GOD Still Answers Prayer
Junior Level

GOD Still Answers Prayer

Today, It was on my heart to share with you something that I and my family have been going through the past two weeks so that maybe you would be encouraged in your own struggles and valleys.  Know that God is there and HE is listening and HE understands your tears.  Keep calling out to HIM, TRUSTING and OBEYING what HE commands.  HE IS FAITHFUL and HE will never let you down.

Handout:  God Still Answers Prayer

Last weekend on Saturday, October 9, 2010, my dear twin brother Danny Jones had a four wheeler accident.  He suffered severe trauma and bleeding to his brain.  He was much disoriented when the rescue came, and was combative because he was afraid.  In order to help him, they had to give him a medication that would temporarily paralyze him.  In doing that, they had to put him on a ventilator so he would be able to breathe because the medication would also paralyze his lungs temporarily.  When they were putting in the ventilator it gagged him and he vomited.  Somehow he accidently aspirated that into his lungs.  Danny was air lifted by helicopter to a hospital that could properly care for his injuries.  He has been in the trauma ICU in critical condition since. 

It is from the bottom of my heart, that I beg you all to pray for my brother.  I as well as our whole family are heartbroken.  He has a wife and three little boys.  Max is 11 years old, Little Danny is 9 years old, and Baby Tucker is 8 months old.  God healed Danny when he was first born 32 years ago from Hydrocephalus.  It seems the devil has always tried to kill my brother, or to injure his brain.  Satan did not succeed then, and he has not now!  Praise the LORD.  Danny’s brain is functioning normally.  He has woken up and he knows us all and has communicated by moving his mouth and squeezing our hands.  God has stopped the bleeding in his brain, but his lungs are still very much in need of a touch from God.

We will know more about Danny’s condition as the days pass…it will take time.  I beg all of you to pray for him and our family.  We want God’s will and we trust The LORD.  Through tears and pain, through good times and bad times, we have purposed in our hearts to serve the LORD.  This happens to be a time of great sadness but thankfulness that Danny’s life was spared and that he is as well as he is, but he needs all the prayer that he can get.  Remember him and our mom who is in bad health.  We are traveling about 6 hours everyday to see Danny.  We need traveling grace, and protection.  I love you all and I appreciate you all.  I know Danny thanks you for the prayers as do I…I love him so.  God Bless you.  Right now, go hug your loved ones and tell them that you love them…we never know what tomorrow will bring.  We have been given the gift of today…and it is precious.  Go with God and be blessed…You are all loved. :O))

I wrote this prayer request to post on World Sunday School a week after Danny’s accident.  There he lay in the Trauma ICU, with a machine helping him breathe and a feeding tube down his throat as well and there wasn’t a thing I nor anyone in our family could do.  We were laying hands on him and praying with him, but mostly he didn’t know we were there.  Sitting in the waiting area these days, I began to look at all the different families waiting to see their loved ones as well.  I had gotten to talk to a few about the LORD and prayed with them but did everyone there know Jesus?  How in the world would they get through this kind of hurt without The LORD? 

The evening of Danny’s accident, I was on the phone with my mother, and she got another call on her cell phone.  I heard her say, is he ok?  I knew it was my brother even though she did not say his name.  After the call she came back to our conversation and told me that Danny had been in an accident.  My heart went into a panic.  We waited, I tried to call around but couldn’t get anyone.  We was not sure how bad the accident was or what hospital the ambulance would take him to.  It was several minutes later, suddenly this terrible feeling came over my spirit, and I just fell to my knees and began to cry out to God…I could feel in my spirit how bad this was.  I began to beg God to spare my brothers life…over and over I begged Him.  Then suddenly there were no words….just the spirit praying for me…I was experiencing Romans 8:26 more deeply than I had ever experienced it before.

Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

There were no words coming out of my mouth…only groanings…but in my mind I knew every word the Holy Spirit was praying…but I could not speak.  My dad came and was trying to consol me inspite of his own grief, but I could not stop…He turned and left and went to his own prayer closet and began to pray. 

Dear Reader…if you are facing a time of grief for whatever reason…know that God Almighty cares and HE understands.  In times when you feel so helpless and you are not even sure what is going on, know in your heart of hearts that HE is in control of all things and HE will hear you when you cry out earnestly to HIM.

James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”

We must repent everyday in order to keep our hearts in right standing with God.  You never know when you will need to pray for yourself or someone else and you want to be in fellowship with The LORD in order to be effective in your prayer.  Does this mean that someone who is in a backslidden condition cannot pray?  No, but it takes more time to repent and then try to pray for the need than if your heart was already right with The LORD.  This is why it is so important to have a daily prayer life and communication with God.  This is why it is so important to study His word everyday so that you are in constant communication with Him. 

Psalm 5:12 “For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

No, we are not righteous on our own, but Christ makes us righteous.  We do not want to have un-confessed willful sin in our lives because this will separate us from The LORD. 

We must confess our sins everyday to JESUS and ask Him to forgive us and wash us clean and turn away from that sin. 

Later my mother called me back and told me that Danny was to be air lifted to a Trauma hospital several hours from here.  We got ready and immediately left to get there.  After a few hours we arrived and my sister had gotten there first and Danny’s wife and family…standing outside the hospital tears just poured from my eyes, I could not stop it.  I wanted to see him so badly but they would not let me because there were only certain times he could be visited.  My sister and Danny’s wife had seen him and they said he did not know where he was, his stare was empty.  God knew I would not have been able to bear seeing him that way.  So we waited and prayed.  I finally got to go back and see him, there he lay with all the tubes and wires in him.  I had never seen him like that before.  I layed my hands on his chest and I began to pray silently.  Suddenly he tried to sit straight up, and I talked him back down.  He was so agitated and confused.  It was so hard to see him this way.  I prayed for God to send angels to encamp around his bed and protect him. 

