Participants: Mike and Gayle Tucker
Series Code: MGH
Program Code: MGH000091A
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00:19 Hello, and welcome to Marriage in God's Hand,
00:21 where Mike and Gayle Tucker 00:24 from Faith for Today television, 00:25 the host of Lifestyle magazine and Mad About Marriage. 00:27 And by the way, if you would like to watch those programs 00:29 you can go to lifestyle.org or madaboutmarriage.com. 00:33 You can also find Lifestyle magazine on Roku, 00:37 we have a Lifestyle magazine channel there. 00:39 We've been honored to present a series of programs here 00:43 on Marriage on God's Hand on marriage in the family. 00:46 And this is our last in the series. 00:48 And where we are, last time we talked about 00:51 how to pray for your spouse 00:52 and we're gonna do that again today, 00:54 about praying for each other especially in times of crisis. 00:57 You know, we talked about 00:59 how prayer can bring you together, 01:00 it can help you feel connected, 01:02 it can help you feel more committed to one another, 01:05 it can also help you pray for one another. 01:09 To pray for the blessing that your spouse needs, 01:12 to pray that God will give him 01:14 or her everything that is needed in their life. 01:17 But what about these times of crisis? 01:20 Because there are times in every couple's life 01:22 when they face crisis. 01:24 That's right. 01:25 And I think we know that we need prayer. 01:28 If our faith for today prayer line is any indication, 01:32 people know that. 01:34 Because many, many of the requests 01:36 that we get are about family. 01:38 They say, "You know, my marriage is a mess, 01:41 pray to God for me that He will help my marriage, 01:45 that He will bless our marriage." 01:46 "My son is going to prison, I don't know what to do, 01:50 I'm so destroyed, I'm so sad, I'm so worried about him." 01:54 "There's illness in our family. 01:56 I'm getting ready to have surgery. 01:58 My husband has cancer. 02:00 Bless us Lord." 02:01 You know, so many things that they ask for, 02:04 for prayers for, and sometimes it's just 02:06 I think Satan is attacking our family. 02:08 Yes, he is. 02:09 And they know, that prayer is what they need. 02:12 We have crisis. 02:14 Some of them are huge, 02:16 and I think it's important to understand 02:18 and it's comforting to know 02:21 that we can use prayer in those times of crisis. 02:24 Now we don't have to just wonder, 02:26 what do I even say? 02:27 You know, because sometimes it's so big 02:30 that we don't know what to pray, 02:32 we don't know how to pray, 02:33 we don't know what to ask God for. 02:35 But I think we can find some help with that, 02:36 in his word. 02:38 We can find some help with that because crisis is nothing new. 02:42 There have been crisis through out the dawn of time, 02:45 at least since sin entered into the world. 02:48 People had lives in crisis. 02:50 And so we have examples of prayers in crisis 02:54 in scripture. 02:56 One such example comes to us 02:58 from 2 Chronicles 20, 03:03 my Bible, I just noticed it was opened to 1 Chronicles. 03:05 2 Chronicle 20 is where we need to look. 03:08 Because the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, had one fear, 03:11 and that is that 03:13 surrounding nations were joined together 03:14 and attacked the little kingdom of Judah, 03:16 because it was a small kingdom. 03:18 And his fear was that 03:20 these surrounding nations would attack him, 03:22 and then he got word 03:23 that three of the surrounding nations were doing just that. 03:26 They abandoned together, they made a huge army 03:29 and they were coming to get him. 03:31 And the interesting thing to me is that 03:32 the very first thing he did is respond with prayer. 03:36 He didn't call his generals together 03:37 to take council for war 03:39 he didn't take a look at how many chariots, 03:41 or swords, or shields, or warriors they had. 03:45 He just said, oh, the very first thing we're going to do 03:47 is declare day of fasting and prayer, 03:50 because our very existence is at stake. 03:53 His Greatest Fear. 03:55 His Greatest Fear that these nations will come in 03:57 on this small little land of Judah 04:00 and would overtake it. 04:02 We have great fears like that, don't we? 04:03 We do. 04:04 We feel that we will be overtaken. 04:07 And I think it's important for us to understand 04:09 that in scripture there is help for us. 04:14 We can look at that and say, 04:15 yeah, I've been there, I've been there. 04:18 We can identify with the things in scripture. 04:20 And in our families, there are times 04:22 when we've been there. 04:23 Yes. 04:24 Things are falling apart, I don't know what to do, 04:26 my greatest fear has come upon me. 04:29 Whether it is a fear of separation, 04:31 a fear of physical ailment or disease, 04:35 it's a fear of financial ruin. 04:38 What are our greatest fears? 