David's prayer for guidance and more

            David, a man after God's own heart prayed for guidance. This prayer of the bible is found in 2 Samuel 2:1....."David inquired ( prayed) of the lord, saying, shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron".
             Pity the man or woman who desperately needs direction in his life and has know one to turn to that knows the end from the beginning. Such a person is like a mouse spinning in it's cage going to and fro, burning himself out, gaining no ground whatsoever. Are you such a person? Maybe you have the best guide imaginable or you have a good head on your shoulders and are able to make intelligent decisions based on sound reasoning and logic? That may actually work..the only problem is "if you lean on man or your own resources you get man's or your own results, if you lean on God and Him alone, you get His results". Now I ask you who's results would in your opinion be better? " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3: 5,6
               From a Christian perspective to do otherwise is to be guilty of the sin of placing your will before His. The child of God that is wise knows that God's permissive will does not bring the joy that the needy soul so longs for. Amen! Wow! the Holy Spirit instantly just gave me this: Do you remember how that the Lord  delivered the Israelite's from Egyptian bondage? Psalm 106:13 " They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel"...basically, they didn't seek His direction and leading..they chose to be in charge and do their own thing." and he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." Psalm 106;15. Granted I am not exactly sure what that meant for them, but I can assure you it wasn't God's best for them...resulting in joylessness.
                It really doesn't take a "rocket scientist' to figure out why such a person would foolishly choose to not "check in" with the all sufficient ,all knowing, all loving Sovereign of the universe for guidance and direction for major ( or even minor decisions) that potentially could drastically change a persons circumstances for the better...the reason in a word? UNBELIEF.  This type of individual is so down on himself or should I say: " into himself" that whether consciously  or unconsciously he is saying ; "why bother God isn't interested  in poor pitiful me"? " According to your faith be it unto you" Jesus said.
               Has there ever been a time that you had to have direction and guidance no matter what? You lost your job? Too old and unable to take care of the house any more but refuse to live just any where? The doctor just gave you some dreaded news that you have cancer.. your Church split and is no more..what church do I go to now? http://www.calvaryslove.org/ The list goes on and on...where or who do I turn to? Do I look within frantically trying to come up with an answer or do I look up to the one who loves me unconditionally?
               There are prayers from the bible that others prayed that did not make a whole lot of sense. After his mountaintop experience slaying all the prophets with his sword, Elijah's, recorded prayer of the bible, found in 1Kings 19:4,  was that "he requested for himself that he might die".   Apparently  Jezebel was more intimidating and more of a formidable adversary than those he just got finished wiping out! Enough to instill fear to his very soul.
               But isn't it like our God  to show compassion and without actually saying no to his request, begin to answer his prayer in a different way all together. Instead of his death He gave him what he needed : rest (reminds me of Jesus' words: " Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while" Mark 6:31), shelter, and nourishment. Aren't you glad He hasn't answered some of your prayers with yes? " And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought ( dry places like the one Elijah experienced) and make fat( or strengthen) thy bones" Isaiah 58:11
               Next time you are at a cross roads in life or even if you need His guidance today, "commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass" Psalm 37:5
                I would just love a testimony or two bragging on Jesus and how, by placing your need for guidance into his hand, it more than exceeded  your expectations. Feel free to comment..Thank You

A prayer from Hell? Really?

 Of all of the prayers of the Bible who would think a prayer would be uttered from hell? "...it came to pass...the rich man also died, and was buried; and in HELL he lift up his eyes,...and he cried and said, ' Father Abraham, have mercy on me'    
        If you think this passage in the Bible is just another parable, think again.  Carefully take note that these are real people with real names unlike the parables of Jesus . No. No. No. This is a real recorded conversation by Jesus himself intentionally added in His word to warn us of that awful place called Hell. For any one that just happened to come across this site I urge you to take inventory and make sure you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior in order to escape the torments of Hell!
         Now is the time to tell those you love about the realities of hell. From this same prayer of the bible the rich man goes unto say: 'I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send him ( Lazarus)  to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment' Luke 16:27,28

The Amazing Faith of the Centurion

           In the New Testament we learn of a man who had faith a whole lot larger than a grain of mustard seed. In fact Jesus said:" ..I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" Matthew 8:10  Out of all the prayers of the Bible, this one stands out the most to me. Why you might ask? Because this centurion " knew in whom he had believed". There was no hint of " Lord I believe help my unbelief".  When Jesus said; " I will come and heal him", the centurion explained why it wasn't necessary for Jesus to go to his house... that all He had to do was speak the word only and his servant would be healed Matthew 8:8
            Talk about about faith!  Correct me if I am wrong, but I can't think of any other place in the bible or any other prayers of the bible whereby Jesus healed "johnny on the spot" without having to go to someone or someplace. Oh yes, He may have been somewhere that didn't require Him to go, but that's not what I am talking about. He went to the ruler of the synagogue's house in order to raise the damsel from the dead...to Lazarus's tomb, He went . No where were prayers of the bible answered with such faith
            Apparently this guy hung out with Jesus enough to get to know Him. This centurion was impressed with Jesus , whom he  likened to himself as one under authority. He recognized  that Jesus wasn't just an ordinary man, but that he had all of the power of God Almighty behind Him.
             Another jewel of information that I believe most people over look  regarding the character of the centurion is the fact of his humility. Keep in mind that a centurion ranked between an officer and a non commissioned officer; in today's vernacular that would be about the same as  a sergeant major. This places him in a position of great responsibility and authority. For someone else in his position it may have been too humbling for him to go to Jesus. If he had been stuck on himself no way would this conversation ever take place.
              America could really use him as president today!