August 2024
Issue 221

Wordless prayer: When the Holy Spirit steps in and prays for you

The words wouldn't come. You were at the end of your rope, so discouraged you wanted to give up.

If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, something uncanny happens. The Holy Spirit jumps in and becomes your silent spokesman. Because He's God, He knows the situation better than you do. He sends his request right to Jesus, your Intercessor and Great High Priest, who enters the heavenly throne room and presents it to God the Father.

This is the deepest level of communication, when all three members of the Trinity are intimately involved on your behalf.

Wordless prayer is powerful stuff, single friend, recorded in the Bible: Romans 8:26 and Hebrews 4:14-16.

Many Christians don't give much thought to this mysterious phenomenon. This month's feature article explains the merciful miracle of wordless prayer.

Always here

The people here are selfish
and seek their own reward.
They do not practice holiness.
They do not know the Lord.

Some days I get discouraged
by the ugly things I see.
What happened to the kindness
of the way life used to be?

When my faith is fading
and I don't know what to do,
He reminds me with a whisper,

"I am always here with you."

He is my sure Companion
who never walks away.
He came to live inside me.
I count on Him to stay.

He leads me on the narrow path,
His ways upright and true.
I love to hear Him tell me
"I am always here with you."

~ Jack Zavada, www.inspiration-for-singles.com, 2024 ~

You can't move forward until you learn this…

I had been blundering along on my own wisdom and power and they were completely inadequate for the Christian life, but I wanted to run things my way, on my terms. I was, in effect, my own little god, and a pathetic one at that.

You can always tell when people believe they're their own god. With celebrities, they crash from marriage to marriage. They go in and out of Rehab like the rest of us go to the dentist. They think clothes and bling and mansions are the most important things in life.

Everyday folks are a little less obvious. They chase success. Sometimes they have short tempers. Often they reach middle age feeling stunned and hollow.

What does all that have to do with my book, Hope for Hurting Singles? Just this: It shows you who the real God is and how to put your hope and trust where they belong, in Him. Once you learn that and put it into practice, you have genuine hope. Hoping in anything else is a dead end.

Hope for Hurting Singles is a book of principles, biblical steps to tackling your problems by depending on God. If you've been floundering up to now, Hope for Hurting Singles will show you how to find purpose. We both know the single life is a struggle, but it doesn't have to be miserable.

The True God is not pathetic, like me. He's all-powerful. Learn how walk with Him. Get Hope for Hurting Singles.

Hope for Hurting Singles is $10.99 in paperback and $3.99 for the Kindle version.

QOTM: Good friends to have

Does it seem as if life has more downs than ups? Maybe it's because we pay more attention to pain than pleasure. We want pain to quit ASAP but pleasure to hang around forever. Things just don't work that way.

Here's the bottom line about God: He's the lovingest, smartest, and most powerful being in existence. When you throw in forgiveness of sins and eternal life, why would you put your hope in anything else?

Why indeed?

Jack's Truths might spare you some grief

For many years, the site grew by astounding proportions. Then Google changed its algorithms, and traffic not only plummeted; it never returned to those heights. I'll spare you my rant about that.

One of my early pages was called "Jack's Truths," a list of life principles boiled down to a sentence or two each. Some were born from wise choices I had made, but most resulted from painful mistakes.

As part of my ongoing refresh of the site, I recently revised that page to make it easier to read.

See what you think of Jack's truths.

Am I talking specifically to you?

Some months the articles in this newsletter won't have much relevance to you personally. But occasionally you might think I'm talking specifically to you. If this month you feel as if you're barely hanging on I want to encourage you to keep going, one day at a time. Sometimes our lives don't make any sense at all. Bad, painful things happen to us and we wonder where God is. We wonder why He didn't protect us or even warn us. I can't answer those questions, but I've had the same feelings too.

It's not a sin to question God. Some events seem contrary to the way of a kind, loving Father. I still haven't figured out bad things that happened to me 40 years ago. But I can tell you this: Jesus sticks with you no matter what. When you hurt the worst, that's when He's closest.

Christianity is a rocky road religion. It will never be a smooth, level path. But is it worth it? Yes, because God can be trusted. We can't believe our eyes, our ears, or our feelings, but we can believe God. Once you're a member of His Kingdom, that is your destination, no matter how many detours you take here on Earth.

It's you and Jesus, every day for eternity, and it's happening right now. In heaven, He will wipe away all your tears and make everything right forever. (Revelation 21:4, NIV)

A short, easy read and it's F/REE!

This month's gem is an ebook titled The Practice of the Presence of God. It was compiled from the letters and conversations of a Carmelite friar named Brother Lawrence (Nicholas Herman (1605-1691). While working in the French monastery's kitchen, Brother Lawrence cultivated an intimate relationship with God in his everyday life. This text is a classic, worthwhile for Christians of all denominations.

I think you'll like it. It's short, easy to understand, and offers steps anyone can do. I have a paperback copy on my bookshelf and reread it every few years.

This f/ree version is an ebook downloadable from Christian Classics Ethereal Library. I've been using this web site for years and can vouch for its safety.

I hope you enjoy The Practice of the Presence of God!

That concludes our August Inspire-O-Gram, fellow single. I enjoy preparing these monthly newsletters for you. Please do me a favor and forward it to a single friend or relative. Thanks!

Your comments are always welcome: contact form.

In closing, when the things you see around you get you down, remember Paul's advice in 2 Corinthians 4:18: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Until September,

PS: Not a Christian yet? Find out how to become a Christian.