Lord, I Need a Miracle

So many of us may be feeling very much like Jan described in her newsletter this morning, so I wanted to share it in its entirety.

Lord, I Need a Miracle
By Jan Markell
www.olivetreeviews.org
July 15, 2010

Every one of us has said that! You need a miracle! You're not alone. So my column is going to stray from news. I am going to reveal some personal things, which is not always the best idea.

 

However, as I write this, I am supposed to be undergoing a 10-hour surgery that would require one year before life would have been normal again. I have dealt with pain beyond description since March. So I have to thank many of you for praying for me these last few weeks since that was made known. Prayer made the difference.  The pain diminished about 98% in the last 2 weeks and the surgeon canceled the procedure -- a gruesome one to say the least! 
I would also ask that at this time advice not be sent back to me. I am still trying to process all that has happened, and there could be more mountains to climb down the road. In other words, I continue to ask for your prayers. Because of the uncertain future, we are leaving up the Caring Bridge page posted here. If it is taken down, it won't be by us. Please save my office staff further pressures. Check that link rather than e-mailing or calling here. We've all had a rough ride since March and this will save my staff further pressures. 

 

When trying ordeals happen, we often first ask, "Why me, Lord?" Well, why not? The Bible reminds us that all believers will suffer, be it persecution, betrayal, or affliction. We see Paul wrestling with his "thorn." I suspect you who are reading this have gone through your own personal "dark night of the soul." You may be there now. That's the real reason I am writing this -- not to reflect on me but to focus on you. The ordeal doesn't have to be physical. It is any kind of a difficult time for you that you think will never end. You want someone to walk along side you for comfort and counsel. You have trouble even reading the Bible some days. You are overwhelmed. And our trying times today, worldwide, don't help. 

 

I understand. I labored for 20 years with  "chronic fatigue syndrome" until the Lord just took it away in the summer of 2000. You can read about that ordeal and related thoughts and issues in my 1993 book published by Baker Book House, Waiting for a Miracle.

 

I have learned that affliction and trials transform lives, either for good or for bad. They will make you or break you.  God is speaks to us through our pain. He can use it to make us more aware of Him. The symphony He is working out includes minor chords, dissonance, and tiring fugal passages. But those of us who follow His conducting through these early movements will, with renewed strength, someday burst into song!

 

Affliction is not bashful. It shows itself in spite of our best efforts. The reason wellness is one of the greatest gifts is that affliction will sap our energy, make us irritable, strain our relationships, cloud our plans for the future, and totally occupy our thoughts. The affliction becomes a full-time job, for it goes with us wherever we go. And the world of the "well" just cannot understand, particularly if we look good. It's those pesky invisible diseases that are so frustrating. You just know people think you look so good you must be making some things up! You want to scream but perhaps your body aches so that won't work!

 

God seldom gives us a long-range view of our journey through this darkness that He wants to use for our good. We wonder what lies ahead. Is our livelihood at stake? Will our family abandon us? Will our financial resources run out? Will we be deemed hypochondriacs? Will anybody understand? Will we lose everything? Some learn from the heroes of Hebrews 11. We hear them relate their experiences, tell of the darkness of their night, and disclose some of the humanly impossible situations they found themselves in. I think of the words of Spurgeon who said, "I learn more from the fire, hammer and chisel than to anything else in my Lord's workshop."

 

The most tempting thing for those who hurt is to feel that God has abandoned them. God does not "send" illness to a specific person. He doesn't have a weekly quota of malignant tumors, sick spines, and weak hearts to distribute. He doesn't consult a computer to find out who deserves a certain affliction and who could handle it the best. I take comfort in what Paul Billheimer says in one of the best books ever written, Don't Waste Your Sorrows. His brilliant conclusion is that we are in training for reigning and this is part of that process! Does that help?

 

At this office we hear from a lot of people who are afflicted, disappointed, confused, anxious, hurting, and scared. God promises that in spite of your shattered dreams right now, He wants to build a new foundation out of your brokenness. He says, " 'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not harm you; plans to give you hope and a future' " (Jer. 29:11). And if you are feeling devastated, He promises to restore the years the locusts ate (Joel 2:25).

