“You, O God, have tested us; you have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to [abundance]” (Psalm 66:10-12).
Dear Praying Friends:
Almost everyone I know is going through, or has had to endure, severe testing – in marriage, family, work, health, finances, social relationships, and more.
Jesus said, “In this world you have tribulation [trouble]” (John 16:33), and he is keeping this promise! Residents of Western North Carolina and other states, many of them sincere Christians, struggle to recover from Hurricane Helene. Believers in other lands, like China, face pressure and persecution, or even the horrors of war, as in Ukraine. Trials and troubles are the common lot of mankind.
God has many possible reasons for showing his people “hard things” (Psalm 60:10). They include:
- Testing us, to see whether we really love him (Deuteronomy 8:2).
- Trying our faith, to allow its genuineness to shine forth (1 Peter 1:6-7).
- Refining us, to remove the dross of worldliness (Malachi 3:3).
- Disciplining us for sin, so that we may strive harder for holiness (Hebrews 12:5-11).
- Driving us to rely on him for strength, and thus allowing his power to be displayed in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
- Allowing us to know Jesus in a deeper way and to have fellowship with his sufferings (Philippians 3:10).
- Weaning us from love of this world, so that we set our hope fully on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Christ (1 Peter 1:13; 1 John 2:15). And more.
In all these, he wants us to trust him and even to give thanks (Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Thank you for praying last week. God enabled me to write a monthly prayer letter and two important letters to individuals, make progress on a story for the BDCC, and finish writing notes on 2 Timothy 3. He also gave me several good conversations.
For your prayers (Pick two or three): Please ask God to
- Help us all to trust in him when troubles come.
- Enable me to make more progress on the story for the BDCC, and write notes on 1 Timothy 4, as well as to call several Chinese.
- Give Dori physical and spiritual strength as she serves on the prayer ministry team for our church’s “Hope” conference this coming weekend; make the conference a great blessing.
- Protect her sister Jean and her husband Tom as they fly from California tomorrow to be with us for ten days; give us an encouraging visit with each other.
- Prosper CI Partner Joseph Liu’s Zoom fellowship meetings for people in China, as well as his seminary studies in the U.S.
“I cried to Him with my mouth . . . Certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 66:17, 19).
Yours in the love of our prayer-answering God,
Wright