Tag Archives: despair

Don’t get lost in despair! (John 14:1-4), March 26, 2014

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Today’s Podcast


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  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. Have you ever been lost in despair? We probably have all had those moments at one time or another. I found myself in one of those spots many years ago and it took God to pull me out.
  3. Scripture
    1. John 14:1-4
    2. Jesus: Don’t get lost in despair; believe in God, and keep on believing in Me.  My Father’s home is designed to accommodate all of you. If there were not room for everyone, I would have told you that. I am going to make arrangements for your arrival.  I will be there to greet you personally and welcome you home, where we will be together.  You know where I am going and how to get there.
  4. Devotional
    1. I’ve told the story before, and you can read the long version in my book “The Dream” which you can find on Amazon if you want to read it.
    2. Desert Storm August 1990, Saddam Hussein crossed into Kuwait
      1. Medical planner for XVIII Airborne Corps
      2. Spent a couple of weeks planning the defense of Saudi Arabian – Kuwaiti border
      3. Started planning the offensive campaign in September
    3. 24th Infantry Division wanted to move across the desert to the Euphrates River with blitzkrieg speed.
      1. Crush anything in their path and move on
      2. Planned to move 635 miles as fast as possible – 5 to 10 days
      3. Intelligence said Iraq would use chemical weapons since they had used them on their own people, the Kurds, in the NW to quell their revolt
      4. With chemical rounds available, estimated 3,000 casualties per day
    4. Army had never moved that fast against that formidable a force according to our intelligence
      1. Soviet weapons systems
      2. Chemical munitions
      3. Dug in positions
      4. Distances would stretch across 600 miles of desert, too far for helicopters to fly without refueling
    5. Medical support for that kind of warfare seemed impossible
      1. My responsibility to write the plan to save those 3,000 lives per day
      2. Casualty meant died or wounded, most would be wounded and need medical support
      3. How do you put the right medical support within reach of the soldiers on the front line when it takes five days to set up a hospital in the field?
      4. Platinum 10 minutes; Golden hour; Surgery in two hours
      5. Moving 600 miles in five days,
      6. no organic vehicles to carry all the equipment required to set up the hospitals, they are stationary once established
      7. Shared vehicles moved ammunition, water, food
    6. I couldn’t figure it out
      1. No precedence in history
      2. No current doctrine to support that kind of move without a lot more assets than were available
      3. If the estimates were right, thousands would die
      4. Despair
    7. October 12, 1990
      1. Awoke from a dream
      2. Maps of the battlefield showing all the medical unit movements
      3. Knew how to support the movement of the corps through their rapid movement
      4. Medical units did treat thousands of casualties, but not American
      5. Wounded Iraqi soldiers abandoned by their units as they retreated under the pressure of the Allied attack
      6. Desert Storm medical support changed Army doctrine in many areas, but especially in the medical support of active combat
    8. Dream came from God, convinced of it
      1. Don’t get lost in despair, believe in God and keep on believing in Jesus. He comes through at just the right time…always.
      2. You can read the whole story in my book, “The Dream” available on Amazon.
      3. God truly is an amazing God.
  5. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

There is hope! (Job 17), October 26, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Job 17

Set – Job 17; Acts 26

Go! – Job 16-17; Acts 24-26

Job 17
Job: 1 My spirit has collapsed; my days have been blotted out;
the grave is prepared for me.
2 There are mockers all around me;
my eyes are fixed on their unwarranted opposition of me.
3 Show me a sign! Vouch for me, God!
Who is there to give me his hand, guaranteeing his pledge?
4 I think no one is there because You have closed up their minds,
made them unable to see or understand;
so You will honor none of them.
5 You have heard, “Whoever denounces his friends for land
will watch his children go blind.”
6 But God has turned me into a swear word for everyone;
I have become a symbol of human darkness;
I am the face on whom one spits.
7 All my afflictions cloud my vision;
the members of my body are wasting away;
I am a mere shadow of what it once was.
8 Those of moral fiber are appalled at this;
innocent men grow indignant at the wicked.
9 Even still, the righteous embrace their way of life;
those with clean hands go from strong to stronger.
10 By contrast, I look to you, my friends, and I say,
“Come ahead, all of you; try your words once more.”
I still won’t expect to find a wise man among you.
11 Even now my days have passed me by;
My plans lie broken at my feet;
the secret wishes of my heart grow cold.
12 And yet my friends say, this loss of hope is for good,
turning my dark night into what appears to them as day.
In the pitch darkness, these broken plans and secret wishes speak to me.
They say, “There is light nearby.”
13 If I hope only to live in the land of the dead,
if I prepare for myself a bed in the darkness,
14 If I speak to my burial pit, calling it “Father,”
and to the worms in the earth, calling them “Mother” and “Sister,”
15 Then where will I find my hope?
And who will see it?
16 Will hope go with me to the place of death?
Will hope accompany me into the ground?

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Have you noticed Job no longer blames Me for his troubles. He doesn’t know why he struggles in agony and suffers each day the loss of his children, his home, and his worldly goods. He doesn’t know why all his friends have turned against him and assume he has done evil to deserve God’s punishment. Job doesn’t understand the trials he endures at the moment, but recognizes that it isn’t punishment from Me.

Job is in deep despair, though. He has come to the end of his rope and wishes only to be rid of all the suffering. Job wants hope that there is something besides the suffering he has endured for so long.

The good news for you is I have lifted the veil that covers death’s door with My resurrection. You have seen beyond the pale of death because you know that I rose from the dead and so there is also hope in your resurrection. Because I am prepaing a place for you on this side of the great divide, you have hope beyond the grave. You no longer need to live with the despair Job and his friends suffered in their day.

Job heard of the grave and his generation heard some rudimentary teachings about life after death, but I gave you proof when I burst forth from the tomb on that first Easter morning. I promised I would come back to bring you to live with Me. I told you I would build a room for you in My house and there is plenty of room for everyone who believes in Me. You don’t need to feel hopeless. You don’t need to think this is the end. You don’t need to assume this is all there is. There is hope because I have already overcome all the suffering and sorrow and pain that accompanied Me to the cross. Now you can now your next destination and know the short suffering in this life will come to an end when you give your life to Me.

You don’t need to be in despair as Job was. You can have hope and you can know hope today by giving your life to Me. Do it. You won’t be sorry.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.