Tuesday, June 15th, 2021
Just before I stepped up on the stage to give chapel at the Adult and Teen Chapel in Brainerd, Minnesota, yesterday, a guy named Adam stood at the podium and everyone cheered. He was one of them returned. Adam told his story of going through the 13-month program there in the past and had been sober for two years. Then he used again and stopped again. This had happened five times as his story unfolded and now he was back for “renewal” with a short program of 90 days. Everyone cheered for Adam. God had given him another chance. When I followed him to the podium, I threw the notes I had with me to the floor and talked about the God of a thousand chances who was always there to pick these men up when they fell, no matter how many times. I told them Satan would accuse them of failure and hopeless brokenness, but God never would. Everyone cheered that God was so compassionate and understanding.
I have a friend who I wish had been there. You see, he believes he’s so broken that God can’t forgive him or fix him. Satan has such a grip on him that when I sometimes convince him that God loves him, he’ll be joyful for maybe a few months and then fall back into rejecting God’s love and forgiveness and living a truly miserable life of “poor me; there’s no hope for me.” Satan has convinced him not to talk to me on the phone anymore, and so he has told me he’s so ashamed and broken that he can’t talk to me live anymore. He sent me an email that seemed to be his last correspondence to me. I am very sad.
Please, please pray for this man that God will pierce his hopelessness with His overpowering love and will build a hedge around him so Satan can’t relentlessly attack him…or whatever else the Holy Spirit prompts you to pray about for him. Break down his wall with a battering ram of prayer. I hope with all my heart that I can one day report, “Praise God, my friend is back.”
June 15th, 2021 at 6:42 pm
Wonderful message for myself too!