We had to leave his room and go back to the waiting area.  I kept thinking of the time when he and I were born, and he was fighting for his life and his mentality then too.  I thought why would this happen now after all the LORD has saved and healed Danny from those 32 years ago?  Our family did not know what was going to happen, would there be permanent brain damage?  Would he know us?  Would he live?  So many questions.  My sister and I began to talk quietly among ourselves and she reminded me that God is in control and that what ever happens we must accept it and trust The LORD.

I have taught this before, but it came back to my mind.  When we truly trust God, honestly having faith in Him, we do this not having faith that nothing bad will ever happen, but we trust HIM even in the midst of bad things happening.  We know that in this life, we are under a curse of sin, and bad things happen sometimes to good people, but we also know that anything God allows in our lives, HE will work it out for our good and for HIS glory, some way, some how.  It is a promise found in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to HIS purpose.”

Danny told me once, that he had been going through a spiritual valley and he was reading Psalm 23 and he came to the verse, yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will have no fear for thou art with me. Danny said the LORD spoke to him and said you never have to fear the valley...it's just a shadow, it can't hurt you. Praise the LORD. It's just a shadow Danny...God is there and HE will comfort and guide you through to the other side. We'll keep praying.

 

Beloved, are you going through a hard time?  Are you in a valley of great pain or grief?  Dear one know that Your Father is in control.  I will tell you what a cousin of mine told me recently in an email.  “There are no panic buttons found at the throne of God.”  God knows what is going to happen and is in control at all times!  Even when we can’t see or understand…HE does and it is our job to trust HIM and obey what HE commands and to follow HIS lead.  When we try to do things on our own, it is a very foolish move because we cannot see what lies ahead, we will get in a trap every single time if we try to do things according to our own vision.  We must rely on HIS.

Imagine you are a soldier in an army and you find yourself in a great valley.  There are huge mountains all around you and in this valley are hundreds of land mines set to go off and kill you.  You have no idea where these land mines are, and it is so dark that you cannot see your own hand in front of your face.  You call on your radio to your commanding officer and you say please help me I do not know what to do.  He says to you, wait, do not move it is not safe for you to move at this time our with our satellite equipment we can see everything around you and you must not move at this time.  You must wait.

Now you stand there for what seems like an hour and you hear nothing, you can be impatient and try to go ahead and move just hoping you will not be killed, or you can do as your commander has told you and you can wait.  The darkness is frightening and you cannot see but he has told you to stay and wait and you will be safe, will you trust that or will you decide you should move?   It is even more so with God, He can see EVERYTHING around us, in the natural and in the spiritual realm…He knows what we need to do.  Will we listen and obey, or will we try to find our own way?   If we want to make it out alive, we will be wise soldiers and we will do as our Commander tells us to do.  Praise the LORD!  HE KNOWS ALL THINGS AND HE WILL NOT LEAD HIS SERVANTS WRONG!

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge HIM and HE shall direct thy paths.

Today it has been 2 weeks since my twin brother’s accident.  He is now out of the Trauma ICU in Intermediate.  He is not breathing on his own and eating solid food.  God has been merciful yet again and has spared his life and his mind.  He is still having much discomfort and it will take time for him to heal but God is doing a great work in his life and we are so thankful.  I thank each one of you for your prayers and love.  I ask that you continue to pray for Danny and for our family.  Life is so uncertain, we must live for this moment and know the true things that really matter.  God first, family and friends second.  What we do for God are the only things that will last when we come down to the end of our journey here on earth.  It will not matter how big our bank account is, or how big our houses are, or how many cars we have or how many people knew us, all that will matter is what did we do for The LORD?  I want my life do matter.  Don’t you?  I want to take every moment God has given me and use it for HIS glory.  We can do that.  It is our choice.  When we stand before JESUS CHRIST at the end of our lives, wouldn’t it be the most wonderful thing if HE looked at us with a smile and said…Well Done!  I want that…I desire that.  We can have that by grace through faith and obedience to HIS Word. 

Whatever you may be going through in this season of your life, know that God hears when you cry out to HIM.  NEVER give up…keep praying and keep calling out to HIM.  Psalm 18 tells us that HE hears our cries and HE will ride on the wings of the wind to our rescue.  Keep praying, keep believing.  HE IS LISTENING AND HE WILL ACT!  God bless you all.

I love you all and I’m praying for each of you today. 

Dear Righteous Heavenly Father,

I come to YOU today with much thanksgiving.  Thank You for sparing the life and mind of my brother.  Thank You for hearing and answering prayer.  Thank You for Your all powerful hand of protection.  You are worthy of ALL praise.  LORD, today I come to You asking You to keep Your hand of protection on this ministry, and all those who come to read and to teach.  Father I ask that whatever each person is going through in life now that You reach down and send Your comfort and strength and grace.  You know all and You see all and LORD we know that You can make a way when there seems to be no way out at all.  LORD right now I ask that You touch Your children in a mighty way and help us to keep on keeping on for Your glory, so that others will come to Jesus and be part of Your Heavenly family and Your kingdom.  In the MIGHTY, LOVELY Name of JESUS I pray.  Amen.  Thank YOU LORD for hearing and answering PRAYER!

~*Cindygirl*~
January 30, 2022
(Written October 24, 2010