HAVE YOU THROWN IN THE TOWEL ON PRAYER?

Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up.  Luke 18:1 CEV

 I have always been a boxing fan. Without question, boxing is a brutal sport that can get out of hand in a hurry. Sometimes, to protect his fighter from serious harm, a manager has to "throw in the towel" to get the referee to stop the fight.

The phrase "throw in the towel" quickly moved from the boxing world to everyday life. As we all know, when you throw in the towel, you quit ... you give up ... you accept defeat. And people do it all the time. They throw in the towel on their marriage, or their degree, or their dreams, or their very lives. It is easy to throw in the towel. It is much harder to push through and keep going.

Tired of Waiting

By Tracie Miles

"Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them." Genesis 25:26b (NIV)

Do you ever get tired of waiting on God to answer your prayers? I do.

I get tired of saying the same old prayer day after day, month after month, year after year. Tired of telling God about the same old problems still going on. Tired of hearing myself pray about the same old issues, leading me to wonder if God is as tired of hearing my prayer requests as I am of praying them.
Recently I bowed my head and admitted to God that I was simply tired of praying and waiting.
In a heavy state of emotional exhaustion, I turned to my Bible. I hoped a few verses would jump straight into my heart and give me patience. That day I read about when Isaac's wife Rebekah gave birth to twin sons. One sentence in particular caught my eye and God used it to speak hope into my soul.

Hold On ! ! !

http://www.wtv-zone.com/Marvaline/ES/esigs/aroundcornersig.html

What to do when God doesn't answer...

Today, I just want to share to you Pastor Bill Hybels' interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. 

He writes: "I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. 

She said, 'No, I'm struggling.' 

She said, 'My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I'm crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. 

At the 5-year mark I said, "Who needs this? God isn't listening." 

At the 10-year mark I said, "Why am I wasting my breath?" 

At the 15-year mark I said, "This is absurd." At the 19-year mark 

Jesus Heals at the Pool of Bethesda

Bible Study Lesson:

John 5:1-15

Q. Where did the incident take place?

• The Pool of Bethesda
• Near sheep gate. Sheep gate was the gate used to bring sheep into the city to the temple for sacrifice. (Nehemiah 3:1)
• The Bethesda pool has been discovered by archeologists in 1960s.

Q. What was the occasion?

• Feast of Jews & Sabbath
• Three feasts of Jews
  1. Feast of Passover & unleavened bread
  2. Feast of Pentecost
  3. Feast of tabernacles

THE SECRET OF ANSWERED PRAYER

THE SECRET OF ANSWERED PRAYER

By Pastor William "Mark" Bristow

When people see God give definite answers to prayer they will ask, "Pray for me, too." Then will come a question, " How did you pray?" When I walk through the Christian Bookstore, I see hundreds of variations of book titles with the subject of "HOW I DID IT!" When it comes to prayer, those titles are bestsellers. Everybody wants to know how this thing of prayer works. I'm going to give you, perhaps the only formula given in the Word of God. I usually do not believe in formulas when it comes to the things of God, because God is a person. He is not some "thing" I can manipulate by laws or rituals, or that I can "use" by correctly performing certain formulas.

However, in Luke Chapter 11, I find a clear formula for answered prayer. Remember, this example was to the disciples before the cross, before we could boldly enter the throne room and ask God for whatever we have need of (Hebrews 4:16). So, for our purpose today, this is an example of "how" to pray, not of "what" to pray.

Here in Luke, Jesus tells the story of a man who goes to his neighbor's house and bangs on the door, asking to borrow loaves of bread with which to serve unexpected guests. It's late and everyone has gone to bed. Because of the man's persistence, the neighbor finally gets up and gives him the bread just to get him to go away. Later Jesus tells the disciples, if you as men would get up and give a friend their request just to get them to stop bothering you, how much more will our heavenly Father who loves you, give us those things we have need of. In the midst of this parable comes the formula for answered prayer.

It is found in Luke 11:9-10 (KJV), "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." The Amplified Bible says, "Ask, and keep on asking, Seek and keep on seeking, knock, and keep on knocking ..."

1) Ask and keep on asking. 1 John 5:15 (KJV) "And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." Make your petitions known. Although God is still God Almighty and He is Sovereign and He can do anything He wants to do; God likes to be invited. I remember a Government class in High School. A discussion came up as to whether or not God intervenes in the affairs of men and governments today. I was known as "the preacher" then, so the question came round to me. I knew it was coming and sent up a short prayer for wisdom. "Mark, you're the preacher here. What do you think? Does God intervene in individual lives today?" My answer was, "If I let Him." Oh sure, God is still in control of the beginning and the end. But it is clear in the Word of God, as individuals, you and I have a choice. James 4:2 (KJV) "...yet ye have not, because ye ask not." God becomes involved when we ASK!

