You Don't Have To Do It Alone

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This is the Truth Network encouraging prayer, God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him at any time about anything, and encouraging prayer Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling product and many other books on prayer provides weekly biblical insight help you learn to mom and now James, do you ever feel like sometimes lunging feel like no one would understand or even care. That's also a very lonely place to be working to talk about a way out of that lonely place today on encouraging prayer I James this is so important, probably because sometimes you see people carrying the heartbreaking burden, especially as a pastor for over three decades now I've seen that you see it wear them down and it doesn't have to be that way. I'm not saying that lightly. You know I'm saying that is the dad of a former heroin addict runaway child and even when we went through all of that. We found out that God met us in places we never would've expected and I'm not talking about when my son finally got clean. I'm thinking of you. First, before everything went when he met us when we were just crying out to him wasn't that it always made our circumstances easier, but it touched just changed as he changed us and somehow that made it all more bearable. Me know what you're talking about is how God met you as you ran to him in prayer right that's right.

And sometimes that wasn't easy to do.

You know sometimes when you really going through it. Prayer feels like the last thing you want to do because you know you wonder how your circumstances would come to that point. Or how God could even allow it.

And there's all this mess of emotions and especially in those tender and challenging places were really honest with God that you can do some amazing thing and when you're going through a time like that is so important that you don't pray alone. I mean praying on your own is important, but you need to go to others as well. You know you might be gentle and understand right as we pray for these things as well. I think sometimes we have this keep a stiff upper lip approach to life and we forget that Scripture tells us to bear one another's burdens and one of the best ways we can do that is really when we pray for each other right yeah I so agree. I think of so many parents who suffer in silence. Children going through prodigal years and make you like it reflects on them and their hurting and embarrassed and loving their kids all at the same time again that mess of emotions we were talking about, but they need to know that there are so many of us who walk down that same road, and of course this applies to so much in life with her sword financial difficulties or burden at work don't go it alone. Ask God to help you find someone that you can confide in you may need wisdom for it for doing that for making that choice in fighting, but but he will lead you as you ask you not maybe someone is been a little farther down the same road or unit and some like that is exactly how to pray or or may just be someone who has a compassionate heart and you see clearly that's where the Lord wants you to go but we want to see that out and we also want to be that person for others going through difficult times. I can imagine you're a pastor and you need to share this if you like you live in a glass house. I'm sure the courage to do that right. I mean, we want to be able to do that without a hint of judgment is so important that we can just put it out there without fear of others looking down on us for telling us what do just loving and supporting through prayers and in you really experience that yeah we did. I mean we were particularly blessed to be in a church where we had some folks who would have you know prodigal years with their kids and they knew we had to hate everything that that we could and you know all this brings to mind Peter's words about casting all your anxiety on God because he cares for us, that that word cast means literally to throw up on something or someone else and we do that we feel like a lady I was talking to today who said what.

I don't have a problem casting my cares on Jesus. It's just like you taking them back. I think that's so true. A lot of us but the more I thought about it the more I thought about what the opposite would look like. I thought of this image of throwing something on Jesus and running away and you know it's not supposed to be that way at all, but I think sometimes we read it that way. Don't well actually I'm really never thought of that.

But you're right, I mean were so used to doing things in our strength that we think it's supposed to work that way. But what really does. Or better put, what he really does is call us to the place of greater dependence on right right and that's what I find out earlier when I said that God meets us in amazing ways. In unexpected places. We have to stick around long enough for that to happen. Think about Peter's words again casting all your anxiety all your cares on him because he cares for you. God wants us to come to him with every concern because he loves us is tenderhearted. Jesus described himself as gentle and lowly humble in heart, I can think of.

Sometimes I was just going through so much and it was like I had a choice to make. I can either bring about this and try to carry it all. Or I can walk through this with God and really with others. Yet you and I were talking before we came on the air about, you know, a group of guys you pray with that.

They got a signal for each other.

That was really cool to hear that you guys just have a tendency to want to do it in our own strength. You have experienced that and so actually there killing one of my brothers came up with this this code that we would text out from the movie actually when we were soldiers once, which talks about this broken arrow where the enemy is over run your position. Well I have two or three bands of brothers that that use this code and and someone some guy text Outlook fact I got one just a couple hours ago Sam it was from my dearest friends, Robbie, I got a broken arrow. My sister-in-law is jump from the third balcony of her house and nobody knows why and in like I mean, what an honor really is. If the person gets to pray for something like that. But when you see broken arrow and you know that you're like okay this this is this is huge. This guy feels overrun. This is this is telling you not just that the situation is dire, but it tells you that part of the person involved a start. You know I love that broken arrow code because I mean we gonna do that and if we do, and God will meet us and help us so they get time to wrap up in paradox.

Think what you do, that Jesus, thank you that that we can cast your cares on you because you really do care and and that's the secret ingredient even talk about it and Cracker Barrel it like it's like you care that seems unbelievable but we know you do. So I pray that people listening right now see that wow, you really do care and that by joining together with your church really helps. The we do that all the more. In Jesus name. Hear more from Pastor James by visiting the website. James bank.org or by visiting church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you to pray.

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