04:39 I fear that our children will not stay with God. 04:42 Our greatest fears have come upon us, 04:44 what are we gonna do? 04:46 Right. 04:47 And Jehoshaphat said that 04:48 the thing to do is to go prayer. 04:50 Very first thing. 04:51 And he's got a beautiful prayer here 04:52 that actually I uses a pattern whenever there is a crisis. 04:56 And I encourage other people to do it as well. 04:58 And its not that there's anything magical 05:01 about the pattern, 05:02 but its comforting to know that there is a good pattern 05:04 for how to pray in crisis 05:06 because our minds are so scattered, 05:08 this helps focus our minds 05:09 on the things that really matter. 05:11 You know, I can remember times in my life 05:12 when I felt like, this is the worst moment of my life, 05:17 this is a horrible crisis. 05:18 Someone may be who is at death door 05:20 or whatever it was, 05:22 and I felt like I didn't know how to pray, 05:24 like, I couldn't pray. 05:26 And I must needed someone else to pray for me, yeah, 05:28 because I didn't have the words. 05:30 This gives us words. Yes. 05:32 And it gives us a pattern and we can come to God 05:35 and say, all right, I'm gonna pray back to You, 05:36 what You've written to me, 05:38 because I just don't know on my own. 05:40 Well, let's take a look at this pattern. 05:42 The first part of the stories 05:43 told in verses 1-4 of 2 Chronicles 20, 05:46 but then the pattern starts in verse 5, 05:49 "Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah 05:51 and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, 05:53 before the new court, and he said, verse 6. 05:56 O God the God of our fathers, 05:58 are You not God in heaven, and are You not ruler 06:01 over all the kingdoms of the nations, 06:03 power and might are in your hands 06:05 so that no one can stand against You?" 06:07 He recognized who he is speaking to. 06:09 Yeah. 06:10 The very first thing he praises about is God. 06:12 He doesn't pray about his problem. 06:14 He reminds himself of who God is. 06:18 He turns his eyes in the eyes of Judah all upon God 06:22 because God is bigger than their problem. 06:26 He recognized the fact, I love this, 06:28 "are you not God in heaven," you know. 06:31 Are you not my God? 06:33 So I have, in a way he's saying, 06:36 I have a right to be here, 06:38 simply because You've told me that I can, 06:41 You are the God of heaven 06:43 and You are the ruler of everything 06:45 and the ruler over me. 06:47 I think one of the things that we learnt from this 06:49 is that when we are in pain we become myopic. 06:52 All we can see is the source of that pain. 06:55 We see the problem itself 06:56 and the longer you look at the problem 06:58 the bigger the problem becomes. 06:59 It may just be a molehill 07:00 but suddenly it looks like Everest. 07:02 Yeah. 07:03 You know, it's huge. 07:05 Well, Jehoshaphat reminds us, when you face that Everest, 07:09 it's time to get your eyes off Everest 07:12 and get in on to God. 07:13 Because when you look at God 07:15 you realize that He is much bigger 07:16 than the problem. 07:17 You are looking way up here and saying Everest 07:19 but when you look to God, way above that. 07:23 He's above Everest. 07:24 He is above it, He is bigger, He is all powerful, 07:28 so then you're looking at 07:29 where the power really lies instead of, at the problem. 07:32 We are not helpless. 07:34 We are not without hope, we are not without strength 07:36 because we have at our disposal 07:38 the strength of the God of the universe, 07:40 the creator God of the universe, 07:42 the one who made Everest. 07:43 That's right. 07:44 And He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. 07:46 So the very first part of this payer is 07:48 he turns the attention of the worshippers 07:51 and his own attention 07:52 away from the problem to the solution, 07:55 and the solution is always God. 07:57 And not only that, not only is he bigger and have power, 07:59 but it says "You rule 08:01 over all the kingdoms of the nations." 08:03 He says You have control over these people 08:06 that are after us. 08:08 You are the one that has control over my enemies, 08:11 You are the one who has control over disease, 08:13 You are the one who has control over Evil. 08:15 Whatever it is that's coming in on our family 08:18 at this moment Lord, 08:19 You have control over it, You rule it. 08:21 That's right. 08:22 You are more powerful. 08:23 The next thing that he does is he reminds himself 08:27 and all of Judah of how God has led in their past history. 08:31 So he praise about God's past blessings. 08:35 Why don't you read verse 7 for us. 08:36 It says, "Did you not our God drive out 08:38 the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel 08:42 and give it forever to the descendants 08:44 of Abraham your friend? 08:46 And they have lived in it 08:47 and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name," 08:50 All right. 