God, Thank You for my friends!

I need to know God in a whole new way! What happens when everything I thought about God seems to be so untrue? When all the times I put my faith in Him for protection, for care and safe keeping and for discernment and guidance and then my world came crashing in around me? Is He the same God today as He was yesterday? According to the Word, YES!! According to my feelings, NO! So, who am I going to trust, the Word or my feelings?

Sometimes that is an easy answer, The WORD of course, but then there are those moments when all faith feels gone and I am relying on the faith of others to get me through the roof and into the presence of My Lord! It is now, today that I am once again very grateful for the faith, love and prayers of my friends and saints. When everything has crashed all around me, when my world seems so out of kilter and the fire just seems so hot that I am grateful for friends I know love and care about me; friends who would lay down their lives on the altar of prayer to see me through the dark times, the hard places and the moments of overwhelming despair. The cripple could not even crawl into the presence of the Lord, but the faith of four friends took him up and over the crowd then carved out a hole in the roof and lowered him down into the presence of the Lord.

Now that he was in His presence what was He going to do? Would he receive the word of the Lord? Would he know that his sins were forgiven? Would he take up his mat and walk? Now the choice was his, this moment in time he could no longer rely on the faith of his friends, now it was up to him, what would he do? Arise, take up his bed and walk! It was what his friends had prayed for, Jesus spoke, the man obeyed, he took up his bed and walked out of the presence of those who were still reasoning about sins being forgiven. But to the amazement of all, God was glorified and Jesus changed more than one life that day. So here I sit, knowing that my friends are praying for me to enter into the presence of the Lord and My Lord is saying to me, “Your sins are forgiven, take up your bed and walk.” Now the choice is up to me, do I believe the Word or my feelings? God today for the sake of my friends, for the sake of those who love me and because Jesus said the Word, I believe, please help my unbelief!