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from The Prayerline Newsletter by Darrell C. Porter

"Saints Under Fire"

October - December, 2007

Back or White? True or False? Yes or No? Up or Down? Left or Right? It is or it isn’t.

What causes things which are clearly absolute to become uncertain, questionable? 2+2=4 always, for everyone, everyday, anytime of day, no matter the weather, your socio-economic background, race, religion or creed. 2+2=4.

Doubt causes the absolute to become uncertain. Doubt is an enemy of faith. We can not have faith and doubt. It’s either faith or doubt. There is no such thing as “ I kind of have faith or I sort-of have faith. There is no middle ground. Faith + Faith = Faith. Faith is un-moveable. It is not rattled by circumstances, health or money issues. Faith is solid.

Doubt causes the black or white to become gray; a yes or no to become maybe; certainty becomes perhaps, maybe, possibly. I hope so.

The spirit of doubt is a cancer to the Believer that robs and destroys the manifestation of the bountiful harvest that faith produces. Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb.11:6) Do we try, somehow, to please God by operating in partial faith? We fool ourselves to think that God accepts our doubt in what He has spoken. He is not a man that He should lie. (Nu.23:19)

Many of us have unfortunately become accustomed to disappointments, hurts, let downs, fears etc… and it becomes easier to expect the worst or to receive a negative report than to expect a praise report. Our lack of faith sees our circumstances as being than our omnipotent Lord. “This problem is too hard for God.” “I don’t think God will do this for me.” “It didn’t work the last time I had faith.” Such thoughts are toxic to our faith.

. Why do you need faith? Consider this. Without faith in God, what do you have? Without faith we are reduced to a dependency upon ourselves. In what is your faith? If it isn’t in God then it’s in something or someone; none of which can save you or give you everlasting life. All of these will fail at some point. Yet God never fails.

Some have faith in their job or career. Jobs can lay you off, put a “ceiling” on your advancement, merge with other companies, close down and terminate staff at will. They are not things to depend upon. Some have faith in people. People change, have their own lives, personal agenda’s; they move, disassociate themselves from you. Some put faith in doctors, the legal system or government.

It is God who works through employers, people, doctors, the legal system and our very own persons, to produce the blessings on our lives. It is not the people or things that produce the blessings, it’s the Lord of the Universe Whom man should revere and place his trust.

We are finite with limitations and boundaries. It is really a “no-brainer”. Faith in ourselves, who are limited or faith in the Almighty, Who is omnipotent? Joshua declared, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Jos.24:15)

It’s one thing to read or hear about faith. It’s another thing to see the steadfast faith of Believers combating fierce storms and sufferings, even while standing alone. My wife and I have been awed, even humbled by the tenacious faith of some of our most precious friends in the Lord.

= = Cases of Faith = =

Ruth is a respected attorney in the mid-west who is one of our dear friends. She has fought with every fiber of her being against inoperable, life threatening brain tumors diagnosed in her husband. For nearly two years now she has faced every negative report spoken against her husband’s success with faith that God is greater. She has traveled thousands of miles across the U.S. seeking competent medical care for her husband. She has stayed herself on the Word of God for the life and
health for her husband. She has suffered financially; yet let go of her law practice so she could take care of her husband. Faith has cost her her business, her savings, her energy and strength; and even her own health. Still she believes God; and so do we with her.

Beverly, a retired nurse, lives out west. More than once doctors diagnosed her with life threatening cancer. Several times during the past two years she had been hospitalized for lung cancer.

She even traveled out of state for specialist care. In every instance she has defied the word of doctors for the Word of God. With our own eyes we have seen God work miracles through her faith. Once she was pulled into an emergency room next to a woman who later was pronounced dead. God told Beverly to pray for her. She did. The doctors returned and found the woman alive. Through Beverly’s afflictions God has worked Salvation and healing and hope. At home with her husband, and together in faith, they stand believing God; and we stand with them.

Bob and Brenda are dear friends of ours in the film and television production industry. For the past several years they have fought hard and long against the financial hardships brought against them and their business. Yet their faith has been bullet-proof. Even when the most insidious disease struck his wife, leaving him to manage a struggling business and their minor son, Bob stayed his eyes upon the Lord and kept the faith. His wife got better, yet they struggled even harder financially, to where they didn’t have food to put on the table, save through the Spirit directed help of a few saints. In this very condition, and while being faithful members of their own church, what they did amazed us. They sent 10% of any income they received to this ministry. Without our ever asking, they sent a check twice, sometimes three times a month, nearly two thousand miles away into our hands. We barely told them our need. We simply held them up. Yet like the woman with the two mites (Mk.12:42-44) they gave all they had on which to live. Their sacrifice is engraved in our hearts. They are still standing in faith for God’s deliverance; and we are standing with them.

We could go on. There are many other Christians who stand each day, engaged in spiritual warfare and fiercely fight the good fight of faith. These few cases cited here do not touch the magnitude of the day-to-day struggles of God’s faithful saints.

We call these faithers – people who actually walk by faith each day, with their hope in God and their minds steady on Him. Often they are in the fire. For God has set them apart for Himself. The Bible calls them saints – sanctified ones. They are set apart, not merely to speak of their faith but to prove their faith, even as Abraham was set apart to prove his faith, (Gen.22:12) and Job. (Job 13:15) These are saints under fire.

For saints under fire prayer is not an option. It is a life or death proposition. You will enter more fully unto God through heartfelt prayer unto victory. Or you shy away unto defeat. Prayer is not a “nice” thing to do. It is the only thing to do.

We have seen many saints under fire and have watched them stand.

Alonzo is a strong bodied, ex-hells angel-type motor cycle biker, who now ministers boldly for Christ. He was suddenly laid on his back with such unbearable pain that all he could do was crawl, in tears from the pain. While stricken, barely able to move, he stood solid on the Word of God, his wife with him; and God raised him up. He continues to stand for Jesus; and we stand with him.

Ray, a man of youth and strength, fell from a ladder, snapped his neck and injured his spine. He ended up not being able to walk. Doctors later discovered he had cancer. Plummeted by these events he rose up with a mind fixed on the Word and his heart upright in God. Praying saints rejoiced that he and his wife, both, dared believe God and press forward in their faith. The Lord has brought him to his feet, where he is able to walk some. For the moment he worships from a wheelchair. Yet his heart marches with Christ; and we march right with him.

Every Christian has their crisis. For eternal life calls every saint through experiences of the death of the cross. This is the fire. Paul said, “I die daily. (1Cor.15:31) He also declared, “I am crucifiedwith Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in theflesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal.2:20) Those who die in Christ find their highest life, while those who live to themselves find only death.

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The PRAYERLINE Newsletter is a quarterly publication of Darrell C. Porter Evangelistic Assoc., Inc.

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