08:51 He drove them out. 08:53 You drove them, you gave this to in the first place, 08:54 you gave this to us. 08:56 Who was it that said, our only fear for the future 09:00 is that we forget Gods leading in our past history. 09:04 I believe that strongly. 09:06 We have nothing to fear for the future. 09:08 And if you ever start to be afraid for the future, 09:10 just look back into past, how has God blessed us. 09:12 Is He directing, has He directed in your past? 09:15 You know, isn't He the one 09:16 who put this together to begin with? 09:17 Yes He is. 09:19 Has He not given us a love for one another? 09:20 Yes. 09:22 Has He not provided us the home? 09:23 Has He not given us friends and family who have us? 09:26 Has He not given us food to eat? 09:28 Has He not given us children in our home? 09:31 Over and over and over, and, you know, 09:33 any person can look back and say, 09:35 wow, when I look at my history I can see the landmarks, 09:40 I can see the things that God has done, 09:42 and I think this is where age also comes into play 09:46 and helps us. 09:47 Because when we get a little bit older 09:49 we can look back and we can say, 09:51 you know what, I can see now 09:53 things that I couldn't see before. 09:55 He led, He has done, 09:57 He has blessed us all along the way, 10:00 why would He not bless us now? 10:03 We tend to look in times of crisis 10:05 at what we don't have, and we wish we had more. 10:10 But we forget that we have already 10:12 an embarrassment of riches. 10:14 God has promised that He will love you, 10:17 accept you, and forgive you, 10:18 and give you home in the kingdom forever. 10:21 That's what He's promised. 10:23 If you have anything more than that 10:25 you have an embarrassment of riches, 10:27 you have more than what He promised. 10:29 If you have a house to live in... 10:31 even if it, may be a small one, and old, and falling apart, 10:35 you have more than what He promised. 10:37 If you have shoes on your feet, 10:39 and people who love you and care for you, 10:41 if you have food to put in your belly 10:43 you have more than what a third of the planet has, 10:47 you have an embarrassment of riches. 10:49 Has He led you into His kingdom, 10:51 has He given you salvation? 10:53 Wow. That's everything right there. 10:56 Yes. 10:57 Have you, has He directed your path in a way 11:00 that has brought you to Him, 11:01 has He brought you to your knees at this moment, 11:04 to acknowledge that He is God and to have a place to come 11:07 when you are in crisis. 11:09 He has done so much, 11:11 so I think it's very, very important for us to not say, 11:14 "God, You deserted me", 11:16 but say, "God, You've led me, now what's next?" 11:20 What's next? 11:21 How are You gonna help me in this situation? 11:23 But acknowledging that He has led all along. 11:27 You know, we see points in our lives 11:31 where we face things 11:32 that we thought were terrible at the times, 11:35 and yet those turned out to be turning points 11:37 where God put us in a place to do things 11:39 that we never would have done otherwise. 11:41 At the time, you don't see it. 11:43 But when you look back you do. So looking back is a gift. 11:46 When I was a young man, 11:48 I had my whole life planned out. 11:49 I knew what I was going to be 11:50 doing at 21, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45. 11:54 I was wrong at every age. 11:56 That's right. 11:57 God, I didn't hit one of my marker is, 11:59 God had different plan for me. 12:00 But you know, as I look back I realized He was in charge 12:03 and He was guiding at every step, 12:05 it didn't go exactly what I thought, 12:06 I've never dreamed that I would be doing 12:08 what I'm doing right now. 12:09 That's right. 12:10 I never thought about that 12:12 but God had a plan and He has led me. 12:14 So this prayer so far is we remember who God is, 12:17 we look first of all at God, we pray about God. 12:21 You are God of the universe, You are the creator, 12:24 You are the one who is the God of the nations, 12:27 and You are the God who is in charge of my life 12:30 and my experience today. 12:31 And that's music in His ears when we pray about Him 12:34 because it says, you know, his... 12:35 we're connecting here. 12:37 Yes. 12:38 We're acknowledging who He is and who we are. 12:40 Because you can't pray about 12:41 who He is without acknowledging who you are. 12:43 That's right. 12:45 And that is, I'm someone who need, 12:46 and I'm not much 12:47 but You are the king of the universe. 12:49 And then the second thing we pray about is 12:51 we remember that You've always been present with me, 12:54 You've always guided me, You've always led me, 12:57 and that history gives me confidence 12:59 for Your leadership tomorrow. 13:01 That's right. 13:02 We're gonna take a break right now. 13:03 When we come back, we'll have the rest of the prayer. 13:06 But don't go away, we will be right back. |
Revised 2016-06-09