2) Seek and keep on seeking. What should we seek? Luke 12:29 & 31 (KJV) "And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. (31) But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." Seek God. So many people seek what they have asked for. I remember a girl out of the children's story, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Her name was Verruca. All she ever said was, "I WANT IT AND I WANT IT NOW, DADDY! IF I DON'T GET IT I'LL SCREAM!!!" Lots of people pray that way. Let me ask you a question. Would you give your 13 year old the keys to the car because he wants it? Of course not! Sometimes we demand things in prayer, when a loving God knows it's not time yet, or He knows a better answer. We must seek HIM and be yielded to HIS will and HIS way. After all, He loved us enough to give His only son to die for our sins, therefore, He will not deny us any good thing that is best for us.

3) Knock and keep on knocking. So many Christians will ask. They will seek God, but then they just sit there and wait for the answer to fall out of the sky. You'll never get a thing just sitting there! Get up and do what you know to do! Then God will answer! Let me give you an example of what I mean. People will pray for a job, some will even seek the will and purpose of God. Then, they sit down and wait and wait and wait and tell everyone how spiritual they are in living by faith, (when in truth they are usually freeloading off family and friends). Get up! Knock on doors, send resumes and keep at it until God opens the right door! Old timers call it, "Putting feet to your prayers." Remember, "...faith without works is dead" (James 2:20b). The miraculous happens when we have done all we can. The possible is up to us. The impossible is up to God. There it is: ask, seek, knock. One without the other two and the formula will not work. "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26b). When you ask God's help, and you seek His will and way, and then get up and do what you know to do -- you and God together are an unbeatable combination!

William "Mark" Bristow and his wife, Lisa pastor a church in Monahans, Texas called Grace Fellowship. He is an anointed servant of God who is blessed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in his ministry. He is also multi-talented in a music ministry of leading in praise and worship vocally as well as on the organ and piano. He can be contacted via email at: grace@ultravision.net

Self improvement and motivation-The Best Self improvement tip

In the mundane world it is the failure that is all set to engulf you. But if you surrender to it you are certain to get baffled in the prolonged run. Failure could come in your way but you have to be prepared to fight it, encounter it in the way it is to be faced. Again it is not the everlasting simple fact that you are confident to fail all the time. The day is positive to come when the deity of ultimate good results is certain to crown you. All you want are self-improvement and enthusiasm. If you are not motivated how you can be the ultimate winner.

You need to have to be wise and cool. You have to accept the failure. You must retain it in thoughts that no one particular succeeds in the quite original phase. It is the challenging toil and his perseverance that make him effective in the lengthy run. You are to be all set to encounter the situation that you by no means have expected. But if you have to face this sort of a horrid scenario would you lag behind? No all you have to do is to march ahead so extended the faint beam of hope is not situated in the horizon.

All you need to have in this crucial phase is the self-improvement and enthusiasm urge that comes from within your soul.

All you have to do is to struggle challenging without expecting what outcome is awaiting you. It is effortless to say but it is extremely difficult to accept failure following failure in a steady manner. But what would you do? If you do not understand to accept failure you are confident to be a victim of depression and depression would suck your vitality in a slow manner in a gradual approach.

Now how can you strengthen oneself? Is it really simple to do so? Actually when you are in a desperate spree are trying challenging to coin power what would be the outcome? I am right here supplying some self-improvement suggestions that would be of good assist to you when you are hiding your encounter in the veil of desperation.

I am right here providing you some self-improvement guidelines that could make you motivated all the way.

one. You can maintain a diary. You compose down there how you have tackled the problems that came on your way.

2. Now adhere to properly how you started and how you reached your dream location.

3. Usually mix with these people who dwell on good pondering. Only the optimistic, motivated people can lead you to the road of eternal pleasure.

four. By no means halt your journey all on a sudden. If you are thwarted on the techniques never ever drop your heart. It is your internal spirit that is to increase you all the even though.

5. By no means step back from your goal. Stick to your dreams in a hearty manner. The tougher your clutch to your dream the faster you are going to have it in your wallet.

Failure might come in your way but you have to be all set to combat it. Self improvement and inspiration are the two items that may assist you to fight against the damaging electrical power. Do not neglect to check out the self improvement ideas also.