Philippians 4:6-9, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
With the economic crisis in our country right now, I honestly do find myself beginning to worrying sometimes. Will I have an income next year? What if? What if? We never know what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1). I never take anything for granted. I receive disability for my neck injury. I have much difficulty getting through each day, due to agonizing constant toothache-like pain in the bony area of my neck. The entire right side of my body feels half-asleep 24/7.
I feel intermittent sharp razorblade-like radiating pain down both arms and legs, mostly the right side. I feel burning throughout my entire nervous system, which feels like spasms at times, which is caused by nerve damage in my spinal cord from the second neck surgery I underwent in 2010 which made me 100% worse. I feel constant pressure in my neck, which feels like a small balloon filled with air inside my neck. These discomforts make it difficult for me to sit through a church service, carry on a normal conversation and cope with everyday life.
All of these aforementioned discomforts and pain frustrate me. I get irritated easily and have little patience, because the pain is in my neck right next to my head, afflicting me. I survive from day to day in a form of hell on earth. I have endured this misery for the past 17 years since 2004. I never assume anything. I used to worry all the time around 2010 to 2013, but it became so emotionally difficult for me that I couldn't do it anymore. I came to the place where I didn't care anymore if I lost my disability, it wasn't worth the emotional trauma and fear. I decided to trust God no matter what!
I recently moved from Guam to Florida and started to worry if it will change my disability status. Laws change from place to place, involving many legalities. It is next to impossible to gather all the information a person needs, about everything that may affect us. I simply cannot live a life of fear. So I am trusting God. I don't know what will happen over the next year or two. I can think of dozens of “What ifs?,” worrying myself. But that is not how God wants me to live as His child. I am not a self-made millionaire. I am not “financially set for life.” I honestly do not know what I would do if I lost my income tomorrow, I would end up homeless.
I am being transparent with you dear reader, to help relate to your own worries and burdens. We all have them! Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” I cherish this Bible verse! And yet I read about poor people in Africa who are barely surviving in utter poverty. I see poor people in the Philippines who survive on $30 per month income. I feel guilty for worrying when I read in the news about people whose homes burn down, and those who have unfortunately lost their jobs, and others who are terribly disabled and suffering. Yet I see those hurting people smiling and praising God!
When I start to feel sorry for myself and worry, I am reminded quickly of dear people like Katie Stubblefield, who took her brother's shotgun to commit suicide. Some mean girls at school were bullying her (I know what being bullied hurts like). Katie didn't know how to process those hurtful emotions and decided to take her own life. She was a beautiful teenage girl in appearance. She failed at killing herself and instead blew her face off. Katie is blind today, but has renewed her faith in God and has a purpose in life now! She is an encouragement to millions of people, including me. I think about Katie often and use her tragedy to always REMIND ME that I have absolutely NOTHING to worry, complain or feel bad about. ...
One of the reasons why I have thousands of web visitors who love and follow me faithfully with interest is because I have suffered MUCH over the decades, yet I keep going by God's grace strong in my faith. I give God ALL the credit and praise for anything good ever accomplished in me. Without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5).
My beloved wife divorced me in 2006. We lost our paid home as a consequence. I've been renting ever since. I got hit by a church bus in 1992 which permanently misaligned my neck, leading to Cervical Degenerative Disk Disease. I had a serious accident in 2004 which worsened my neck injury, leaving me with radiating pain in my limbs. I flew 6,000 miles from Guam to California twice in 2009 and 2010 to undergo two major neck surgeries. I was by myself and had no one by my side. I wanted to die for loneliness. But I knew God was with me. When I recovered from my first surgery, awakening out of anesthesia, I exclaimed in the Emergency Room: “God saw me through!,” and He did. I love Jesus!!!
