journey onWord with us

Do you ever feel that words like faith, prayer and trust are great for church, but lose relevance in your daily routine? You may have accepted Christ as your Savior, but somehow your practice isn’t matching your position. For you, living by faith has become wishful thinking and praying is more from obligation than from faith. You are not alone, and a look back through history would reveal that your struggle is more the norm than the exception. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. In a great little book that I re-read over the week, Secrets of the Vine, Bruce Wilkerson explains that all believers are destined for fruit. Our lives should bear witness (fruit) of a life change. Mr. Wilkerson, like you and I, went through a season where his passion and faith hit a crisis point. But he did something about it.

Henry Blackaby in his book Experiencing God shares a story about a 19^th century pastor who saw God’s people discouraged, not living by faith and weak in prayer. Sound familiar?! George Mueller was a man who determined that God could meet his needs, and lived like it. Accept his journey as an example of what you can experience.

“When Mueller felt God leading him to undertake a project, he prayed for the resources needed but told no one of the need. He wanted everyone to know that God had provided for the need in answer to prayer and faith, not in response to fund-raising. During his ministry in Bristol (England), he started the Scriptural Knowledge Institute for the distribution of Scripture and for religious education. He also established an orphanage.

By the time of his death, George Mueller had been used by God to build four orphanages that cared for two thousand children at time. In all, more than ten thousand children had been provided for through the orphanages he started. In addition, Mueller had distributed more than $8 million that had been given to him in direct answer to prayer. Yet when he died at ninety-three, his possessions were valued at only $800.”

Mueller had a simple faith. He believed God would answer prayer. He obviously made the Father his first priority. Two centuries later Bruce Wilkerson also made a decision that God would be his first priority. And by the way, Wilkerson then wrote a book that literally helped encourage millions of people. You know it as The Prayer of Jabez. What worked for Mueller and Wilkerson will work for you. The place of first priority is not where God fits into the lives of most Christ followers. How about you? If you are in a season of weary faith and unanswered prayer, you can do something about it.

I can absolutely promise you; make Him your first priority and your life will change. God has poured the blessings of heaven on men like Mueller and Wilkerson down through the ages. He wants to do the same for you and I. But the choice is ours! Will He be our first priority, or just another part of our already crowded agenda?  Our Lord wants to answer your prayers, build your faith and give you joy. Don’t make Him a priority, make him your first priority!