This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network. It's about to start in just a few seconds.
Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray.
And now, here's James. Do you ever feel like you have to go it alone? I mean, sometimes when we're facing challenging things, we can feel like no one would understand or even care. That's also a very lonely place to be, and we're going to talk about a way out of that lonely place today on Encouraging Prayer, right, James? Yeah, this is so important, Robbie, because sometimes you see people carrying these heartbreaking burdens, and especially as a pastor for over three decades now. You know, I've seen that, and you see it wear them down, and it doesn't have to be that way.
And I'm not saying that lightly. You know, I'm saying that as the dad of a former heroin addict and a runaway child, and even when we went through all of that, we found out that God met us in places we never would have expected. And I'm not talking about when my son finally got clean. I'm thinking of years before then, when he met us, when we were just crying out to him. And it wasn't that it always made our circumstances easier, but it touched us, changed us, he changed us, and somehow that made it all more bearable. Yeah, I mean, what you're talking about is how God met you as you ran to him in prayer, right? That's right, and sometimes that wasn't easy to do. You know, sometimes when you're really going through a prayer, it feels like the last thing you want to do, because, you know, you wonder how your circumstances have come to that point, or how God could even allow it, and there's all this mess of emotions, and it's especially in those tender and challenging places when we're really honest with God that he can do some amazing things.
Oh yeah, I can. And when you're going through a time like that, it's so important that you don't pray alone. I mean, praying on your own is important, but you need to go to others as well, you know, who might be gentle and understand, right, as we pray for these things as well. I think sometimes we have this keep a stiff upper lip approach to life, and we forget that Scripture tells us to bear one another's burdens, and, you know, one of the best ways we can do that is really when we pray for each other, right?
Yeah, I so agree. I think of so many parents who suffer in silence. Our children are going through prodigal years, and they feel like it reflects on them, and they're hurting and embarrassed and loving their kids all at the same time.
Again, that mess of emotions we were talking about. But they need to know that there are so many of us who have walked down that same road. And of course, this applies to so much in life, whether it's a divorce or financial difficulties or a burden at work. Don't go it alone. Ask God to help you find someone that you can confide in.
You know, you may need wisdom for doing that, for making that choice, who to confide in, but he will lead you as you ask. You know, it may be someone who's been a little farther down the same road, and someone like that knows exactly how to pray, or it may just be someone who has a compassionate heart, and you see clearly that's where the Lord wants you to go. But, you know, we want to seek that out, and we also want to be that person for others going through a difficult time. Yeah, I mean, I just can't imagine. You're a pastor, and you need to share this.
You feel like you live in a glass house, I'm sure. The courage to do that, right? I mean, we want to be able to do that without a hint of judgment. It's so important that we can just put it out there without fear of others looking down on us or telling us what to do, just loving and supporting through prayers. And do you really experience that?
Yeah, we did. I mean, we were particularly blessed to be in a church where we had some folks who had had, you know, prodigal years with their kids, and they knew we had tried everything that we could. And, you know, all this brings to mind Peter's words about casting all our anxiety on God because He cares for us. I mean, that word cast means literally to throw upon something or someone else. And sometimes when we do that, we feel like a lady I was talking to today who said, well, I don't have a problem with casting my cares on Jesus, it's just that I keep taking them back. And I think that's so true of a lot of us. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about what the opposite would look like.
I thought of this image of throwing something on Jesus and running away. And, you know, it's not supposed to be that way at all. But I think sometimes we read it that way, don't we? Oh, yeah. Well, I actually, I really never thought of that.
But you're right. I mean, we're so used to doing things in our own strength that we think it's supposed to work that way. But what it really does, or better put, what He really does is call us to a place of greater dependence on Him. Right, right. And that's what I was talking about earlier, when I said that God meets us in amazing ways in unexpected places.
We have to stick around long enough for that to happen. I mean, think about Peter's words again, casting all your anxiety, or all your cares on Him, because He cares for you. God wants us to come to Him with every concern, because He loves us. He's tenderhearted. You know, Jesus described Himself as gentle and lowly, or humble in heart. You know, I can think of sometimes when I was just going through so much, and it was like, you know, I had a choice to make.
I can either worry about this and try to carry it all, or I can walk through this with God and really with others. Yeah, you and I were talking before we came on the air about, you know, a group of guys that you pray with, and they've got a signal for each other. I thought that was really cool. Why don't you share that? Yeah, guys just have a tendency to want to, you know, do it in our own strength.
You may have experienced that, but anyway. And so actually, Darren Kuhn, one of my brothers, came up with this code that we would text out from the movie, actually, when we were soldiers once, which talks about this broken arrow where the enemy has overrun your position. Well, I have two or three bands of brothers that use this code. And so when some guy texts out, look, in fact, I got one just a couple hours ago, Sam. It was from one of my dearest friends, Robbie. I got a broken arrow.
My sister-in-law has jumped from the third balcony of her house, and nobody knows why. And like, I mean, what an honor, really, as the person that gets to pray for something like that. But when you see broken arrow and you know that, you're like, okay, this, you know, this is huge.
This guy feels overrun. This is telling you not just that the situation's dire, but it tells you that the heart of the person involved is dire. You know, I love that broken arrow code because, yeah, I mean, we got to do this. And if we do, then God will meet us and help us. So it'd be a good time to wrap up in prayer, don't you think?
Yeah, I want you to do that. Jesus, thank you that we can cast our cares on you because you really do care. And it's the secret ingredient.
They even talk about it in Cracker Barrel. It's like, you care. That seems unbelievable, but we know you do. So I pray that people listening right now will see that, wow, you really do care. And that by joining together with your church, it really helps carry those burdens. I pray we'd be able to do that all the more in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. What would you do if you were a new Christian and you didn't have a Bible?
It's Michael Woolworth, by the way, from Bible League International. And you'd probably say, well, I'd hop in my car. I'd go to a Christian bookstore or have one shipped to me.
What if those weren't options? You'd say, well, I'm new to the faith. I mean, I need to know what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
You know, you would pray that someone, anyone would bring you a Bible. And that's exactly the way it is for literally millions of Christians around the world. They're part of our spiritual family. They're new to the faith. They want to know what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. But God has them planted where it's very difficult to access a Bible. And that's why the Truth Network and Bible League have teamed up to send God's word to 3500 Bible-less believers around the globe. Our campaign is called The World Needs the Word. $5 sins a Bible, $100 sins 20, every gift matched. Make your most generous gift by calling 800 YES WORD, 800 Y E S W O R D, 800 YES WORD, or give at truthnetwork.com.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-08-08 11:19:04 / 2023-08-08 11:23:33 / 4