After reading of a persecuted family in Pakistan I was struck by the triviality of my concerns, not that all things aren't important to God.We are to pray about everything with thanksgiving.I so clearly remember a time I was thanking God for a cool breeze on a hot summer day without missing a beat my next thought was could I still thank Him if there was no breeze. We may be tempted to thank God when things only go our way and resist Him when they don't. God is crafting something beautiful in the fire of your affliction.Do not sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the immediate.Brothers and Sisters pray for one another.The following is by Dr. Will Bruce"Praying for others is vital to our own spiritual growth. If we pray for them at all we often get bogged down with the material or the trivial and do not move on to the spiritual and the eternal. Where are our priorities? Often they are so clouded by humanistic and materialistic philosophies on the one hand and the pressures of the day on the other that we ignore the spiritual almost entirely. Needless to say, we do not cease to intercede for material needs as we learn to pray protectively for spiritual needs and growth. We need to progress beyond, Lord, bless John and Mary, and be specific, thus moving from crisis praying to protective praying. For example: Fred or Jane is unemployed. We pray for a job, as we should, but what is God saying In this circumstance? What are the spiritual lessons to be learned? What are the attitudes, the frustrations, the mental depressions, the fears? How about the interpersonal relationships within and outside the family? Is God glorified in this time of stress by their actions and reactions? Many times in our very limited intercession for others we pray for deliverance from difficult circumstance, sickness, or accident. We forget to ask that Fred or Jane will take Gods more than ample provision and learn the lessons God has for both in this trial. Our concern is not necessarily for the removal of the problem but for victory in it and Gods glory. Daniel was not kept out of the lions den. He was kept in it!"
After reading this:
I so clearly remember a time I was thanking God for a cool breeze on a hot summer day
_________________Sandra Miller
Amen Desert Rose. A very good word. Thank you!
Quote DesertRose -""We may be tempted to thank God when things only go our way and resist Him when they don't. God is crafting something beautiful in the fire of your affliction.Do not sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the immediate.Brothers and Sisters pray for one another.The following is by Dr. Will Bruce"Praying for others is vital to our own spiritual growth."" Bless you & this message to us.
