Weekly Prayer Focus for the week of September 7, 2008

[TWUDCF, Inc. Online Prayer Ministry]

Bishop-Elect T. Anthony Bronner, Senior Pastor
September 7, 2008 – September 13, 2008

PRAYER FOCUS

What Are You Doing Here?

Have you ever asked yourself, “What am I doing here?” How did I get to
this place in my life? When did I stop caring about my health and
presentation? When did I loose my self-esteem and start engaging
anybody and everybody? When did I start being careless with my
finances? How is it that I am almost bankrupt? When did I forget how
to love and let my marriage go to shambles? When did I stop spending
time with God?

Comparatively, God asked Elijah, "What are you doing here?" Elijah was
hopeless and broken in spirit. He was isolated in a cave and asking to
die. He thought things would never get any better. He had no
expectation. He was no longer flowing in confidence, and he felt no
certainty. Elijah thought that life as he was then experiencing it was
as good as it got.

What could be so terrible to make someone want to give up on life?
What causes such levels of disappointment that folk abandon their
dreams? Could it be the loss of a loved one? Could it be the weariness
of constantly trying to get ahead and never seeing results? In all
honesty this could be anybody’s reality – even the believer’s.
Believers can grow weary and feel tired and hopeless. Elijah was a
believer. In fact he was a prophet of God.

Rabbi Harold Kusher wrote a book about disappointment wherein he used
Moses as the paradigm. Essentially, his premise was that Moses’
ministry had elements of disappointment the greatest of which was
never fulfilling his goal of entering the Promised Land.

If giants in the faith like Elijah and Moses fell prey to
discouragement then let's not be so hard on ourselves when we have our
moments. The key is recognizing that they are just moments or
seasons. The Lord has promised us that while weeping might endure
for the night, joy will come in the morning (Psalm 30: 5).

Notice that Elijah did not ask himself how he got to that dreadful
place. He simply, gave up on his life and his dreams. Rather, it was
God who did the asking because God had not given up on him (I Kings
19:9). It’s good to know that when we get tired and weary, we have a
God who will intervene. God will meet us at our crossroads and will
speak to us in our brokenness like He did to Elijah: “GET UP!” That’s
right – get up from this place.

God does not want us in the place of “it’s all over and it will not
get any better.” God has promised us the more abundant life (John
10:10). God is able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine
(Ephesians 3: 20 – 21). Life is seasonal, and we are about to SPRING
UP. God will do a new thing with us (Isaiah 43:19).

When we find ourselves in that dreadful place we may, or may not, know
how we got there; but we must know that we cannot stay there. By the
grace of God we must GET UP!

PRAYER

Lord, in faith we declare that the storm is passing over, and we are
about to experience the sunshine. We are grateful that while weeping
may endure for the night, joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5). Our
expectation is in you, and we are confident that you will turn things
around.

Yes, we have found ourselves in some strange places and manifesting
some troubling thoughts. We could have quit or been broken, but your
grace and mercy saw us through.

Thank you Lord, for pulling us out of an horrible pit and setting our
feet on a rock. You got us going again and put a new song in our
mouths. We will praise you forever and trust you because you did not
leave us or forsake us (Psalm 40: 1-3).

In Jesus’ Name, Amen

Copyright 2008. TWUDCF, Inc. The Teaching & Preaching Ministry of T.
Anthony Bronner. All Rights Reserved.