of Kingsport, Inc.
A meditation to help you on your
journey with Jesus.
B Rev. Roland Hautz, St. Bernard Catholic Church, Gate City, VA
God’s Own
Faithfulness
“The Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”
(2 Thessalonians 3:3)
Wicked and evil people will always oppose the work of God and God’s representatives. Such people undermine God’s work and threaten the freedom and the very lives of those who work with and for God, including every Christian and believer.
Paul knew this and sought prayer from his friends and supporters for those who, with him, sought to preach the gospel and to strengthen and establish churches in various regions.
Prayer is a tremendous force.
Through prayer, we, like the Thessalonians, can avail ourselves of the Lord’s strength, guidance and enabling power.
Through praying for one an- other people gain confidence in God’s faithfulness and God’s ability to protect us from evil.
You often hear someone say “My thoughts and prayers are with you”. Thoughts may convey sympathy and best wishes, but prayers acknowledge faith in God and belief that God can and will intervene in life.
God desires the prayers of His People, and God’s people depend upon the regular and frequent prayers of each other as they serve God and help the church become all the Lord intends for it to be.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in his masterful work “The Passing of (King) Arthur,” wrote a line that is a favorite of mine and one that has often been mistaken for a Biblical quote:
“If thou shouldst never see my face again, Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”
What Does Jesus Want
me to do? — One Answer
!
When she was only 29 years old, Dorothy Dix, a school teacher, was given only a slight chance to live.
She went to England to rest. There she read the New Testament through several times. She asked herself: “What would Jesus have me to do?”
She found the answer when she returned home. A minister asked her to teach the Bible to prisoners in the East Cambridge, Mass, jail.
She found conditions there to be very cruel. Miss Dix gathered a mountain of evidence proving cruelty to the mentally ill, and she went to the Massachusetts's legislature:
“Gentlemen,” she cried, ”I call your attention to the state of insane persons confined within this commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars and pens, chained naked, beaten with rods and lashed into obedience.”
Her speech shook New England into action. Disregarding ridicule, she fought for prison reform.
Eventually she went to Canada, Scotland and England with the same message.
When she finally passed away at eighty, one paper wrote: “the most distinguished woman in America has just died.” All because she asked the question: what does Jesus want?
We need to ask the same question!
When evening comes,
meditate on what the day has brought,
And do my best to understand,
what lessons have been taught.
For I believe the reason w
hy we have been given birth
Is we must meet the challenges
that we face here on earth.
Life isn’t just a one-way street
where we can lift our voices.
From birth until the day we die,
we’re given many choices.
I have to question,
did I try to really understand
The needs that someone else
may have & lend a helping hand?
If I will just remember
to light one little spark,
That brightens someone else’s life,
that otherwise is dark;
Then I can find contentment
in doing what I can;
And knowing there’s a reason
I’ve been chosen for His plan!
By Pete Dykes
