knowledgeofgoodandevil

God cares for His own. Did you know that? It’s true. He watches out for His children. He protects us. He answers our prayers. He guides us.

Two weeks ago, my hubby and I were on a road trip, traveling up north. Our trip was about seven hours, so we needed to stop every once in awhile to take bathroom breaks. Our gas was getting low, so the hubby decided to pull off the freeway and get some gas. As he pulled into a gas station, he noticed it didn’t have any bathrooms. There was just a tiny little booth to pay and that was it. No mini mart or bathroom.

I told my hubby that I was okay, and just to get the gas. But something told him not to go to this gas station. My hubby didn’t stop, he kept on going, leaving that tiny gas station to find another one.

We got back on the freeway and drove a little ways down, when my hubby spotted another gas station. He pulled off the freeway for this one. It was a nice big one, with bathrooms and a store. I went inside, while he filled up the car.

When I got back to the car, the hubby also finished and got in the car. He tried to start it, but the car wouldn’t start. It had a weak engine sound to it. I didn’t know what that meant, but I began praying desperately. Here we were, in some town far, far away from home. We were parked in front of a gas pump, in a busy gas station. We couldn’t move the car. It just wouldn’t start. My husband looked around at where we were. The gas station was in the middle of a number of car dealers. He looked over to his left and saw a Honda dealer. Aren’t those the helpful guys? At least that’s what their ads say.

My hubby walked over to the Honda dealer while I stayed with the broken car. He came back with a guy wearing a Honda shirt and carrying a big meter looking thing in his hand. The hubby popped open the hood, and the smiling Honda dude attached cables to our battery and very quickly declared our battery was wonky. He gave our battery a jump, and the hubby was able to start the car.

We drove over to the Honda dealer and purchased a new battery. We kept the car running because we didn’t know if it would start again. We put the new battery in the back of the car. We would have to install it when we finally reached our destination.

Our battery died right next to a Honda dealer. The hubby wouldn’t stop at the other gas station. That other gas station had nothing, especially any helpful Honda dealers anywhere near them. When we discovered our wonky battery, we had an half hour before the dealership would close. Anytime later, and we wouldn’t have gotten any help.

If we needed to buy spare parts, this was the time. We had just gotten a little extra money in our budget. So our battery decided to die at a gas station, next to a Honda dealer, one half hour before closing. And we had the money to handle it. Not that I was excited about spending the extra money on a car battery. It’s not what every girl dreams of. But at least we got the new battery.

None of that was a coincidence or good luck. All of that, was God doing what He always does, guiding His children, protecting them, watching out for them. So if you are a believer, remember, God’s got your back.

At the end of this week, we will celebrate Easter. One of two Christian holidays. Good Friday, we will remember Jesus Christ’s crucification on the cross. Then three days later, we will remember His resurrection.

One of my favorite verses is “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That short verse says so much. Especially, the “while.” While we were yet sinners. Notice it doesn’t say, before we were sinners, Christ died for us. Before we were corrupted with sin. Before we screwed everything up in our lives, that’s when Christ died for us.

No. It says while we were yet sinners. While we could offer God NOTHING, that’s when Jesus died for us. While we were dirty and mired in our sins, incapable of fixing ourselves. Incapable of cleaning up our acts. Incapable of freeing ourselves from the power of sin. In that condition, while we were yet sinners, that is when Christ died for us.

Sometimes people forget. Christ died for the sinner, not the saint. Christ died because of our sins. I’ve heard people say, “Oh, I’m too much of a sinner, God can’t possibly love me.” Or, “If I show up to church, the roof of the church will probably collapse because of all my sin.”

But that’s just it. Remember the “while.” It is while, currently in the state of sin, that Christ died. He doesn’t ask us to go clean ourselves up and then He might consider saving us. He knows we can’t. He asks us simply to come just as we are.

“Come to me all you are burden and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Come to Him, as you are. Bring to Him all of your sin. Hand it over. He died for your sins. He died, “while we were yet sinners.”

During this week as we march towards Easter, remember the “while.” Christ paid the price for our sins, “while we were yet sinners.” He had no promise or contract with us, that we would receive it, but He did it anyways. Not because we deserved it. He did it because we needed it.

So remember the “while.” That tells us how great God’s love is for us. It tells us what we must do before we can come to Him – NOTHING! He asks us to bring our sins, and He does the cleaning for us. Remember the “while.”

I hope you have a blessed Easter week and Easter.

Years I ago, I decided to do a Christian ministry of teaching a Bible study to kids in juvenile hall. These were teenage boys sitting in juvenile hall. They had committed crimes such as: murder or grand theft auto. You don’t get put into juvenile hall for shop lifting.

My first night, when I had to lead the Bible study, I was terrified. These were teenage criminals, what could I possibly talk about? How do I get these guys attention and then share the gospel with them? They had probably seen it all. I loved a fairly vanilla lifestyle. A few days before I had to lead the Bible study, I began to pray. I needed God’s help, this really, really scared me.

I prayed all the way to the juvenile hall. I prayed all through the prayer meeting, we began with. I prayed all the way, walking down the hall towards the room of boys. I sat down, then opened in prayer. Then I began to speak. But when I began to speak, something strange happened. I could hear the words coming out of my mouth. But it felt like I was listening to someone else. The fear went away. The boys listened. I finished the lesson with a prayer to lead anyone interested in the Lord.

Before Jesus left the planet He promised us a gift. He promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Believers would have the actual person of God living inside them. To work through them, help them, encourage them, and strengthen them.

