God with us

In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.—Psalm 18:6 KJV

It should be a comfort, if you are a Christian, to know that God hears you. The question is—do you have faith enough to believe it? I encounter people all the time who say they are Christians but who are weak in the knees when it comes to believing God for what they need. They don't have confidence to approach God's throne of grace themselves so they ask others to do it for them— "Please pray for me." No question intercessory prayer is a powerful ally, but our personal prayers are what's needed to move God to act on our behalf. The Bible clearly states in James 5:16—

The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].—AMP

With that kind of power right at our fingertips, prayer should be automatic in every situation we face. Nevertheless, God is gracious to answer our unspoken prayers as well as the prayers of others for us. Sometimes, when someone experiences an instant or miraculous answer to prayer, you know without a doubt that it came from God. At other times, He may delay the answer or give a partial answer so that we might labor in prayer until the answer comes.

God knows everything about us before we even open our mouths to tell him. He wouldn't be God if He didn't. He's the omniscient, omnipotent (all-knowing, all powerful) God, nothing is hidden from His sight. David wrote in Psalm 139:2—

I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence.

So, you ask, why pray if God knows everything? One reason is because God commands us to "pray without ceasing"... because this is the way God wants those who belong to Christ Jesus to live (1 Thessalonians 5:16). The other reason is our prayers unleash God's power into the situation. Angels spring into action at God's command to rescue believing Christians who cry out to Him. That's what prayer does. Here's a simple analogy: You have a car at your disposal to take you anywhere you want to go, at anytime. You have the keys to the car. But if you don't put them in the ignition and start the car, it will never do what it's suppose to do. It's the same with prayer—it works best when you use it.

A final thought, if God is ever present in a believer's life, then the reverse must also be true—the believer is always in God's presence. Now that's reason to rejoice and pray.

Note: If you are unsure of or want a closer relationship with the God of the Bible, you'll find help at Peace with God.

A Christmas Day miracle: When death took a detour

"Miracle - A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency."  Webster's dictionary

I have always believed in miracles, and hoped for them in my life from time to time. Looking back I can think of a few divine interventions in answer to my prayers, but there is one that tops them all — the miracle I experienced in 2002 on Christmas Day.  I have never forgotten what the Lord did that day. I have vowed to re-post my story each Christmas so that some reader may find hope and comfort in knowing that God is with us to the very end. The following is a true account of my Christmas miracle.

By 2002, I had been caring for my mom for 22 years during her long battle with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). By far, our toughest battles came that year. MS had taken away my mom's ability to speak and made eating and swallowing difficult. At the same time, mom started having seizures that became life-threatening. As a result, she was hospitalized and given high doses of the drug phenobarbital to quell the seizure activity. We finally left the hospital after 12 days, just three days before Christmas.

Although mom couldn't speak, her eyes said she was glad to be back home. We both were. After making her comfortable in bed, I checked the newly inserted feeding tube in her abdomen, and left her room feeling a little exhausted. When I returned, I noticed that mom was staring intently  toward the window in her room paying no attention to the fact that I had reentered her room. This was not like her. I was standing at the side of her bed, calling her name, and she didn't even notice me. Instead, she continued to focus on the window at the foot of her bed. Oddly, she had the most radiant glow on her face like nothing I'd ever seen. It made me think that she was seeing something that my eyes could not see. So I stood there silently waiting until she finally turned to notice me. I asked no questions of her as I prepared to bed her for the night.

The next morning the home-care nurse came by to check mom's vital signs. After she left, I bathed, dressed, and transferred mom to her wheelchair. She was a little weak but happy to be out of bed after the long hospital ordeal. We had lost some ground in our fight against MS during this latest hospital stay, but I told mother that we were not going to let MS get the better of us; we were in this fight to the end. Later that afternoon, sitting in her wheelchair, mom closed her eyes and slipped quietly into an unexpected coma. It was Christmas Eve.

I knew things didn't look good at that point, but I made the decision not to take her back to the hospital. She had made her wishes known in a Living Will and I was determined I would honor it. Going back to the hospital was not an option for us. It was mother's wish and mine that when death came, he would find her in her home. Even so, I held out hope that somehow mom would pull through as she had done in the past. I called for the home-care nurse, but she never came. Next, I called my older sister, and waited. During the long hours that I was alone with mom, I held her hand and talked to her. I believed that even in a coma, she could still hear me. Later that evening, my sister joined me in a bedside vigil for our mother. Together we watched, her knowing more than me, that imminent death was poised to take our mother from us. I remember talking about keeping mom hydrated and needing Pedialyte from the drugstore. My sister volunteered to go. It was after midnight when she left for the 24-hour pharmacy just a few blocks away. She was gone for an usually long time, which made me wonder if she was somewhere crying? I looked out the window.  It was snowing. I realized then it was Christmas Day.

