JAMES KILGORE: Will God help?

A church member said to a friend, “I guess there’s nothing else to do now except to pray.” Spoken out of discouragement and fear, that person missed what prayer can accomplish. We should begin with prayer instead of using it as a final appeal to God. We forget that prayer is our greatest wireless connection.

A friend sent me a small card on which these words appear: “God and you can do amazing things if you have the vision to see…faith to believe…and courage to do.” The quote was attributed to Dr. Markham of Trinity Bible College. Those three concepts can make a huge difference in our outlook and our prospects in difficult situations.

The first is the vision to see. We allow too often our vision to be on the things just ahead of our outlook. The circumstances may blind us to the possibilities when our vision is too small. J.B. Phillips said, “Your God is too small.” He meant that what we see when we look around us should never be bigger than the reality we know. He believed that God was bigger than any circumstance!

An encouraging friend said: “Don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big your God is.” That vision will see beyond the problems. We should never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate. The vision to see opens the vistas before us so that we can realize the potential to handle problems.

The second concept to consider is the faith to believe. Jesus challenged his disciples on several occasions with their failure to believe. “O you of little faith,” he said. He wanted them to exercise more faith. Hebrews instructs us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This is not “blind faith” as though it is beyond reason; it is the concept of seeing the reality of the unseen world, the world of the spirit!

Surely, we need faith in our world today. When almost all realities and institutions in which we have trusted are being challenged, we must hold our convictions and trust in the belief that God is still on his throne. We can trust the Sovereign Lord!

The final concept from Dr. Markham simply called for the courage to act! Our timidity and our fear stand in the way of strong action. A couple gave me an engraved plaque when I retired from my counseling practice. It said, “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.” It is the courage to do that dispels our fears and moves us to action. Vision and faith empower our actions. We put our energy to work and find that more is yet to be done.

Will God help? Yes! He will open our eyes to the needs of others, empower us to believe what we are afraid to face, and make us strong when life’s challenges loom before us. Are you feeling powerless? Try Dr. Markham’s insightful concepts — vision, faith, and courage. God will help you to be a winner over circumstances!