Philippians 1:20-26

Why do things happen the way they do?  Why does God heal some people and others are never healed?  Why do troubles seem to be a part of some people's lives continuously and others seem to just  skate through life?  Why do some people live to ripe old age and others seem to have gone from us too quickly?  The answer is in the sovereign will of God.

Ephesians 6:10-20

One of the challenges for every Christian is to recognize that there are two worlds out there--the visible world we see with our eyes and the invisible world we can only see with spiritual eyes.  Often time, we fail to recognize that the invisible world is every bit as real as the visible world. There is a cosmic battle going on between God and His angels and the devil and his demons in this invisible world.  They are both trying to influence the thoughts, attitudes and actions of human beings.

Job 1-42

What happens when you feel so devastated by events of this life that you feel everything you've got is stripped away?  It might be material possessions, your finances, your health, loss of loved ones, loss of job, a relationship dissolved or anything that leaves you overwhelmed by a sense of loss.

Mark 6:1-6; Hebrews 11:6

One of the most important truths of the Christian life is that walking by faith is absolutely necessary.  Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." When darkness closes in, it is absolutely necessary to walk by faith.

Luke 11:5-13

Have you ever noticed in the news media the one big event, tragedy, calamity, or social upheaval can occur and it blankets the news for a week or so and then things move on?  We often never hear the final results of the election, the trial, the calamity or the tragedy because the news has moved on to the next big story.  Our minds jump from one thing to another like lightning.  We can remember what happened 2 weeks ago let alone a month or a year ago.

I share this because we are a society that often lets this thinking infect our Christian lives.  We jump from one thing to another without remembering what the concerns were a week or month ago.  We forget to pray for those needs that we should remember and be persistent over the long haul until our Heavenly Father answers.

Acts 12:1-17

One of the important principles of powerful prayer is getting many people praying together for a common purpose.  God never intended us to be Lone Ranger Christians.  We are to be in fellowship with others and that means praying with them.

We often hear people say, "Well, I just pray at home by myself."  Or "I don't pray with others because I'm embarrassed to pray out loud."  Or, "God can hear me whenever I am so why do I need to pray with others?"  There is an important spiritual principle and that is there is power in many people praying together.

1 Samuel 1:1-28

When darkness closes in on our lives, we often frantically go to God in prayer.  That is a good thing!  However, why doesn't God answer our prayers immediately?  For reasons known only to Him, He often heals and meets our desperate needs over time.  In the meantime, He is developing patience in us and building our character.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

In our broken world, we experience tragedies, heartaches, brokenness, pain, sickness and accidents.  This was not a part of God's original plan.  But when sin came into the world in the Garden of Eden, these difficulties became a part of life.  All around us and in us are signs of these kind of trials.

John 9:1-11

When trouble and trials come our way, it is our natural reaction to ask, "Why Lord?"  But we often are left with no answer.  There is no logical explanation.  Jesus' disciples were perplexed regarding the blind man and why he was born blind.  They assumed that either the man or his parents had sinned.  But Jesus said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."