Returning to mom's bedside,I continued gently stroking her arm and squeezing her hand. As I did this, I was startled by how ice cold she had suddenly become— like the life blood had drained from of her body. I checked to see if she was still breathing. She was, but just barely. Her breathing had become shallow and raspy like air escaping from a tire. I hurried to the other side of the bed to check her 1,000 ml drainage bag. By now, it should have been full from all the fluids she had been receiving through the feeding tube. Instead, it was empty except for reddish-brown residue in the bottom. My immediate thought was that her kidneys had shut down. For the first time during this whole ordeal, I allowed myself to entertain the real possibility that mom was slipping away— that death was imminent. I wasn't ready to let go, yet I didn't know what else to do. So, I cried out:

"Mom, it's Christmas. Please don't die on Christmas Day."

Suddenly, I got the urge to go to the bathroom. When I returned mom's bedside moments later, I took hold of her hand again. I noticed that something was different. Her hand, which was ice cold only moments ago, was noticeably warmer. My hands began to work their way around the rest of her— arms, legs,  feet, forehead—her whole body was now feverishly hot. I quickly hurried to the other side of the bed to check the drainage bag. To my surprise, the drainage bag that had only moments ago been empty was bursting beyond its capacity with pale, yellow urine. At that moment, I was struck with the stark realization that God was in the midst; had He heard my plea and had performed this miracle. God stopped death in its tracks.

Only God can make death take a detour. Knowing my mother, I imagine that there was some  negotiation between her and God that day just outside the gates of Heaven. I can picture her holding up one finger and saying to God, "Please Father God, let me go back for one more night?"  
And just like that HE granted her request.

Mom died the next day on December 26 that afternoon. My sister and I were together as mom breathed her last. This story could have ended there were it not for Jesus Christ, who came into this world so that we could have life. Because of Jesus, life doesn't end in the grave. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ has eternal life. I can't wait to see mother again I want to ask her what really happened on that fateful Christmas Day.

Gun control: What the world needs now is love

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of." Songwriter, Hal David

At the core of every man, woman and child, no matter who they are or where they were born is a need to be loved. Love is a fundamental need of human existence much like food, water and shelter. God wired us that way. If there was more love in the world, many of the horrid things we see happening now --- despicable, disgusting, degrading things---would not be happening.

 

The Newtown school shooting is the latest in a string of mind numbing  violent incidents of unspeakable horror that have gripped America's heart in 2012. Before Newtown, there was the Oregon Mall shooting...before that the UPS shooting in Minneapolis...before that the shooting at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin...before that the shooting at a Colorado movie theater ..before that the campus shooting in Oikos and now Newtown. Mercifully, the death toll from all these incidents stands at 56 lives lost, not counting the gunmen who took their own lives.

 

America once again finds itself in a state of shock, grief and denial. Shock at such a senseless act of violence; grief over the deaths of 20 innocent children and 6 adults; and denial about how much we ourselves are to blame. While we grieve with those who grieve, much of what is happening in this country is of our own making. As President Obama correctly observed during a vigil for those slain in the Newtown massacre, "We [as a nation] will have to change."

 

Unlike the "change you can believe in" that this President promised we'd see four years ago, our collective national outrage demands swifter action if America is to change for the better. What would a changed America look like?

 

This may be a radical idea but returning prayer to the schools would signal real change in America. When prayer was outlawed in the classroom in the 50's, the downward spiral of our education system began. Too many classrooms today resemble battlefields marked by undisciplined and disruptive students, poor academic achievement and high dropout rates. Ask any teacher, parent, or even student, allowing prayer back might help change the atmosphere.

 

We are a nation that has lost its way. Our moral compass is broken. We have shifted from the biblical principles and ideals upon which this nation was founded. Do we even know what we stand for anymore? For America to change for the better, our government will have to set the example starting at the very top. President Obama and Congress must lead the way. Putting politics aside, they must become the peacemakers to bring us together. The Bible says, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." And neither will this nation unless we put our differences aside and come together as "one nation under God."

 

We must limit those freedoms that are being exploited and used to undermine our society. The right to bear arms is one. Many are calling for stricter gun control laws but guns are not the problem ---people are. Back in the day when America was a vast uncharted wasteland and the settlers were easy prey, it made sense for every household to have guns. Today, we are more advanced and have military and police forces to assume the burden of protecting us. Nowadays, there is less reason for individuals to stockpile an arsenal of military grade weapons; less reason for such weapons to be available to ordinary citizens; and no reason for them to wind up in the hands of criminals and mentally challenged individuals as easily as they did in Newtown and in other situations.

 

Speech is another freedom being exploited, particularly by the writers, producers and performers of  "entertainment." These purveyers of our culture expose our children to unwholesome images of sex, violence, pornography and other forms of human depravity. And we wonder why bad things are happening to us? Where do we draw the line at freedom of speech? Our enemies are watching us. Russian dictator Josef Stalin once said of America: "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." 

 

Clearly, if we are to survive as a nation, it cannot be business as usual in America going forward. We cannot continue as we have been and risk losing future generations to violence. We must return to the former things that got us to where we are today --- faith, family and freedom. More important, we must turn back to God: "If my people will humble themselves...I will heal their land."