I think a lot of believers don’t utilize the power of the Holy Spirit. But God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us. He is called our Helper.

Right now, we’ve been having some work down on the outside of our house. They’ve taken down all the siding and put new siding up. Then they filled in all the cracks with caulking. We humans are like the cracked siding. We aren’t perfect, we’ve got a lot of cracks. The Holy Spirit is like the caulking that fills in all the cracks. He comes into the believer and makes us whole.

God knows who we are. He knows how flawed and imperfect we are. He’s not surprised by any of it. God doesn’t expect us to do hard things without Him. He wants us to allow Him in our lives. He’s a gentleman. He won’t intrude into your life. He waits for you to allow Him to work. We don’t need to do anything for God, we need to allow Him to do things in our lives.

Corrie Ten Boom discovered this idea. She was speaking about her testimony and her time in a concentration camp during World War II. After her speech a man came up to speak to her. He was excited to see her, but she was not excited to see him. He was one of the Nazi guards she and been under during her time in the concentration camps. He was excited to see her, because he had become saved since then. When she saw him again, all the rage and bitterness bubbled up in her. He reached out to shake her hand, but Corrie Ten Boom could not shake his hand. She prayed and as she did, she felt a tingling sensation in her hand and she could see her hand raising up to meet the guard’s. She shook it and realized in that moment, God does the work through us. When He asks us to do hard things like forgiving our enemies, God does it through us. It is not by our own power or strength. It is the power of the Holy Spirit through us.

So if you are a believer, allow the Holy Spirit within you to work through you. He will do the hard things through you. His power will be perfected in your weakness. The Holy Spirit is a gift. Allow Him to work through you and be utterly amazed.

Christians in Nigeria are being slaughtered right now. About two weeks ago, 72 of them were saved. The group was 76, but the four men in the group were martyred. The rest of the group were women and children. The next day, after the four men were killed, some of the children came to the women in their group and said that Jesus had come to them in their sleep and told the children He would save them all.

Knowing the four men had died the previous day, the women feared the worst, despite the children’s testimony that Jesus would save them. The persecutors came and lined up some of the women up against the wall, just as they had done the day before, with the men. Suddenly, the persecutors started screaming about snakes. The women could see no snakes. But the persecutors dropped their guns and ran away screaming. Others dropped dead, killed by an unseen enemy.

As all the persecutors either died or ran away screaming, one of the women bent down to pick up one of the guns. One of the children declared to the woman that she didn’t need that. He asked her, “Can’t you see the men in white, protecting us?”

Folks, this wasn’t a story out of the Old Testament or New Testament. This was a story that happened less than two weeks ago. Our God is protecting our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. God is alive and well on planet earth.

These are the last days. God is working in our midst. He is protecting His children. This is the same God who “even the winds and sea obey Him.”

Perhaps you’re going through a trying time right now. Maybe you are like me and you are in a waiting time. Either way, this story will remind you of the God you believe in. He has the power to send His unseen angels to wage war against persecutors. He has the power to send unseen snakes to take care of our enemies. He has the power to strike dead, our enemies, when we are helpless to protect ourselves.

So if you are struggling and you are a believer, I hope this story encourages you. We believe in the same God as those Nigerian believers who God saved by sending snakes, and “men in white,” to save them.

For the past six months or so, I’ve been writing and rewriting my resume. I’ve been talking to people about finding a job. I talked to one of my son’s professors who knows how to write resumes. She said she could arrange a meeting with someone, to network. She encouraged me to network and try to get to know people, so eventually, someone who makes those hiring decisions, could possibly hire me.

It’s been a frustrating six months. At times, I’ve felt like a beggar, “Please love me, please accept me, please, sir, give me a job.” I’ve felt like I’m at other people’s mercy. “Please, please, please give me a job.”

I was thinking about prayer a lot lately. And in this process of finding a job AND praying about it, I thought, we Christians have a powerful tool at our disposal.

Think about it. Here I am on earth, hoping someone will approve of me. Hoping that someone will hire me on. I’ve wondered how I should act during the interview. I need to appear confident, but not too confident. I need to give eye contact, but not too much eye contact. I need to smile, but not smile too much.

But with prayer, I don’t have to try and be anything. I have access to the very throne of God. He’s given me an open invitation. And I can approach His throne anytime I want. I can come to Him, sad and beaten down. I can come to Him, needy and desperate for answers. I can come to Him angry. I come to Him exactly as I am, and that is what He wants from me. I don’t have to be anything.

The act of prayer is amazing. I can be sitting in a crowd of people. In my mind, I lift up a prayer. I’m essentially, going before the very throne of God, making my requests of Him. And He hears me. He hears every one of my prayers. He takes my prayers and puts them in golden bowls. Nothing I ask of Him is to insignificant or too great. And I do all of this, while sitting in a crowd of people who have no idea what I’m doing.

There’s a reason the Apostle Paul said to prayer without ceasing. For the believer, that is our life line while living on planet earth. Life isn’t going to be easy, but God has said to come to Him. Come to Him, His door is open. Ask Him. He tells us to ask Him. Tell Him. He’s not shocked by anything. He already knows what you are going to ask, before you even ask Him.

Prayer is a way to come into His presence. If you are a believer, don’t forsake the huge gift God Has given us, prayer. Pray about everything. Pray for anything. Use this gift of prayer. The more you do it, the more you draw closer to Him and that’s a great place to be.