“A test of a Christian’s character is what he does after he comes to the blockade in the road and what his attitude is after everything has left him except Jesus.” —Brother Lester Roloff
I could tell you many more hardships that I have endured, some that I choose not to share with others because they are too painful. Faith is like film, it develops in the dark! Unshakable faith come from having your faith shaken! Sadly, the biggest obstacle to my Christian faith has been other professed Christians who are phony, ungodly and indifferent about truth. Namely, the ungodly Bob Jones University camp have utterly discouraged me from serving God. If it weren't for my faith being strong and mature in the Lord, having been a born-again believer for 41 years since age 13 in 1980, I would have quit and never gone back to church again because of shameful Pastors' Marty Herron, Joe Hansen, Jared Baldwin and Gary Walton on Guam! I forgive those wicked men, but God must avenge me of their evil toward me and my family, and all the seven years that I had no church to attend because they banned me.
One thing that I have painfully learned is to JUST PRAY about everything, and then claim God's peace in all things. I love the following Bible passage from the Old Testament book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar was a vain king, demanding that all men worship HIM. The young Christian lads, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, respectfully REFUSED! They told the king that their God of Israel would deliver them from the deadly fiery furnace, and I love what they said next... “BUT IF NOT”!!! Whew that is precious, BUT IF NOT...
Daniel 3:15-18, “Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 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. 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.”
Likewise, my attitude is that I am going to just do what the Bible says and PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING. God will answer my prayers if it is within His will. BUT IF NOT, then I am still going to obey God to pray, so it can never be said down the road in eternity that I failed to pray. God does not expect me and you to do HIS PART, God only expects us to do OUR PART.
That is why so many preachers have gone haywire on the Gospel, because they are trying to force sinners to do GOD'S PART. OUR PART in salvation is to simply get out of the way, ceasing from our own works, and to simply REST in the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen from the dead (John 19-20; 1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 4:10-11). In every case of someone preaching a false plan of salvation, it is always because they are confusing OUR PART with GOD'S PART.
“More people will die and burn in Hell, because they're trusting too much!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”“Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
Dear reader, I struggle with praying about everything just as you do. I seriously doubt if 99% of believers are faithful to pray about everything. One thing I learned many years ago from Matthew 6:7-8 is that God doesn't expect us to spend lengthy hours in prayer to see results. Too many Christians, I think, approach prayer with a superstitious mindset. Let's be real here! God wants to help us, but the Bible says if we are proud, then God will avoid us (James 4:6). Hebrews 4:14-16 says that as God's redeemed children we have a legal right to come before the throne of grace, to ask God for mercy to give us grace to help in our time of need.
God wants us to pray (1st Thessalonians 5:17). God wants us to ask Him for things (Philippians 4:6-7). 1st John 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” I have often felt that God was ignoring me, not answering my prayers. But dear friend, that is where our faith comes into play. Praying in itself is an act of faith. But when God doesn't answer (or seems not to answer) and we keep on praying, that requires a greater faith, which according to Hebrews 11:6 PLEASES GOD. We find confirmation of this truth in Luke 18:1-8 in the story of the widow and the unjust judge. Luke 18:1, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
We all have different thinks that we could worry about Pastor Danny Castle says:
I love this quote too by Pastor Danny Castle, one of my favorite preachers:“He was God when you thought your whole world caved in on you, and you didn't know where you was gonna turn to!!!” —Pastor Danny Castle, a beautiful quote from the life-changing sermon, “GOD” (MP3) | Video
“There's two days you should never worry about—yesterday and tomorrow! You can't change them. Fight today's battles today! Worry is the end of faith and faith is the end of worry! The second I start trusting the Lord, I quit worrying; and the second I start worrying, I quit trusting the Lord. Worry is not trusting God. I just feel like, some of you may be just worrying yourself sick, over stuff that you can't change it a bit. You know what you need to do—put it into God's hands! Don't be guilty of the sin that most Christians commit." —Pastor Danny Castle, a quote from the sermon titled: "The Sin That Most Christians Commit"
“See, you have peace 'with God' when you trusted Christ as your Savior; but the peace 'of God' is what God gives to you on a daily basis, when you rely upon Him and you trust Him.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, a helpful quote from the excellent MP3 sermon, “The War On Worry.”
Trust and obey,for there's no other wayTo be happy in Jesus,but to trust and obey.
called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
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