May 24 “CALL UNTO ME…” Jeremiah 33:3
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, BaptistTabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
Many years ago, the late Nat King Cole sang a song that’s words had to be inspired by God. It was called, “I Found The Answer, I Learned To Pray.” The Bible teaches, from cover to cover, that the answer to life’s problems is learning to pray. My mother instilled in me the necessity of prayer. It began by “saying my prayers,” every night and then, it expanded to being during the day, and somehow, she got me to praying about everything. I asked her, one day, why she was so insistent that I pray. She simply said, “I love you and it is the right thing to do for a Christian!” Guess what? I am still praying and I am still grateful for a mother that insisted, almost demanded, that I pray! Amazingly, some of us will read our Bibles, year after year, and never discover that prayer is the one of the necessary keys to the Christian life. When a Child of God prays, what does it show? It shows that we recognize that we can’t handle things and that we must turn to Him, who can handle things and it shows that we are dependent on God. Wonder why it is that we will wait until conditions get desperate before we will call on God? Could it be that we use the age old excuse of not having time? Folks; time is not our issue; it is that we may have too much confidence in our own abilities and not enough on God. A praying Christian is one that has found the answer. They have discovered that the challenges of life are beyond their control and that they need the power of God to handle the issues. God commands us to pray—Luke 18:1 says, “And He spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray, and not to faint…” Many of us don’t pray, even though, He said to pray. Wonder if that is why many aren’t living the fulfilled Christian experience? There are two main promises in the scripture for today. “CALL UNTO ME,” is the first. God knows that we have the tendency of forgetting to call upon Him, so He reminds us in this passage. Troubles will come and difficulties are with us, so why do we neglect the power of this promise? He told us to, “Ask and it shall be given you; Seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you!” The second promise that is found in the scripture for today is, “AND I WILL ANSWER THEE…!” As the rain clouds bring rain, so our prayers bring the blessings of God, for He said, “Call unto Me, and I will answer Thee!” I truly believe that the reason that many of us are confused and seem to be searching for answers to life’s challenges, is because we refuse to accept His promises and fail to exercise our privilege to be a part of God’s amazing grace for our lives. In Acts 4:31, they prayed for power and courage. “And when they prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with BOLDNESS.” Looks like they got it! How about us? It is my earnest prayer and desire that we would recognize the power of prayer, and that we would exercise this privilege, so that we can experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so that we can have that “SHAKEN” experience!! So, the message today is simple… PRAY… BELIEVE…PRAY SOME MORE! Believe that HE will honor HIS promises! To God Be The Glory! Stay Strong, Stay Focused… Remember, THE BEST IS YET TO BE!