Three "P's"

Patience, perseverance, prayer...We have been studying the epistle of James on Tuesday nights at the church house.It is a very practical book , a manual for the Christian. And in chapter five it speaks of patience and perseverance and prayers. Ch. 5, verses 7-18 read: Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another brethren, lest you be condemned. "Behold the Judge is standing at the door!
My brethren, take the prophets , who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful."Skip down to verses 13-18, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs." Look at these next verses starting with verse 14, "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up." Verse 16 says "The effective fervent prayer of a righteous availeth much."
To get an answer to your prayer you will need to be persevering and have patience while you are waiting,
In my mind I can picture a time when I too was seeking an answer to a specific prayer that I was praying. On this particular day I was driving my old pickup truck and talking out loud to God and I was somewhat distressed over a situation and of course being an impatient soul, I wanted Him to answer immediately, but it did not happen that way. In fact it still hasn't completely taken place yet. But on that day which has been some years now, I WAS TAUGHT A MOST VALUABLE LESSON.
I was driving past a marine oil terminal where some large oil tankers dock to load petroleum products for the eastern seaboard of the United States. It was a route that I drove almost every day and I seldom bothered to notice any one or several of these ships, but on this day I looked up to notice an old rusting tanker. It was the prompting of the Holy Spirit that caused me to take notice.This ship was a rather large vessel well capable of weathering storms and it looked like it had weathered many storms in it's life time. It had huge blotches of rust where the paint was missing, but on the bow was the name of the ship and all the letters in the name were intact and in real good condition. PERSEVERANCE was the name of this vessel and I thought how appropriate of the owner to name her such. I also thought how appropriate God was and is to remind me that I need to continue in persevering prayer. Remember " The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." By the way, although the complete answer has not fully arrived just yet, nevertheless I have seen great improvement and gtreat gains have been made toward complete and total victory. I want to go on record and thank my Saviour for answering my prayer today. You can call on Him today...RC

priorities

According to the online dictionary that I use, to prioritize means "to give the highest or higher importance, rank, privilege, etc." To make it real simple...first things first. Like Jesus said in Matthew's gospel account, ch 6, vs. 33, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." quote is from the NKJV, the NRSV says "strive first for the kingdom of God." A few blog postings ago I talked about the preaching of the cross and I referred to a medical team going to Mali in Africa and ministering medical help to some people there. Last evening I witnessed a special power point presentation of that mission and I realized what priority really means.
These women who left our city and paid their own expenses as well as paying for much of the mission expense were doing something that was higher in rank than business as usual. They were putting the kingdom of God first, because that is what Jesus came to do. Matt. 11:4-6, "Go and tell John the things you hear and see . The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended in Me." Last evening's power point was an up to date version of what Jesus was talking about. It was a challenge to all who witnessed it; oh yes and not many dry eyes.... including mine.