American Standard Bible 1995
Parables on Prayer
18 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘[a]Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will [b] give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will [c]wear me out.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; 7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, [d]and will He delay long over them? 8 I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [e]faith on the earth?”
God is not repelled by honesty.
He already knows the state of our lives and hearts.
You will not offend God with your sin or doubt.
He pleads with us saying please come to me first.
He loves you so much that He died to take away your sin and pain.
In seasons of joy, sing praises to your God!
We can get so caught up in our own pleasures that we take the good for granted and only turn to God in hardship.
God invites us back to be in his presence in both our seasons of joy and seasons of suffering.
When prayers are answered, when a milestone is achieved, or when the sunset takes your breath away, or your kids knock it out of the park, when your spouse does something special like says “I Love You!” take a moment, give God all glory.
It is Overcoming! It’s our ability to see God in the joy-filled seasons that helps prepare us for the times and seasons of suffering and despondency.
If we don’t have the ability to notice God’s grace, provision, and kindness when it is directly in our faces, how will we recognize God at work when life is heavy?
We need that ledger available in our minds of all the ways God has already come through for us to lean on when doubt, worry, or when suffering enters our lives.
Acts 17:24-28 New American Standard Bible 1995
24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and [a]exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
What season are you in now?
Are you barely keeping it together or are you loving every minute of life?
Either way, God is there, and He wants you to look to Him in each and every season of life brings your way.
Acts 17:28 says it like this “For in him we live and move and exist. As some of our own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.”
He is our source of life, but even more than that, God wants to do life with you.
Remember to faithfully offer prayer and praise in both your joy and suffering.
Romans 12:9-13 New American Standard Bible 1995
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; [a]give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,13 contributing to the needs of the [b]saints, [c]practicing hospitality.
Joyful hope and patience in affliction go against the grain of our own natures.
Despair and self-pity come much more easily.
In times like that, it’s important to turn to God in prayer.
We pray for many reasons: to thank God for blessings, to praise God, to confess sins, to seek God’s guidance.
In addition, we pray to ask God for help.
Asking God for help may be the most natural prayer of all.
Sometimes God answers our requests for help exactly as we ask, sometimes not.
Either way, the Bible calls us to be faithful in prayer.
Prayer—thanking, praising, confessing, asking for help—connects us with God.
Prayer builds relationship.
Prayer strengthens the bond between God and us.
When you have a good connection, a good friendship, good relationship with someone, hopefulness and patience become a bit easier, especially when that invaluable connection someone, is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 42 New American Standard Bible 1995
BOOK 2
Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.
42 As the deer [b]pants for the water brooks,
So my soul [c]pants for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and [d]appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and [e]lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you [f]in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
[g]Hope in God, for I shall [h]again praise [i]Him
For the [j]help of His presence.
6 O my God, my soul is [k]in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the [l]peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning [m]because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you [n]in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
[o]Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The [p]help of my countenance and my God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 