Pray with Faith / Michele Pitre

Michele Pitre

Secretary at Providence Baptist College

Northwest Bible Baptist Church

Elgin, IL

Pray with Faith

There are so many sermons, messages, and books on prayer that what I have is miniscule in comparison. What can I say that hasn’t already been written or preached. Except to say that you can’t have prayer without faith. Do you truly trust God to answer your prayer? And are you okay with his answer even if it’s not the one that you expected or the time you expected it to come. We always ask God for healing or answers to questions that go in a direction that makes it easier for us to bear. We forget that God is the one that knows what is best for us. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts than your thoughts.” Is. 55:8-9

We forget that God is trying to grow us into the Christian lady that He wants us to be. He only wants us. He desires only that we look to Him for everything and trust Him in everything. I know it’s easier said than done sometimes, but the Lord is the only one who can do anything about what we are going through. So let us stop complaining to everyone who can’t do anything about it, and take it to the one that can do everything about it.

In February 2017 my husband admitted that he no longer believed that there was a God. I had already noticed a decline in his spirits and had been fasting and praying for him once a week before that day. I hadn’t realized that it had gotten that bad. I continued to fast and pray, expecting a miraculous change because of my efforts. I thought that surely the Lord wanted my husband to change and that He would bless the Biblical principle I had set in my life. I think I lost sight of the reason God set that up in the first place: to draw the fasting and prayerful to Himself. I would get frustrated and want to quit each time I thought God would do something big and it didn’t happen the way I expected it to.

About nine months after that dreadful day, my husband decided out of the blue that He wanted to come back to church. I hadn’t pushed him to come, nor had I made him feel bad for not attending. I simply fasted and prayed, and begged God to change my husband’s heart. The entire time wondering if that was even possible, because I thought that my husband was the only one who could decide to change his own heart. God is the one that is in control of everything, even the hearts of his children. He is the one who decides when and where He will do the changing. If God can change the heart of Pharaoh, then He can change the heart of anyone He chooses.

I did not get the huge bells and whistles, but they were huge bells and whistles to me. Because the Sunday that my husband shined his shoes and trimmed his beard in preparation for evening service was the day that God revealed to me just how important the prayers of this unworthy sinner are to Him. I could hardly contain my excitement as we drove to church together that night. My husband didn’t all of a sudden quit his job to serve the Lord full time, or miraculously change. It’s been a slow progression. But it’s all in God’s time, and not my own. I am having fun just watching God work in my life. Though it’s still not easy to endure that “refiner’s fire”, I do know that God is on my side; and He knows what’s best and when it’s best to move in my life, whether hardship or no.

Increasing Strength / Natasha Wainscott

Natasha Wainscott

Pastor's Wife

Calavary Baptist Church

Waterloo, IA

Increasing Strength

I love the fresh start a new year brings, don’t you? An opportunity to evaluate our lives and see what areas need improving, an opportunity to make plans to head in the right direction. I’m not usually one to make New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I determined that I want to make some changes. I still don’t know if I would call them resolutions, but since I can’t think of a better word, I suppose they are! I want to be stronger. Physically, yes. A new decade of life is quickly approaching, and I feel the weakness of my body overtaking me year by year. But I also want to be stronger spiritually.

2018 was a difficult year for my husband and I—not in our marriage—but in “life”. We didn’t have any major catastrophe happen, but it seemed like a year of “blow” after “blow” knocking us down at nearly every turn. By the end of the year, I felt whipped. There were times I wanted to quit. Quit what, I’m not sure, but I sure didn’t want to have to fight any more. It was in this time of “fainting” that the Lord reminded me of Proverbs 24:10: If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. Ouch, Lord. Then he reminded me of verse 5 of the same chapter: A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. Double ouch. If I were wise, I would be strong (ie, not fainting). According to Webster1828.com, wisdom is the right use or exercise of knowledge. Somewhere along the way, I was forgetting to exercise the knowledge I had hidden away in my heart, and I was getting weak.

