Answers with Bayless Conley

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Your Real Adversary
I want to point you to an important teaching about trials in today's devotional.

You need to realize who your adversary is. It is not God; it is the devil. Look at 1 Peter 5:8-9,

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Some of the trials and sufferings that we experience are the direct result of the adversary's work.

Some people want to blame God for everything, but the Bible says it is the thief-- the devil-- who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came to give us life and more abundantly.

Peter makes this even clearer in verse 10,

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

Our God is the God of grace. The devil is seeking to devour.

Frankly, I hate the middle part of this verse, After you have suffered for a while.... Clearly, God wants us to understand that suffering is going to happen. Trials are going to happen. No matter how much you may say, "I don't receive it!", it is still there! You are going to go through difficult times. It is part of the human experience.

But when you go through that time of trial, remember not to blame God. It is the devil who is your adversary!

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Stop the Worry
Today I have a simple but important word for you directly from God’s Word: Don't worry.

1 Peter 5:6-7 tells us,

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.

Jesus said, "Don't take an anxious thought for tomorrow. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." When we worry about tomorrow, we pull tomorrow's clouds over today's sunshine.

I have shared many times in my ministry about the incredible truth of Jesus' command, "Do not worry about tomorrow." It is like we have this 24-hour fuse. We are wired up to deal with the stresses of life one day at a time.

If you worry about tomorrow today, you are putting a 48-hour load on a 24-hour fuse, and something is going to give somewhere.

Some people don't just worry about tomorrow, they worry about next week and next month. No wonder the fuse is blowing!

You see, what the mind cannot contain, it will impose upon the body. If your health is breaking down, worry may just be the problem. The Bible says to cast all of your care, the whole of your care, all your anxieties, on Him, once and for all.

Roll your burden on the Lord. The Bible says be anxious for nothing. And that means nothing. Do not worry about your children, do not worry about your money, do not worry about your future, do not worry about anything.

Your Heavenly Father does care for you, and it is His good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

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Keep Laughing
I want to head back to 1 Peter 1:5-7 again today. Something tells me we could all continue to use the encouragement of Peter's words, especially the advice I want you to focus on today.

1 Peter 1:5-7,

Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Regardless of what you may be going through today, you need to rejoice. Peter says in verse 6, In this you greatly rejoice, even if for a season you are experiencing various trials.

Friend, keep your sense of humor. It will help you outlast your trials.

I read a story once about a guy parachuting when the wind blew him onto a track where they were racing cars...not a good place to land in a parachute. He was trying to get his parachute off when another gust of wind came and started dragging him face first down the track.

He finally got the parachute off and stood up only to see a car racing towards him. He quickly jumped out of the way and said to himself, "Man, I'm glad that's over!" and turned to get off the track. As he did, he stepped in a hole and twisted his ankle.

That was just too much! Even in his pain, he just started laughing!

Keep your sense of humor. Even if you are going through the roughest patch you have ever been through.

Do not let your trials rob you of your joy.

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Promises, Promises
God has given us His promises because He wants to fulfill them. Be they promises of peace, restoration, healing, or for material supply, we must keep in mind that the Lord would not have made the promise if He did not want to do it.

Here are four thoughts to help you when it comes to experiencing the benefit of God's promises:

1. Find a promise from the Bible that covers your need. Faith begins here.

2. Consider the promises. Hebrews 10:23 says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And Hebrews 11:11 says, By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

3. Act on the promise, fulfilling all necessary conditions. God is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of conditions.

4. Start thanking God and exercising patience. Hebrews 10:36 says, For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

And Hebrews 6:12 says, That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

If you will do these four things, you are on your way to experiencing the fulfillment of God’s promises in your life.

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Amen To All Of These!!!!!!!!! Thanks Snugsnug!!!!

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Spirit, Speech and Service
I want to point you to 1 Peter 2:18-23,
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.

The Goodspeed translation says, “He committed His cause to Him who judges righteously.” Now these verses are pretty clear: God is a righteous judge. And even if you are being mistreated for doing right, if you will commit things to God, He has a marvelous way of turning the tables in your favor.

You have to maintain three things if God is, indeed, going to use you in such a situation.

