Blessings to you, family and friends of BBT.  It is our honor to share with you again this weekend, and I’m looking forward to it.

Last week was great!  It was so good to have Shelly back with us!  We were encouraged by Priscilla to trust in God even when we don’t understand what is happening, and Pastor David spoke of God’s grace and judgment from the parable of the fig tree.  Some other very special things happened during the service.  I can’t wait to see what God will do in this new year!

This week I was on a completely different path, about to speak on one of those passages many of us would rather not, when I think God redirected me.  Some day I’ll come back to that.  I don’t know if I like the new direction any better though, because it asks a question that we maybe more than most have had to struggle with.  I will tell you that God is teaching me in this as well.

So many of us have prayed either for ourselves or for others whom we love.  We read God’s promises in the scripture, but they don’t seem to be true.  How is it that He can say, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it,” (John 14:14) but then seemingly turn a deaf ear to our most heartfelt pleas?  Why doesn’t God answer our prayers?

If you are hurting right now, nothing I have to say is going to help much.  Sometimes it even rings hollow to me.  But still it remains the truth.  We will have a better understanding if we consider the context of these verses we like to quote.  The one above is a good place to start.  Read verses 12-15.  Jesus is not making an unqualified statement.  I hope that by the end of the message we all will see why it is that we sometimes don’t get what we think we should, and how our prayers can be answered.

Come join us!

In His Love

Larry & Linda