WMBI Commentaries (article)

Monday: Safer Than a Known Way

Not long ago I went to see a church member who is dying of cancer. She looked so frail but her husband said that she perked right up when she heard by voice outside her door. It's clear to me that she is down to her last few days. Speaking is difficult so I held her hand and recited the great promises of God about heaven. I told her that I wasn't an expert on death but I knew someone who was. I told her I knew someone who had died and come back from the dead. His name is Jesus. He holds the keys of death and Hades in his hand. I held her hand and said, "When the moment comes, don't be afraid. Just call out the name Jesus and he will come for you." I don't know much about death by personal experience but I know who stands at the door to make sure we make it safely through to the other side. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me… . Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Someone in the room started to sing, "What a friend we have in Jesus." We all joined in and I heard the woman singing with. She is at death's door but she's holding on to Jesus.

On Christmas Day 1939, King George VI of England gave a radio address to his troubled nation. England was already at war with Germany. Soon all of Europe would be plunged in the horrors of World War II. The king offered words of encouragement as the storm clouds gathered overhead. He ended his remarks by quoting a poem by Louise Haskins, "The Gate of Year."

"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!' And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'"

What a word that is for us today. No one but God knows what the future holds. Let us do as the poet suggested and place our hands into the hand of Almighty God. And let us go out into the unknown future with confidence, knowing that if God go with us, we need not fear the future. To walk with the Lord is the greatest of all joys, and it is indeed safer than a known way.

This is Ray Pritchard of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park for Mornings on 90.1 FM, WMBI.

Tuesday: The God of Tiny Details

Last October I spent a week speaking at Dallas Seminary. On my last day there, the president, Mark Bailey, took us out for lunch. While we were driving along North Central Expressway, I commented to Dr. Bailey about the brand-new, ten-story apartment building that had just been completed. The seminary plans to use the building for married students and also for single women students. When I asked about the $14 million dollars it cost to build, Dr. Bailey said that the money had come in in an unusual way. They received a multimillion dollar gift from some people who had never before given to the seminary. But they needed even more money. At one point, the situation looked bleak until one of the board members, a man of great faith, said that they should stop worrying and start praying for God's guidance. Soon after that, the money came flowing in.

We pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant just as Dr. Bailey was finishing that story. It was very crowded so Dr. Bailey said, "We need a parking spot, Lord." And just at that very moment, a car pulled out from a parking space right in front of the main entrance. "Thank you, Lord," Dr. Bailey said. As I thought about that later, I hesitated to mention it to anyone else because it might seem too trivial. Who knows? Maybe that kind of thing only happens to seminary presidents. But then I ran across this sentence from Charles Spurgeon: "Blessed is that man who seeth God in trifles!" What a positive insight that is. We tend to look at the million-dollar answer to prayer and say, "What a mighty God we serve." But the God of the large is also the God of the small. The God who hung the stars in space is also the God who numbers the hairs on your head. Why should it surprise us that God arranges parking spaces when we need them? After I mentioned this to my congregation, a woman came up and told me she always prays for parking spaces, especially when she is taking her children to visit the doctor. Later I received a note from someone who heard the story and attended a potluck dinner after the service. They are fairly new to our church and don't know many people. One of our longtime couples sat with them to welcome them and encourage them. "You know, Pastor Ray, I had prayed that the we would share time with someone at the potluck, and as our Heavenly Father cares about the smallest detail, he came through." Then she added: "I pray that he blesses your week, especially in the "minutiae" of Providence." With that happy thought, I wish all our listeners a very good day.

This is Ray Pritchard of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park for Mornings on 90.1 FM, WMBI

Wednesday: How Long Should I Pray?

A few weeks ago I had an hour-long interview with a radio station in Philadelphia. A listener called in with a heart-searching question. He had come to Christ from a Jewish background and has a burden to see his family saved. After years of prayer for them, and many hours of discussion, he feels like he is getting nowhere. His grandmother is old and near death and he does not want her to go out into eternity without knowing the Lord. His father gives him a hard time about his Christianity and they argue about the Old Testament passages that predict the coming of the Messiah. The man fought back tears as he shared his heavy burden. "How long do I have to pray? When should I

finally give up?"

A day later I received a forwarded e-mail asking for prayer for a husband to be saved. His wife says, "He's getting close … I'm feeling compelled to 'push' in this way. It's not my 'choice' or idea." The friend who forwarded the e-mail added, "Thank you for praying for him to accept Jesus Christ and be filled with His grace." I especially like that last phrase. Salvation is nothing more or less than a dynamic encounter with the grace of God. Conversion is a miracle of God. It cannot be forced on others against their will, which is why we will never argue anyone in to the Kingdom of God. God does not work that way. Grace is a gift that must be received individually.

