BBD 11.28.07 Grace to the Humble

#1 · November 29, 2007, 12:32 am

Quote from Forum Archives on November 29, 2007, 12:32 am
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 300 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Be a part of the Burning Bush Community! Share prayer requests,
inspirational material, find help for addictions, and help others. Find out
more at the Burning Bush Community webpage:
www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=37647

Several devotional booklets are available for free download in PDF format at
the new site. Just click on the "Free Book Downloads" link.

Join facebook.com and be my friend. Use the facebook search feature to find
me (Ed Wrather) and then add me as your friend (Click the link on the right
hand side.). So far through this effort at least one person has been saved
and God has had the opportunity to touch lives that would not otherwise have
been possible.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 1553 new subscribers since January 1, 2007!!

11.28.07

Grace to the Humble

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble
ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our
little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the
king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the
road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, "The hand of our God is
upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are
against all those who forsake Him." So we fasted and entreated our God for
this, and He answered our prayer. - Ezra 8:21-23.

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of
you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God
resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:5-7.

In 1996, we had only been at a church for about a year when we realized that
our son, who has Down Syndrome and is mentally handicapped, was severely
depressed. We were not sure what to do but felt that we would have to move
to another church and another place so that Nick would be able to receive
the help that he needed. We began to pray wanting to hear from God about
this. I sent out some resumes and we continued to pray. It was then that my
wife and I both felt that we should go to the Southern Baptist national
convention that was at New Orleans.

Arriving there, we found that Dr. Ronnie Floyd the pastor of the First
Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas would be preaching a couple of the
sermons. Both of the sermons were about prayer and fasting. Dr. Floyd shared
how his entire church had been fasting and praying for many weeks for the
sermons, he would be preaching. One sermon that was preached just before
noon one day had a tremendous impact upon us. We left for lunch and I found
myself driving in heavy traffic, which usually would have made me a little
tense in an unfamiliar city. However, all I had was peace. Peace that was
beyond anything that I had experienced since the time that I was saved.
Through that sermon, the Holy Spirit touched our lives in a supernatural
way.

We committed ourselves to fast and pray for a week about where God wanted us
to go. On the seventh day of fasting on a Sunday afternoon, a search
committee called and in a few weeks, I accepted the call to Trinity Baptist
Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma. In Weatherford, my son Nick found the help
that he needed and recovered from his depression.

On Friday, June 13, 1997, God did an amazing thing in my life. A couple of
weeks before at a family gathering I heard my Uncle say that my great
grandfather, George Richard Marical had been involved with a Pentecostal
Holiness Church. Now I knew when I moved to Weatherford that my great
grandfather had lived there and had owned a grocery store. I knew that he
had died in 1929 but that was about all that I knew. I decided to dig into
this a little deeper. We went to the county courthouse and found my great
grandfather's will and estate papers.

>From the papers that we found we were able to locate where my great
grandfather had lived. It was only about four blocks from where we were
living. According to the papers we had found, my great grandfather had been
a trustee of the Pentecostal Holiness church and when he died the estate
paid off the remaining amount owed on the church building and land. I was
intrigued to know where the church had been located. With the lot numbers
and legal description in hand, I went to city hall to look at the plat of
the city. The lots of the church were located at...! The church where my
great grandfather had been a trustee and had attended was located at the
very same location as the church that I then pastored!

I have told that story so that you will understand how powerful a tool
fasting can be in your life. I will never make another major life changing
decision without fasting and praying. Whatever the problem you should at
least try fasting and praying. Because fasting is a way of humbling yourself
before God and God "gives grace to the humble."

Copyright © 2007. 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.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi a young boy with cancer.

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

Streaming Videos of some of my sermons are posted at:
www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html

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-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 300 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Be a part of the Burning Bush Community! Share prayer requests,
inspirational material, find help for addictions, and help others. Find out
more at the Burning Bush Community webpage:
http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=37647

Several devotional booklets are available for free download in PDF format at
the new site. Just click on the "Free Book Downloads" link.

Join facebook.com and be my friend. Use the facebook search feature to find
me (Ed Wrather) and then add me as your friend (Click the link on the right
hand side.). So far through this effort at least one person has been saved
and God has had the opportunity to touch lives that would not otherwise have
been possible.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 1553 new subscribers since January 1, 2007!!

11.28.07

Grace to the Humble

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble
ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our
little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the
king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the
road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, "The hand of our God is
upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are
against all those who forsake Him." So we fasted and entreated our God for
this, and He answered our prayer. - Ezra 8:21-23.

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of
you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God
resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:5-7.

In 1996, we had only been at a church for about a year when we realized that
our son, who has Down Syndrome and is mentally handicapped, was severely
depressed. We were not sure what to do but felt that we would have to move
to another church and another place so that Nick would be able to receive
the help that he needed. We began to pray wanting to hear from God about
this. I sent out some resumes and we continued to pray. It was then that my
wife and I both felt that we should go to the Southern Baptist national
convention that was at New Orleans.

Arriving there, we found that Dr. Ronnie Floyd the pastor of the First
Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas would be preaching a couple of the
sermons. Both of the sermons were about prayer and fasting. Dr. Floyd shared
how his entire church had been fasting and praying for many weeks for the
sermons, he would be preaching. One sermon that was preached just before
noon one day had a tremendous impact upon us. We left for lunch and I found
myself driving in heavy traffic, which usually would have made me a little
tense in an unfamiliar city. However, all I had was peace. Peace that was
beyond anything that I had experienced since the time that I was saved.
Through that sermon, the Holy Spirit touched our lives in a supernatural
way.

We committed ourselves to fast and pray for a week about where God wanted us
to go. On the seventh day of fasting on a Sunday afternoon, a search
committee called and in a few weeks, I accepted the call to Trinity Baptist
Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma. In Weatherford, my son Nick found the help
that he needed and recovered from his depression.

On Friday, June 13, 1997, God did an amazing thing in my life. A couple of
weeks before at a family gathering I heard my Uncle say that my great
grandfather, George Richard Marical had been involved with a Pentecostal
Holiness Church. Now I knew when I moved to Weatherford that my great
grandfather had lived there and had owned a grocery store. I knew that he
had died in 1929 but that was about all that I knew. I decided to dig into
this a little deeper. We went to the county courthouse and found my great
grandfather's will and estate papers.

>From the papers that we found we were able to locate where my great
grandfather had lived. It was only about four blocks from where we were
living. According to the papers we had found, my great grandfather had been
a trustee of the Pentecostal Holiness church and when he died the estate
paid off the remaining amount owed on the church building and land. I was
intrigued to know where the church had been located. With the lot numbers
and legal description in hand, I went to city hall to look at the plat of
the city. The lots of the church were located at...! The church where my
great grandfather had been a trustee and had attended was located at the
very same location as the church that I then pastored!

I have told that story so that you will understand how powerful a tool
fasting can be in your life. I will never make another major life changing
decision without fasting and praying. Whatever the problem you should at
least try fasting and praying. Because fasting is a way of humbling yourself
before God and God "gives grace to the humble."

Copyright © 2007. 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.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi a young boy with cancer.

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

Streaming Videos of some of my sermons are posted at:
http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html

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-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.