• You have to maintain a right spirit. You have to keep a good attitude. You cannot get bitter. You have to stay kind

• You have to keep right speech. Do not dish out the same kind of abuse. Do not start saying things that are going to create division.

• You have to maintain right service. Even if you are being mistreated, continue working hard for the Lord. Do not sabotage things.

If you will do these three things, just watch what God does through your difficulties!

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Do You Cherish God's Word?
Psalm 107:20 says,

He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from
their destructions.
God has given us His Word for our benefit, and yet so many
Christians ignore it to their hurt.

It is like the story of the woman a preacher went to visit one day. She lived in a dilapidated house. As long as he had known her, she had struggled with poverty. Twenty years earlier she had been the housekeeper for the wealthiest woman in town, but the wealthy
woman had died. So this housekeeper moved into an old shack.

As the pastor was visiting her, he noticed a document framed on the wall. He said, “Do you mind if I borrow this for a few days?” She replied, “Well, you can borrow it, but please bring it back. Although I can’t read, it is very important to me. It is the only thing that the lady left me when she died. It is very valuable to me. It reminds me of her. So make sure you bring it back.”

He took it and had it investigated and authenticated. It was the will of the woman who had died, and in the will she left her housekeeper a fortune. The housekeeper could have had any house she wanted in the whole city and had servants of her own, but due to her ignorance, she lived in poverty and had a rough go of it all those years.

That woman reminds me of a lot of Christians. They don’t read their Bible, but they admire it because it reminds them of God. They haven’t taken time to find out the inheritance that belongs to them as believers.

God’s Word is a light to our path. It is our guidebook for life. It is bread for our spirit. It is our strength. It is our refuge in troubled times.

Cherish God’s Word.

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Keys to an Effective Prayer Life-
Being Specific
I want to focus this devotional on Mark 10:46-52 where we find a very intriguing story.

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with
His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son
of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it
was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son
of David, have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be
quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy
on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.
Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer.
Rise, He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose
and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What
do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him,
“Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him,
“Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

The question Jesus asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?”, seemed obvious, didn’t it? Everybody present knew Bartimaeus needed his eyes to be healed. Why would Jesus ask this question?

He wanted us to understand how important it is to be specific when we ask something of God. Bartimaeus’ faith had to become specific before it made him well. It was after he said, “Lord, that I might receive my sight,” that Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well.”

Being specific in what you request of God is the first key to effective prayer.

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Keys to an Effective Prayer Life-
Praying from the Heart
In Romans 10:9-10 it says,
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will
be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Prayer must come from the heart. These verses in particular teach us that if a person is going to pray a prayer of salvation, the heart and the mouth must get together. It is not good enough to just have the words. Your heart and mouth must be in agreement.

I believe this truth applies to every kind of prayer. It is not good enough to just use eloquent words. There has to be heart behind them if you are going to realize results from your prayers.

I think only those things that burn brightly within our hearts truly touch the heart of God.

When I was young, I would go fishing with my cousins. At night, the bats would come out and my cousins would take a lure, and they would cast it up in the air. Every once in a great while one of the bats would hit the lure and get snagged.

I think when we pray, it is like casting lines up into the heavens. But it is only the prayers that come from our heart that ever hook onto anything in heaven.

Effective prayer comes from your heart.

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Keys to an Effective Prayer Life—
Endurance
Patience is essential to an effective prayer life. You need
to be willing to endure.

Hebrews 6:11-15 says,
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not
become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and
patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise
to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He
swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and
multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise.

Do you realize that once God gave Abraham and Sarah the promise of having a child, it was 25 years before Isaac was born? There was some patient enduring that took place before they obtained the reality of God’s promise in their lives. And so it must be with us.

Perhaps you have been praying for things in your life, and you are getting discouraged. You must remember that God does not always work things on our timetable. He works according to His. I just want to encourage you today: Be patient. Patience is that long-lasting quality of your faith.

A number of years ago I heard one person say that faith is like your hand and patience is like your arm. When you exercise faith, it is like holding up your hand against the problem, and as you do, things are being worked out. But if you take your patience down, your faith comes down with it.

Patience is the thing that keeps your faith applied until the answer comes.

Patience is a critical key to effective prayer. Whatever you are praying for, patiently endure.