February 27 Weekly Newsletter

The other day during our morning men’s prayer meeting, we were exhorted to remain fervent in prayer, even when the issue seems beyond hope; even when it seems that it is entirely too late for God to grant the desire of our heart.  I think that everyone who was present felt the gentle rebuke of loving correction; we all prayed that God would give us the faith to remain persistent in prayer even when we can see no way for our requests to be realized.One thing that we see over and over again in Scripture is that God acts so that He gets the glory; He will not share His glory with another; He will not share His glory with an idolatrous concept of coincidence or chance or fortuitous luck.  When is God guaranteed to receive all the glory for answered prayer; when we can easily chalk it up to the skill of man, or to good fortune, or when it is clear that things were beyond hope?  Think of how many times God waited to grant healing until after years of experiencing man’s inability to cure (Mk 5:25-29), or after a lifetime of enduring a crippling disability (Jn 5:5-9), or even until after a person dies (Mk 3:35-42).  Jesus even said that a man was born blind for the sole purpose that the works of God might be displayed in him (1 Jn 9:1-3).I confess that I am all too often guilty of faithlessness in prayer.  As soon as I start thinking that God probably isn’t going to answer a particular prayer I often abandon that prayer and adopt some sort of ‘what will be will be’ mentality.  How many times do we grow slack in our prayer as a critical moment approaches instead of growing ever more intense?  How often do we continue to pray for something even after it appears to be too late for anything to be changed?  What could be more permanent than death?  Yet, even death does not stop God from answering prayer and bringing healing when He desires to do so.  In fact, God often seems especially pleased to delay until the world would say all is lost.

Believers, consider the power of God to raise the dead.  Consider His ability to move mountains and nations in order to bring about His purposes.  Consider His ever flowing river of lovingkind compassion toward all who love and fear Him.  Truly there is nothing He cannot do.  Truly we ought never grow weary in coming before Him in prayer.

In Case You Missed It

This past Sunday we examined just what man is; we looked not so much at man in his current sin and corruption, but man in his original creation, and in his ultimate glorification in Christ.  What is man?  The answer may surprise you (Listen Here).  This Sunday we will take a closer look at why it was fitting that the Son of God become a man in order to elevate the race of man to the intentions of its design.  Read and meditate on Hebrews 2:9-18 in preparation.

We were also blessed to hear the testimony of Rodney Widner.  Listen Here as Rodney recounts the gracious journey that God has taken him on to progressively make him more like Christ.  He counts the various trials and uncertainties of his past as blessings from God in order to bring him to where he needed to be; to make him what he needed to be.

Scripture Reading And Prayer

In order to promote unity of heart and mind among us, we are encouraging as many as are willing to join with us in reading through the entire Bible this year together, as well as devoting specific Scriptures to prayer each day.  It is our prayer that as we meditate and pray over the same Scriptures each day, that God will work in our midst to bind us to one another, and to give us a common vision for the ministry here in Maynardville.  Prayerfully consider joining with us in this endeavor, and we will see how God will work in our midst.

Our Scriptures to pray over this week are:

• Thur (2/27): Jn 17:1-25
• Fri (2/28): Ps 25:1-5
• Sat (3/1): Rom 12:1-3
• Sun (3/2):  Lk 11:1-13
• Mon (3/3): Ps 19:12-13
• Tue (3/4): Eph 1:17-23
• Wed (3/5): Ps 139:23-24
• Thur (3/6): Eph 3:14-21

Our Scriptures reading schedule for the week is:

• Thur (2/27): Lev 20:22-22:16; Mk 9:1-29; Ps 43:1-5; Pr 10:18
• Fri (2/28): Lev 22:17-23:44; Mk 9:30-10:12; Ps 44:1-8; Pr 10:19
• Sat (3/1): Lev 24:1-25:46; Mk 10:13-31; Ps 44:9-26; Pr 10:20-21
• Sun (3/2): Lev 25:47-27:13; Mk 10:32-52; Ps 46:1-17; Pr 10:22
• Mon (3/3): Lev 27:14-Num1:54; Mk 11:1-26; Ps 46:1-11; Pr 10:23
• Tue (3/4): Num 2:1-3:51; Mk 11:27-12:17; Ps 47:1-9; Pr 10:24-25
• Wed (3/5): Num 4:1-5:31; Mk 12:18-37; Ps 48:1-14; Pr 10:26
• Thur (3/6): Num 6:1-7:89; Mk 12:38-13:13; Ps 49:1-20; Pr 10:27-28

With Love and Affection in Christ,

Caleb