Just Shut Your Eyes and Pray!

November 2021

In the offices of his multimillion-dollar hobby and craft business, Hobby Lobby, David Green read the bad news: the bank was ready to foreclose on the product of years of his life and labor.

In 1986, Hobby Lobby wasn't the only business in trouble. The oil business in Oklahoma had gone bust, and the overextended banks were failing. Many business owners in Oklahoma City had already closed their doors in defeat and declared bankruptcy.

Although the foreclosure of the business was the worst thing he could imagine, Mr. Green came to see it as a defining moment in his spiritual life. “I know I prayed prior to that time, but that’s when I got really serious about it,” he said. The space beneath his desk became his prayer closet. He would crawl under his desk in his corporate office and seek God’s help regularly.

It was God’s response to those prayers for their business that the family believes pulled the company out from under looming bankruptcy and set it on its feet again. Hobby Lobby was projected to produce more than $1.5 billion in sales throughout 2006 and still operates very successfully today.

This is desiring-prayer answered.

Jesus speaks of our desiring, praying, believing and having the things for which we asked. See Mark 11:24. This is something practical. Here is something that really works. It is a formula to get results.

The Apostle John had something to say on this matter: This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him (John 5:14-15).

John here teaches that, if we have sorted out our desires and assured ourselves that they are according to the will of God, we know that God hears us and that we have our desires met.

David and Cherie Rodway

The Perfecting of Patience!

October 2021

Walter Mischel conducted an experiment in 1970 with four-year-olds. He would leave one child in a room with a bell and a marshmallow. If the child rang the bell, Mischel would come back and the child could eat the marshmallow. If the child waited for Mischel to come back on his own, the child could have two marshmallows.

In videos of the experiment, you can see children squirming, kicking, hiding their eyes—desperately trying to exercise self-control so they could wait and get two marshmallows. Their performance varied widely. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted fifteen minutes.

The children who waited longer went on to get higher education results. They got into better colleges and, on average, achieved more as adults. The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to become bullies. They received worse teacher and parental evaluations ten years.

If it is raining outside, you may want it to stop, but you can’t control the rain. However, you can open an umbrella. An umbrella does not change the circumstances, but it changes you in the middle of the circumstances. The wetness is no longer controlling you. God’s grace opens up an umbrella during the rainy seasons of life so that we may overcome and have the victory even when everything around us is wet.

Believe God! Here is the umbrella in the middle of the circumstances! This, to many, is the hardest step of all. It is right here that so many prayers break down and so many things desired are never received. In James 1: 2-4 James encourages us to laugh in the face of trials because their purpose is to reveal our true position and patience will bring us to a better position.

Some sincere people desire things and endlessly pray for them, but never arrive at the point where they believe that they have received them. Hold on, those two marshmallows are worth the wait. Walter Mischel returned and the confidence of the individual child received its reward! Believe it, your heavenly Father will not let you down. Take out your Bible and read Luke 11:1-11.

David and Cherie Rodway

With An Eye for the Finishing Line!

September 2021

It is silly to begin a race, especially the race designed by God for us, unless we intend to persevere to the end.

He who runs with clear aim, looks straightforward to the goal, and makes it his sole aim and casts away every encumbrance and weight of soul so that he might win the prize.  Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 encourages us with these words .. "Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever.

Paul speaks of the need for due diligence in following the call of the Gospel, referring to himself. I have called others to the contest explaining the rules, but I also need to live right so at the end I am not a castaway, rejected by God. My preaching may have led others to be accepted but, despite that, I myself can be a reprobate. 2 Corinthians 13:6.

Due diligence requires earnest, self-denying watchfulness in everything we do, always remembering others and their needs. Victory is not based on our perfection, but what we know and then what we do with what we know.

During the dark days of World War II, a British liner left an English port, bound for America. The crossing was very dangerous. Secret directions were given to the liner's captain. They read: ‘Keep straight on this course. Turn aside for nothing, and if you need help send a wireless message in this code!’

After a few days at sea, an enemy cruiser was sighted. The captain of the liner sent out a message in the special code. The captain’s message, decoded, read, ‘Enemy cruiser sighted. What shall I do?’ Back came the reply from an unseen ship: ‘Keep straight on: I am standing by.’

Although no friendly vessel could be seen, the liner kept straight on, and at last reached port in safety. Soon afterwards, into the same harbour came a sophisticated British naval warship fully armed for any intruder. The battleship, the unseen, had been standing by all the time, ready to help. So is our mighty God!

David and Cherie Rodway