Yesterday I received hundreds of happy birthday wishes from all over the country, (thank you!). I appreciate all of my good friends even to include my Sunday school class members who cast the clever barbs about me now being Medicare eligible and mentioning that it might prove to be a good idea to have a fire truck with a capable high pressure pump handy in order to extinguish the lighted candles on my birthday cake. It’s nice to have friends and those who care about you even when they do have a somewhat warped sense of humor.
Contrast those happy times with a disturbing letter I received from a man who has not had much fun this holiday. He wrote in part, “I had hoped to get away from an ended relationship and the endless bad weather. I still haven’t found a job, am depressed and now just feel alone. I am staying with friends and the only thing I can contribute to the household is my cleaning, laundry and yard work! I have prayed so much I don’t feel like God answers me. I have thought about suicide. Both my parents and seemingly everyone I love are dead and sometimes I just want to be with them. I was raised a Christian, and know suicide isn’t the answer. I just feel like I have no hope.
Hmmm… I know exactly how he feels. In fact I felt the same way when I hitch hiked into Atlanta only worse. My favorite saying used to be, “I wish I’d been born dead”. I viewed suicide as a welcome relief to a tortured existence, but then I found God and realized that life can be wonderful. Jesus Christ changed everything for me; He replaced my hopelessness with hope; my loneliness with a close wonderful family and good friends all over the world; my anxiety was exchanged for God’s peace; my bitterness was transformed into joy; and my hate for just about everyone and everything became Christ based love.
I wrote the following to encourage my hurting brother: “God always answers prayer. God is pulling you close to Him and you need to go with the flow. Trust in Him and believe with all of your heart. Faith comes from hearing the word of God. I suggest that you get involved in a Bible believing church and in a Sunday school. Satan wants you discouraged and would like nothing better than your suicide. Faith comes from hearing the word of God. My brother committed suicide and I can tell you first hand it didn’t resolve a single problem for him. I found peace, joy, and love and so can you. Life will never be perfect, but it can be good. Read a Bible daily, have fellowship with other Christians, pray throughout the day, live righteously, and have faith, and God will honor you my friend. As bad as your situation is today, mine was far – far worse and if it worked for me it will work for you.”
He responded: “I pray and pray and I feel like I get no answer. I want to believe that I will make it through this…..that others have had It, and do have it worse. I have always been a Christian man, was raised Roman Catholic and joined a United Methodist church as an adult. I have no history at all with drugs, violence, alcohol, prison, etc. I was raised by loving parents in a sheltered small town in Pennsylvania. I have struggled with depression and an anxiety disorder. I have taken medication for years and it has helped me. I just feel so alone in such a big town. I really have no one to talk to, at least no one who wants to hear me. I am searching for a church to attend. I have found a few I plan to attend and see how I fit in.”
What my friend has failed to understand thus far is that he is not “all alone” and there are plenty of believers who indeed want to hear what he has to say and want to help him. He is in fact standing next to His Savior who loved him so much that He died on a cross in order that he might live, and not in a depressed, anguished manner, but that he might live his life more “abundantly” realizing the full blessings of God Almighty.
Unfortunately too many of us fail to take the Bible seriously where it tells us that we are engaged in all out WAR against unseen powerful dark forces in the spiritual realm. The Bible tells us that in order to survive, we need to put on the full armor of God “daily” just to be able to withstand the superior forces and constant attacks of satanic forces comprised of fallen angels that were created higher than we were. We are no match for these unseen powers and the Bible assures us of that. Read this again and again and believe it!
The solution is simple, we need to follow the instructions laid out in the Bible and put on the full armor of God and use the unconquerable Holy Spirit’s power to resist satan instead of attempting to use our own wimpy fleshly power that is guaranteed by the Bible to be a loser effort.
I take these verses very seriously. I study the Bible in earnest, and read it EVERY day, first thing in the morning. My prayer life is greatly enhanced and nowadays just as the Bible instructs I pray throughout the day. I don’t just pray to ask God for “stuff”, but I thank Him for all that He has done and is doing for me and my family, and importantly I pray for others, especially to receive Christ. I pray for strength. I came to understand and to highly esteem the value and strength derived from fellowship with other Godly people including the strong Christian men in my Sunday school class and Christian pen pals and phone friends throughout the world. I also try in earnest to live righteously, and although I’m not successful all of the time, I do what is right far more often than wrong. I also rely heavily in my strong faith which comes from hearing the word of God and today is unbreakable.
I’m making it just fine and I can honestly say that I enjoy God’s peace, joy, and love. I can assure you that I’m nothing special, but God is very special, and what He has done for me He will do for you.
He has assured us in His word the Holy Bible that He wants the best for us. We don’t have to be lonely, discouraged, heart-broken, and bitter. We can be victorious over satan, but it takes effort on our parts. We CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us, but we must believe and keep faith in God. He will answer this man’s prayers, mine, and yours. Believe in Him and pray for my friend won’t you…
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
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