BBD 02.23.11 What If?

#1 · February 23, 2011, 4:06 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on February 23, 2011, 4:06 pm
Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net
www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 14,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-join@welovegod.org

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1752 new subscribers since January 1, 2011!!
There were 4010 new subscribers during 2010!!

02.23.11

What If?

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in
ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. -
1 Samuel 12:23.

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you. - Colossians 1:3.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious
power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. - Colossians 1:9-11.

What would happen if you were the only Christian left upon earth? Would your
efforts at witnessing lead others to come to know Jesus as their Savior? If
you were the only Christian, would your prayers have an impact upon the
world around you? If you were the only Christian, would your gifts toward
the needs of those around you make any difference? If you were the only
Christian, would your kindness toward others be noticed? Last night, those
were some of the questions racing through my mind as God was speaking to me
about those questions.

Today as I researched those "what if" questions I found that others have had
the same thoughts. David Gregory has actually written a book called the
"Last Christian" about the possible future in the year 2088, as the daughter
of missionaries emerges from isolation, to find she is the last Christian.
You can find out more at www.davidgregorybooks.com/ Others such as
Dr. Manford George Gutzke have written about the very real possibility of
being the only Christian in various groups in the world today. Gutzke
addresses how the Christian should respond to being the only Christian in
your family, your community, your school, and in other situations. You can
access his 14 page PDF document through this link:
www.thebibleforyou.org/books/PDF/BP259.pdf

I believe that God was leading me in a somewhat different direction with the
thoughts that I was thinking last night. The focus was primarily on prayer.
Does it make any difference whether we pray, or if we do not pray? Does it
make any difference in our prayer life as to how we live our lives? The
answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes. Yes, it does make a
difference. For some people that I am praying for, for some people that you
are praying for - we might as well be the last Christian on the planet. Why?
Because, there is no one else on the planet praying for them, or there are
very few praying for them. How many do you pray for specifically have others
doing the same for them?

Knowing the importance of your prayer life, should lead to living a
righteous life. Because sin will hinder your prayers as is indicated in 1
Peter 3:12, "For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are
open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do
evil." This is also the indication of 1 John 3:22, "And whatever we ask we
receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that
are pleasing in His sight."

Let us not sin against the Lord (1 Samuel 12:23) by failing to pray for
those who so desperately need our prayers.

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.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

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/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net
http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 14,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-join@welovegod.org

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
http://www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1752 new subscribers since January 1, 2011!!
There were 4010 new subscribers during 2010!!

02.23.11

What If?

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in
ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. -
1 Samuel 12:23.

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you. - Colossians 1:3.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious
power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. - Colossians 1:9-11.

What would happen if you were the only Christian left upon earth? Would your
efforts at witnessing lead others to come to know Jesus as their Savior? If
you were the only Christian, would your prayers have an impact upon the
world around you? If you were the only Christian, would your gifts toward
the needs of those around you make any difference? If you were the only
Christian, would your kindness toward others be noticed? Last night, those
were some of the questions racing through my mind as God was speaking to me
about those questions.

Today as I researched those "what if" questions I found that others have had
the same thoughts. David Gregory has actually written a book called the
"Last Christian" about the possible future in the year 2088, as the daughter
of missionaries emerges from isolation, to find she is the last Christian.
You can find out more at http://www.davidgregorybooks.com/ Others such as
Dr. Manford George Gutzke have written about the very real possibility of
being the only Christian in various groups in the world today. Gutzke
addresses how the Christian should respond to being the only Christian in
your family, your community, your school, and in other situations. You can
access his 14 page PDF document through this link:
http://www.thebibleforyou.org/books/PDF/BP259.pdf

I believe that God was leading me in a somewhat different direction with the
thoughts that I was thinking last night. The focus was primarily on prayer.
Does it make any difference whether we pray, or if we do not pray? Does it
make any difference in our prayer life as to how we live our lives? The
answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes. Yes, it does make a
difference. For some people that I am praying for, for some people that you
are praying for - we might as well be the last Christian on the planet. Why?
Because, there is no one else on the planet praying for them, or there are
very few praying for them. How many do you pray for specifically have others
doing the same for them?

Knowing the importance of your prayer life, should lead to living a
righteous life. Because sin will hinder your prayers as is indicated in 1
Peter 3:12, "For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are
open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do
evil." This is also the indication of 1 John 3:22, "And whatever we ask we
receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that
are pleasing in His sight."

Let us not sin against the Lord (1 Samuel 12:23) by failing to pray for
those who so desperately need our prayers.

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.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

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
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.