Quote from Forum Archives on January 4, 2011, 1:06 pm

Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional
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01.04.11

Do What You Can Do - Part 2

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his
name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the
God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my
territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from
evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. - 1
Chronicles 4:9-10.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in
authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
reverence. - 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

Now 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,
whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of
Him. - 1 John 5:14-15.

One of the very most special people that God placed in my life was my great
aunt Carey Hall Wrather. I did not know her very well, and my first memories
of her were after her husband, my Dad's uncle had a severe stroke. We began
to visit them more frequently then. They lived about 100 miles from us, so
it still was not that often. My great uncle's stroke had left him unable to
communicate. He could dress himself, and he could eat; however, he did not
seem to actually recognize anyone. Adair lived for about 15 years after his
stroke, and Carey took care of him at home during that time. Adair grew up
on a farm, but for most of his life he worked on the railroad.

When I was 40 years old, I made public God's call upon my life to preach the
Word of God. Soon after, I was sharing this with my parents, and that was
when I learned of the prayers of my Aunt Carey. After I told my parents
about my decision, they did not seem all that surprised. They then said that
my Aunt Carey had been praying that I would not miss God's call to preach! I
later learned that Carey had been praying first, that I and my son would
come to know Jesus as our Savior, and then that we would not miss God's call
to preach. She said that she was doing this, because Adair had always felt
like he had missed God's call.

About that same time, we learned that my three great grandfather, Baker
Wrather, had been a Methodist evangelist and pastor. Baker was Adair's great
grandfather, and I am sure that Adair would have known about this. Baker was
born in Virginia but lived most of his life in Tennessee. Baker began his
career in ministry with an evangelistic trip in the very early 1800s,
through Kentucky, and into Illinois. We know that he was the pastor of
McKendree Methodist Church in Nashville in 1810, and later several other
churches in Tennessee.

I believe it is because of my Aunt Carey's prayers that I and my son, Clark,
came to know Jesus as our Savior. I believe it is also because of her
prayers, that we have both heard God's call to preach His Word.

Do what you can do this year. Pray! Pray for yourself as Jabez did, but also
pray for your family, pray for those around you, pray for God's
missionaries, pray for the leaders of the countries across this world, and
pray for the lost to be saved. Pray, pray, pray, pray and pray some more.
Pray more than you ever have before, because this is something that you can
do, and it will make an eternal difference!

Copyright © 2011. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

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Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
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You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

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