October 21, 2020 – Click here to listen
I receive a litany of letters from the Words for the Day platform seeking advice. My life is all but completely free from stress and drama, but many of those writing have some of the most difficult problems that I can imagine; (every form of addiction, suicidal tendencies, marital disputes, depression, anxiety, financial problems, family problems, career problems and so on.)
I answer every letter as best I know how but I must warn those of you inclined to write that I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not Ann Landers, my desk doesn’t glow in the dark nor do I radiate holiness, and I don’t have the speed dial number for God. I will earnestly pray for you however and give advice if it is desired. All I ask is that you please understand that my advice is just my opinion based on my life’s experience and Bible study for nearly five decades.
Through the years many people have written to me and told me that they reconsidered suicide after I advised them with my thoughts on the subject. My grandfather, two uncles and my only sibling, my brother Jim, all committed suicide, I came close on more than one occasion and it is a subject in which I do have experience. The letters I received made me feel great and I used to keep a file of them but abandoned the idea after the incident detailed below.
I vividly remember one young person whose father asked me to talk to him. He was addicted to heroin and had been in and out of rehab and jail. The parents were godly people and had done the best they could to raise him up in the church, but somewhere along the line he went astray.
My first question to him was what his relationship with Jesus was like. He instantly responded that he didn’t believe in God. I was shocked. His father was a major figure in a large ministry!
It turns out his high school teacher had convinced him there was no God and led him to believe in the evolutionary fairy tale. I spoke to him for over two hours in a restaurant that day. I gave him my testimony of how I had once been an atheist, then after practicing witchcraft I became agnostic, and finally I became a Christian whereby I was mightily blessed by God and my life was fully transformed into something good. I prayed with everything I had for this young man.
Later I called his father and gave him a report. He was heartbroken about his son’s declaration that God did not exist. Not long after midnight that night I got a text from the father and the young man had shot himself in the head and died instantly. His father and mother heard the shot and came running in his room right after he did it and witnessed the horrible sight.
I was stunned and heartbroken. I racked my brain asking myself what I could have done or said differently. It was just like my brother’s suicide; what could I have done or said that would have made enough difference that he would be alive today? Unfortunately, it sometimes seems that the people whom you want to help the most in life cannot always be helped is spite of our best efforts.
In the end I believe that the most difficult problems in life are solved through faith. I have deep faith but unfortunately, I cannot give my faith to anyone, it has to come from inside you; from your heart.
I have offered my testimony to live audiences from Anchorage to Key West and all points in-between in this great country, and all over the world via Words for the Day and my book Miracle on Luckie Street but conveying my love for Christ and His love for me in this manner is inadequate for many. Telling someone that faith gives us peace, hope, and joy no matter the starting point simply cannot be felt like the Holy Spirit coursing through your body telling you that. It’s like the tide, we sometimes cannot see it but we can sure feel the pull.
God wants to be asked for His help. We must invite HIM into our lives. I believe that God has all of the answers. Some we might not like to hear, especially when it involves giving up some sin we love, but if you need help for anything it can and will be provided by God as long as it is within His will for our lives. Prayer is the most effective tool we have. I NEVER promise someone that I will pray for them and then not deliver. I ask God to intervene and intercede for those in need. If I have a problem, I pray that He will resolve my problem according to His plan.
I fully trust Him and submit to Him. It is one reason that I know no fear aside from disappointing Him. If you have problems, seek out Godly and/or professional counsel but by all means present your need and request for help directly to God.
Proverbs 3:6
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.