Strength comes from hard work. There’s just no way around it. If you want to be strong, you must exert energy and stress on those muscles in order for them to get stronger. The same holds true for our spiritual life. We must exercise our spiritual muscles in order to be spiritually strong. The problem lies within the fact that most of us hate exercise—physical and spiritual. I hate to sweat. I think it’s gross. That’s my main reason for avoiding physical exercise. But I also very much dislike trials. Trials?!? What does that have to do with exercise, you might ask. Well, James 1:2-5 says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. It is the trying of my faith that gives me patience. Trials are the “weights” that we must lift in order to be stronger in this area of patience. Wait a minute, we were talking about wisdom and now we are talking about patience. Why the switch? Hebrews 12:1 says, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily best us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [underlining mine]. We are suppose to run this race, the Christian life, with patience. And patience comes from trials. Now, you may think that just because you have gone through trials, that you are in the clear. If trials produces patience, surely you are being strengthened. There is more to this strength than just enduring the trial. Look back at James 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. That word “let” is a key word here, implying that we must ALLOW patience to do the work that is needed in our lives. If we are completely honest with ourselves, many of us go through trials kicking and screaming, looking for the easiest way out, resisting the pain and discomfort. In these instances, we are not allowing patience to have her perfect work. We just want out! The proper way to react to a trial is found by Paul’s example in II Corinthians 12:9-10 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. When we realize that the trials that come in our lives are meant to drive us toward Christ, to make us more like Him, our perspective on trials change. Sure, they may still be rather unpleasant, but we can see them for what they are—strength-building, faith-building exercises. None of us are getting out of this life unscathed. Trials are a guarantee (Job 14:1Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.), but our response is up to us: resist or be strengthened. When we’ve strengthened ourselves with each trial, not only do we endure the next trial a little easier, but we come to despise the difficulties less and less, knowing it is all for our good and His glory!

Frozen Storm / Tasha Fowler

Tasha Fowler

Asst Pastor's Wife

Heritage Baptist Church 

Canal Winchester, OH

Frozen Storm

It is mid morning. I woke up over an hour ago with my back hurting from sleeping. This is when you know your life is on the decline. I hit my mountain top peak physically in my twenties and now my age is sledding down that mountain at full speed with wreckless abandon. I shoved my 14 week old contacts into my eyeballs as I checked my text messages, one being from my eye doctor saying I'm 2 years over due for my vision screening, but I hate being dilated and honestly just the thought of carving out time to sit and be checked out is a nuisance. Hard pass.

I sneak past all the kids rooms, as to not stir them and start the whirlwind of chaos before I get my coffee & Bible time. It takes me a solid 30 minutes just to talk myself into reading today. I know you're much more spiritual than I, and you've read 14 chapters and studied the whole of revelations in depth, but I am reading Psalm 107 for the 3rd day in a row, because it's having trouble sticking. The first 2 days I was so tired I had to reread the first few verses over and over because I forgot what it was even about by the 5th verse, or I was going cross eyed from sheer tiredness. I open my Bible and read my own notes surrounding other Psalms and laugh at how lame I am, in the top left corner it reads "check yourself before you wreck yourself" and on the right middle it says "think of the ship in the movie frozen on the waves in the storm" Like really... that's the best reference I could relate to? I should write a stinking commentary.

The kids are awake and begging for tv shows and food now. 30 minutes later after I've bent my will to their wishes, I open my Bible again. Verse 22 peaks my interest, "let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing" I know there are legit thanksgiving offerings but i dont know, the fact that it says that thanksgiving is in itself the offering makes me think. It is a sacrifice to get off the "woe is me" train, or the "I want/need" wagon, and actually be grateful for what I already have.

Then I read about these guys who get on some ships to sell some merch. They get in some big seas, and then it says "He(God) commandeth and raiseth up the stormy wind". Another nugget pops in the old noggin... The storm wasn't by chance. God saw the men on the sea and still said, ya I'm gonna give 'em a wide ride. He obviously thought they needed to learn something or at least see something. (because it mentions in verse 24 "these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep") It says that they mount up to the heavens and go down again to the deep (if it helps you, think of the super sad scene in frozen, not so stupid now huh!) It says these people are tossed to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. Their soul is melted and they are at their wit's end. I can totally relate. My soul feels like my secret stash of chocolate melting in my van on a hot summer day. I feel like life is beating on my ship and I'm struggling to reach the wheel or sails or whatever controls a boat, but I'm being thrown back and forth. My favorite thing in this verse though is the wit's end bit. I looked that up, and it basically means they've reached the end of what their skill can do. I felt a little Holy Spirit on that one. That's SO me. My very basic and insufficient skill set has done it's best and still drastically fallen short.

Ya'll get ready for the best news. They cry to the Lord and in the same sentence, he brings them out of their distresses. He makes the storm calm and the waves still. "They are glad because they be in quiet" [Amen, am I right?! ]"So he bringeth them into their desired haven." If I want quiet, if I want a calm day and still waves, and if I have any hope to make it to my desired haven in one peace without losing my freaking mind... I have to realize I'm at the end of my capabilities and I have to just cry out, while I'm flat

out crying and let God do what I cannot. The reason we get so frustrated is because we are trying to work this junk out on our own, I don't need to regain control of the ship on these crazy waves of life and motherhood. I just need to let the master of the wind and waves do his thing!

Help! I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up! / Tiffany Moore

Tiffany Moore

Bus Ministry / Super Church / Music Ministry

Trinity Baptist Church

Wills, TX

Help! I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up! 

Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

When you are young and you fall off your bicycle, you scrape your knee. You might cry and go find your mom. You think getting a Band-Aid with your favorite cartoon character on it will make everything all right again. The next day you’re out on your street riding your bike again. If you fall off a bike when you’re an adult: You cry. Call an ambulance. Spend four hours at the ER. Rack up thousands of dollars in medical bills. You end up in physical therapy. You think “I am too old to be doing dumb stuff like that!” You never get back on a bicycle again. Just as a physical fall, falling into sin can have a different result at different ages. Not to imply that the young cannot make life altering falls in their Christian life, but it is usually harder on you when you fall as an adult or teenager than as a young child.

When we choose to sin, we forget that “falling into sin” can have lasting effects. I sprained my ankle when I was a teenager. I basically ignored it that summer. I’d elevate it when it hurt but I never let it heal properly because I stood on it constantly. That ankle ended up needing physical therapy. My right ankle is weaker than my left one even today, many years later. It will roll on me at the oddest times. I’ve sprained that ankle multiple times since that summer because it is very susceptible to sprain again-because it is weaker. After a fall in your Christian life, you have to be prepared for that weakness in your life. You have to be cognitive of the fact that you have a weakness and compensate accordingly. If I go roller skating, I will wear an ankle wrap. Not because I have a sprained ankle but because it needs extra support. It’s the same with our Christian lives. Maybe you need to type out Proverbs 15:1 and put it on your fridge if you have fallen in the area of yelling and arguing. Maybe you complain about everything. Strengthen yourself by reading Philippians 2:14-15 every day. Maybe you need a friend to hold you accountable for your social media usage. Maybe you need to drive a different way home. Maybe you need to listen to sermons online instead of the radio. Whatever your weakness is, there is a way to strengthen your life.

What new Christians do not realize is that it is not the first time you fall that it is the hardest to get back up. It is the second, third or fourth time you make that fall-that choice to sin. It is a shameful thing to have to say “Yes, I am a Christian. Yes, I know better but I did it again.” Did you notice that in Proverbs 24:16 it says that a just man falleth seven times? It is not the number that is significant. It is the fact that you will fall and you need to rise again. Is it hard to get back up after a fall? Yes! But we don’t quit things just because they are hard. The alternative consequence is too severe. “… but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

Now it may not be everyone’s, but this is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It offers such encouragement to me as a Christian. It is an acknowledgement that- yes, you as a Christian will fall. You are not perfect and neither is anyone else. Have you ever thought about when Christians in the Bible were used greatly? It wasn’t until after Peter denied Jesus three times that God used him to preach to thousands. It wasn’t until after Paul had held the coats during the stoning of Stephen that he was converted and turned the world upside down. The unsaved like to pounce on any discrepancies in the life of anyone who claims to be a Christian. They use these faults to try and discredit God and His Word. But the Christian understands that no person is perfect and we are all just sinners saved by grace. God can use anyone who doesn’t quit when they fall. Choose to forget your past failures. Make a plan to strengthen your life. Get up and do right from now on by the grace of God! “A just man falleth seven times and riseth up again.”

What's In Your Cup / Laura Doss

Laura Doss

Pastor's Wife

Faith Baptist Church

Richmond, KY

What’s In Your Cup?? 

I don’t know about your house, but occasionally we have spills… and it’s not always the kids!

One of the first things that I remember about about the oldest child we fostered (and since we have adopted) is when he spilled milk at our house. He immediately hid under the table. I asked him why he was hiding and he said he was afraid that he was going to be in trouble. I assured him that he wasn’t going to be in trouble for spilling something. Life happens….spills happens.

One thing I’ve noticed is that whatever is in a cup when it has been shaken or tipped over is what spills out. If milk is in the cup when it’s spilled, then milk is what will come out. If it’s coffee in the cup when it’s knocked over or bumped, then coffee will come up. Reminds me of the jingle, “the best part of waking up in Folgers in your cup”! YUK! I detest coffee!! I can’t even stand the smell of it!! I know….what’s wrong with me!!!!

Can we for a minute pretend this coffee cup is our life?

Whatever we put in our cup of life is what is going to spill out when someone or life bumps us and whatever we have filled our cup with spills out.

Have you ever been around someone that every time something happens in their life bitterness and hate come out. Or someone who is always sour and never has a nice or pleasant thing to say.

Matt 15:18 “ But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. “

What is truly in our hearts is what comes out of our mouths when we are tried and tested.

Have you ever been sitting next to someone and they spilled their cup and it got on you? If you spend time with negative people then it WILL eventually effect you. My husband has always guarded the time that we have spent with other people. We have always been an entertaining household! I love it! There have been times that have had to limit our time with people because we didn’t want was in someone else’s cup to spill out on! We wanted our cup of life filled with good things so that when someone or something bumps our cup, good things will come out.

Life is filled with all sorts of bumps. What I want spilling out of my cup is what I put in it. Here are a few things that I want my cup to be filled with:

Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

WHAT’S IN YOUR CUP?