“Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?” 2 Kings 18:19 NLT As I was reading through this chapter, this verse really stood out to me. The Assyrian king spent a lot of time mocking and taunting Hezekiah, and no matter what price Hezekiah offered to pay, it was never enough. Another battle was just on the horizon. The question is then posed to Hezekiah “what are you trusting in that makes you so…
Patience does not come naturally to me. It is a learned behavior. One of my earliest memories as a child is my father quoting Luke 21:19, “Karen, ‘In your patience possess ye your souls.'” The Bible is clear; we must have patience to receive the promise. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36). The Bible is equally clear that trials help me learn patience. “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope”…
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16 Have you ever listened to someone pray and thought, “I wish I could learn to pray like that?” Their words just seem to flow so freely to the Lord, and we think surely the Lord must be pleased with their eloquent words and will answer their requests. Why can’t I pray like that? Sometimes it seems like we stumble and stammer over our words and wonder if the Lord even hears us. Sometimes we cannot even find the words to pray, and we can only whisper the name…