Have you ever had things go wrong? Is life not what it use to be? Has your family turned there back on you? Are the bills building up on you and the creditors calling you? Is everything you have worked so hard for in your life look like it is going down the tube and it seems like there is no end in sight? If this is how things seem to be for you or someone you know then you are here at the right time.

I have seen people work hard to get where they are and have very nice things, like nice cars, boats, homes, TV’s, etc. They seem to have everything just the way they want it and then one day something happens and they lose it all. I have seen others do nothing wrong and one day they are hit with everything in the book and lose it all. Yet we go to God and ask for His help and it seems that He is not listening to us. At times.  It is like we are talking to a stone wall and no one is even there.

What has happened? Have we made God so mad to the point that He will not talk to us, let alone listen to what we have to say?  Has God changed His mind and we are just out of luck? I have been through a time where God.  it seemed,  was on vacation, and then I thought He was mad at me and I was out of luck.  For months, any time I went to pray, I heard nothing from God.  After some time went by the devil was trying to tell me I will never do what God had called me to do.  “It is all over Bill you are out of God’s will! You have no hope and all your plans have gone somewhere elsa.  You will never be anything good.”

Some of you have gone through your own time where it seems that you have lost and there is no end in sight. What can we do? Who will help us? When will it all go back to the good old day’s?  Remember them, the days when everything was good?  Everyone was happy and you had enough food and all the bills where under control. All you had to do was get up and do your thing and life was grand, so grand that even your pets were was happy!

How can we get God to stand up for us? How can we put our trust back in our faith after we have been ignored for so long, it seems?  Has anyone ever won the battle? Is their any hope for us? Will we ever have a break and just have some time to ourselves?  Let us look at Acts 16:25 at 2 men that where doing what there hearts loved to do and they got thrown in jail for having fun working for God. Now if anyone could say God turned there back on them they could. It say’s (Acts 16:25- And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.) Paul and Silas where out doing what God has called US to do and everything was working just fine, until one time they got thrown in jail for telling people how good God is and how God will fix all the things you are going through. Now look, at them, they are to be killed the next morning and they have been treated like they were the worst enemy in the world.

At this point, Paul and Silas were at the darkest hours of their life. Have you ever been there or are you in your darkest hour now? Paul and Silas had no hope of any help in life from anyone. They were where in the inner prison with guards on both sides of the door 24/7. Do things in your life make you feel like you have trouble on every side 24/7 and you are in your own inner prison?  Do you feel like there is no way out?  Do you feel like you have come this far and now you are going to die right where you are?  Does the devil tell you that you will never do anything good with your life? Does he tell you that your own family is laughing at you and think you picked the wrong path in your life.

Well, let us take a look at how Paul and Silas found their answer in their darkest hour!  Paul and Silas had an ace up there sleeve that the devil did not plan on. They had another option that they could use. Let us look at the verse one more time. (Acts 16:25- And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises UNTO God: and the prisoners heard them,) It says that at midnight they PRAYED - You must always pray first, that is the way you start your prayer. So many of us pray so much to the point that we do not want to pray any more. We have done it for years and now we do not think it will work for us let alone wanting to pray any more. James 5:16 part B say’s ….. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You must never quit on what you have started in prayer, because if you do the devil can go and patch things up and you will lose ground. Lets look at the 2nd part of this verse in Acts 16:25, it says and SANG PRAISES. As you go to God and start thanking him for what he has done and what he is doing and what he will do for you, you will have what you have asked for.

You see faith say’s I have it now and if we have it now we need to act like it and that act is us thanking God for what we have asked for. There is two sides to prayer. The first is go to God with his word and ask for what you want and the second side is thanking Him.  Remember Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises. That is why most of our prayers are yet to be answered, we have not finished our prayers. We have started but we need to finish them. Let me tell you the first time I saw this.  I went to God every day and the first thing I did was thank him for what I had asked Him for and what He would do for me. As I started to do this, things started happening for me but the big break was three months later to the day I started.  Everything went the right way and to this day it is fixed and everything around it keeps getting better. I could not have done anything to make it turn out so good.  It all was God working it out for me. I thank God for what He has done for me and I give Him all the praise for it. Let me encourage you to keep your prayers going and add to those prayers thanks to God for answers even when they have not manifested yet.  God is good and he will work all things together for your good for you.

Now what happened to Paul and Silas?  Come back and see, it gets great!