Good theology helps us immensely as we think about the salvation of those we love. We know that no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). We also know that the lost are spiritually dead, blind, helpless and hopeless. They are without understanding, are captive to Satan, and they are condemned already (John 3:36). Their only hope is to experience "the life-changing power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ." If the lost are truly lost, if they are totally separated from God, if they are truly dead and truly blind, then it should not surprise us that they are sometimes indifferent and sometimes hostile when we share the gospel with them.

This is where prayer comes in. As we pray earnestly, fervently, repeatedly, believingly, little by little the citadels of unbelief are torn down by the Spirit. And while we pray, we share Christ every chance we get. If we do our part, God cannot fail to do his. So how long should we pray? As long as it takes for the eyes of the lost to be opened. As long as it takes for the heart to believe. As long as it takes, that's how long we should pray for the lost to be saved.

This is Ray Pritchard of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park for Mornings on 90.1 FM, WMBI

Thursday—Saved in the Nick of Time

Recently I heard about a man in his 80s who came to Christ shortly before he died. It happened like this. For nearly his entire life, the man had lived without any conscious dependence on God. He wasn't an atheist or an agnostic and he wasn't an evangelist for his unbelief. He simply didn't need God in his life and seemed to be doing just fine without any help from the Almighty. His neighbors knew him as an honest, hardworking man who worked long hours on his farm. He and his wife raised a large family and had the satisfaction of watching their children grow up and establish families of their own. In a sense, he was a typical American success story. He prospered through hard work and a resiliency born of many decades of making a living from the soil. It would also be fair to say he was a tough customer given to salty language. Those who knew him might have called him a crusty personality.

The day came when he and his wife moved into a nursing home. After his wife died several years ago, his children and grandchildren and other members of the family paid him regular visits. One of his nephews was a minister who, whenever he dropped by to say hello, always asked the old man if he could pray for him. He always said no. Prayer was fine for other folks but he had gotten through life on his own and he intended to make the final lap without asking God for assistance. That's how it was, week by week, as his nephew came by. Always glad to see him, some chit-chat about this and that, and always the same "No, thanks" to the offer of prayer.

But God has his people in many places. There was a nurse at the rest home who kept telling the old man that he needed Jesus. She told him many times and he repeatedly dismissed her words. One day she said, "Why don't you go ahead and pray the prayer? It can't hurt you." So he did, and in the prayer he opened his heart to the Lord. The proof of his changed life came the next time his nephew paid a visit. The nephew later said he nearly fell over when the old man agreed (for the first time!) to let him pray for him. And always after that, they ended each visit with prayer.

The old man died two months ago. After a lifetime of living without God, at the last moment he came to Christ. One of his nieces told me the story and she couldn't stop smiling. It was God's grace that saved him, with the help of a nephew and a nurse who wouldn't give up.

This is Ray Pritchard of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park for Mornings on 90.1 FM, WMBI

Friday—The Only Way to Get Better

It happened during the second-half of a high school football game. It was cold and our guys were getting beat and we were all hanging on, hoping the game would end soon. Someone nearby said, "Pastor Ray! Pastor Ray!" I turned and saw a friend who motioned me to come over. When I did, she started talking about a sermon series I was preaching at that moment that dealt with some of the common problems of life, such as insecurity, self-importance, discontentment, fear of the future, and so on. My friend wanted me to know that she could provide material for all ten sermons if I needed it. I laughed because I knew it was true. She told me that she is in a 12-step program and that her life is getting better. That was obvious just from listening to her.

Then she shared a powerful insight with me. "Pastor Ray, I used to think that the issue was food or alcohol or drugs or sex or money. I thought the way to get better was just to get rid of whatever was bothering me. I thought if food was my problem, then not eating would solve my problem. It took me years to figure out that it's not about food or alcohol or drugs or sex or money. Those things are symptoms; the real cause is the void in my heart. I've discovered that until I fill the void with God, removing those symptoms will never make me a better person and it won't really solve my problems either. I've learned that I need God at the center of my life, and once he's there, I can start to get better." She was smiling as she spoke to me. "What you said last Sunday about surrendering to the Lord was so important. For a long time, I didn't want to do that. But that's the whole thing. You have to stop running your own life and you have to surrender it to the Lord. It took me a long time to discover that." But she has, and her life is not what it used to be.

No one likes being told what to do. We all would rather be in charge of our own affairs, and that's why the whole notion of surrendering our ego and our pride to the Lord sounds strange at first. But there is no other way to get better. There is no other way to be healed. There is no other way to be forgiven. There is no other way to find a new life.

We can fight the Lord or we can surrender everything to his control. When we fight, we lose. When we surrender, we win. Blessed are they who stop fighting the Lord for they shall win in the end.

This is Ray Pritchard of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park for Mornings on 90.1 FM, WMBI.