Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK
Nov. 11, 2011

THANK YOU to all of our Veterans on this day. I am from a military family. My father spent 21 years in the Air Force and was forced to retire because of his health. After his death in 1967, my mother and I spent a lot of time on military bases: McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Ft. Carson (Army) in Colorado Springs as well as the Air Force Academy. My appreciation and respect for the military runs deep and now that I have one of my children (my son-in-law who is now one of my children) is in the Army I have a vested interest into our nation's service. Today, we say thank you to all who have served and currently serve to protect our nation and our freedom--to preserve what our forefathers sacrificed for us to have, creating what would become (and still is) the greatest nation on the face of this earth.
I detest war and what it does. It takes lives, breaks hearts and divides people. War destroys. But when confronted with situations and people whose reckless disregard for the rights of people to live as God ordained--and seek to disrupt the freedoms that our people have fought to preserve for over two hundred years, then I will believe it is our right and obligation to defend those rights. For that reason, let us stand up and support those who have fought and are fighting today in defense of our nation. God Bless our Soldiers and God Bless America!!

“Recognizing What is Important”
“In all your ways acknowledge Him..." – Proverbs 3:6 (NIV)

The word, Acknowledge means to recognize with importance. So before the meaning of the verse gets too far behind us let’s look at few very important reminders of the things we need to acknowledge God for. Could it be that we are missing even more than by not only trusting in God – but by also acknowledging who He is? What He is capable of doing both for us and in us? Consider the following:
“My horse was very lame, and my head did ache exceedingly. Now what occurred I here avow is truth—let each man account for it as he will. Suddenly I thought, ‘Can not God heal man or beast as He will?’ Immediately my weariness and headache passed; and my horse was no longer lame.” (John Wesley’s Journal)
A Pastor friend relayed the following to me a few years ago: “I visited a man who lived in a modest house adjacent to our church. I had heard he was ill, and I dropped by to assure him that the church would be praying for him. The front door of his house was open, and only a screen door kept folks and animals from walking right in. I called to him from the porch, and he said, ‘Come in.’ He was lying on his bed near the rear of the house. As our conversation drew to a close, I asked him if I could pray for him. He was blunt. He said, ‘It won’t matter none. God only hears one prayer.’ I asked what that prayer was. He said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’”
He was half right. God does hear the prayers of repentant sinners. But God hears prayers—period. He listens. The fact that our needs are unmet is not due to God’s insensitivity. Often it is because we have not asked. Wesley’s question; “Cannot God heal man or beast as He will?” – was more an impulsive thought than an intercessory plea. It didn’t seem to matter to God. He heard, and he answered. Wesley had learned an important lesson about prayer that day: Ask, and keep on asking until you receive an answer from God. That’s the way it works.
Acknowledging God goes far beyond recognizing His attributes – it also applies greatly to His desire to assist us with our lives and with life’s troubles. The following is a prayer that would be very easy to pray in this regard right now:

“Heavenly Father, I know I have missed untold blessings and answers to prayer because I assumed you were too busy to listen. So I didn’t ask; I didn’t want to bother you with a minor problem. I am sure I have prayed at times—in ignorance—for things that were selfishly motivated. And far too often I have failed to seek your will in difficult situations. Wesley’s experience has reminded me that you are very much interested in what interests me, and if I would just seek your will, half the battles of my life could be won. Remind me of this truth each time I am reluctant to share with you the things that bug me every day of my life. Amen
Pastor J. T. Carnell