BBD 04.20.15 Turn Back (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
04.20.15
Turn Back
And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he
may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not
fail; and when you have returned to Me (when you have turned back - NIV), strengthen
your brethren.” But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to
prison and to death.” Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not
crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” - Luke
22:31-34 NKJV.
Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I
am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me
before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known
You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have
declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You
loved Me may be in them, and I in them. - John 17:24-26 NKJV.
In 1975, I began working in the oilfield in pipe
inspection. The money was good, but it was the most miserable job that I had
ever had. I was still praying every day and before long I was asking God to
give me a different job, because I hated the one that I had. It was as though
God was not listening. He knew exactly what I was asking, thinking, doing and feeling;
but He was not answering, because sin had entered into my life.
The oilfield for the most part, at that time, was filled
with many forms of evil. Alcohol and drug abuse was rampant, along with other
forms of immorality. The hard work seemed to be used as an excuse to go out and
live like the devil. Party all night and work hard all day. Every month or so
we would have a job out of the area and would have to spend a week or two
living out of a motel. Of course, this only increased the availability of all
of the above that I mentioned. After work, we would go eat and before going
back to the motel, we would all go to a bar. It was the expected and accepted
thing to do in that environment.
Now I knew that what I was doing was wrong, and every
night I would ask God to forgive me, and give me another job. But I kept on
doing what I wanted to do, and kept on missing out on what God had for my life.
God surprised me with His amazing grace, demonstrating that He knew right where
I was, and what I was doing, and that He still cared enough about me to warn
me.
One night when we were working out of town, and having to
stay in a motel, I called my wife. Jeanie told me that I had gotten a letter. I
had a small mail order business setting lyrics to music, and apparently, the
woman that wrote me the letter had seen my ad. It was an anonymous letter and
began, “Dear People.” the woman that wrote the letter obviously had some
mental problems, but God was able to use her anyway.
The letter was some seven or eight pages long, Jeanie
read every word, and with every word the conviction of my sin grew. The letter
told about how sin had destroyed this woman’s life and it was a warning to
others to flee from sin. By the time Jeanie had finished reading the letter, I
knew that this was not a letter from some mentally deranged person; this was a
message STRAIGHT FROM THE HAND OF GOD TO ME.
I had a choice at that point; I could listen to God, or
continue my rebellion even in the face of His warnings and love for me. It was
enough for me to immediately fall to my knees, and begin crying out for my
Lord’s forgiveness. The next day I left my driver’s license at the motel, and
after work as usual we ate, and then I tried to get them to take me back to the
motel room; but they wouldn’t do it. They took me with them, and tried to force
me to go in the bar with them, the same one we had been in the night before.
However, they would not let me in because I looked so young, and didn’t have an
ID. So, I sat out in the truck for several hours until they finally decided to
go back to the motel, and that is what I continued to do the rest of the time
we were away from home.
I believe that God wants to bless us, and I have
experienced God’s blessings upon my life when I do what He wants me to do. Two
weeks later, after my encounter with God through the letter, I suddenly had a
job like paradise compared to the one that I had before. (An excerpt from “Journey
to Fruitfulness” my online testimony and you can read the whole story at
the Burning Bush website.)
Isn’t it time for you to turn back to God? He’s waiting. Jesus
has prayed for you just as He prayed for Peter, and He has a life better than
you ever believed possible waiting for you.
Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. 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.
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Please pray for Justin Lewis who
is battling cancer. He is a 35-year-old Christian with a wife and four
children. Unless God intervenes there is little hope for him. He has recently been at MD
Anderson in Houston for about ten days with super chemo and needs to go back
soon for another super chemo treatment. They found new places of cancer on his
last scan. He is very weak and needs to gain some weight and strength prior to
the next treatment. Thank you for all of your prayers for Justin and his wife
and four children!!
Prayer Requests: Please pray for
an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace
and love. Please also pray for Shane Hall who is a young pastor who has cancer
and for all those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta’s
surgery for removal of kidney and cancerous tumor went better than expected.
She will now have targeted chemo by pill or injection for nodules in her lungs.
Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request
page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in
need of prayer - please pray for me.).
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