 

Many of these thoughts in this column have been taken from my book Waiting for a Miracle. I am not featuring it to make a sale. The book has helped tens of thousands of people through tough times. Right now, only Olive Tree Ministries carries it. Many say it is more helpful than a doctor's appointment and the best prescription they have taken.

 

If God can heal me of a 20-year illness and keep me off of yesterday's operating table, He has some kind of miracle for you as well. No, I don't hold to the theology that everyone will be healed. That is all a mystery. Whatever your heartache, remember that the past and the present must never be a measure of your future. God desires that you leave the future to Him while you mind the present and hang on to some of His promises.
There are no easy answers. Those of you who suffer, remember that under the beating of the rain there are springing up spiritual flowers of such fragrance and beauty as never before grew in the unchastened life. We see the rain; Lord, help us smell the flowers.

 

Again, for updates on my situation, visit Caring Bridge.Thank you for your prayers. I wish I could say that to each one of you individually. I will in Heaven. Won't it be grand? We won't even remember affliction, trials, testing, pain, and sorrow. Bring it on. Come, Lord Jesus.

 

Get acquainted with "Understanding the Times" radio. We air live out of Minneapolis/St. Paul onAM980 KKMSand AM1280 "The Patriot," Saturday, 9  to 11 a.m. CST. You can "listen live" at those Web sites.

 

Here are our other airing outlets. 

 

For podcasting via iTunes, visit this link.

 

All live Saturday programming is posted to our Web site at"Radio Archives" Sunday evening.

 

Brannon Howse sat in for me last weekend. Check the programming here. I return to the microphone this weekend in spite of an announcement that I would be out for 2-3 months.

 

God is good!

Silencing The Watchmen

From http://bible-prophecy-today.blogspot.com/2009/02/silencing-watchmen.html
by Jan Markell:

America is changing at break-neck speed and many of the changes are not helpful! While Americans were eager for "change," it is doubtful they anticipated the loss of free speech.

So let me explain the unfair "Fairness Doctrine." My radio program, Understanding the Times, is in the target range.

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) met last weekend in Memphis and according to President Frank Wright, experienced an ominous shroud cast by the issue of the "Fairness Doctrine." They intend to fight this issue as much as that is possible. However, they may not even be given the opportunity to fight it as they would wish.

In an article posted online by Human Events on February 6,

Christian broadcasters say they will be targeted once President Obama's appointees gain control of the Federal Communications Commission.

Warren Kelley, president of Point of View, the first Christian talk show to go on the air via satellite 37 years ago, states,

The Left Wing will immediately start filing complaints, and it will in short order shut Christian broadcasting down.

He concludes,

I think it will so limit what they say that, in essence, they will cease to be Christian broadcasters.

NRB President Wright says that he expects Christian broadcasters to be hit hard because of the doctrine's requirement for so-called "balance."

Human Events has information that the Christian talk giant of Salem Communications may be the first targeted. Please note that I air on many Salem stations including Minneapolis/St. Paul, Seattle, and Portland. Salem's national talk show host Janet Parshall states,

What we want to do is tell the message of Jesus. What the 'Fairness Doctrine' would have us do is give equal time to Buddha, Allah and (Scientologist) L. Ron Hubbard.

NRB President Wright backs that up by saying,

If an opposing view must be found for every matter of controversy, Christian broadcasters could find themselves in the unenviable and untenable position of seeking out other religious viewpoints - Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, or atheist - to counter what ministers of the gospel say on air.

The process would work this way: A Muslim group such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) or a homosexual rights group such as the ACLU, would file a complaint with the FCC because Understanding the Times radio failed to provide the proper contrasting view. The FCC would be empowered to force the station to present the other side of the story or lose its license. Many stations would opt to cancel the show to avoid the controversy and legal expense.

One of last Saturday's radio guests on Understanding the Times is Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. Tune in on my Radio Archives to hear Gary explain this process. It does not require any vote in Congress. It just requires the new head of the FCC to sign a paper and the "Fairness Doctrine" is law again, having been abolished by President Reagan in the early 1980s.

As it looks now, this policy will only apply to Christian and conservative talk radio, not the print media or TV. They already lean left and conservatives will not be given the same opportunity to be a balance in those arenas. Nor would they be given an opportunity to speak on liberal talk radio such as Air America.

Christian radio upsets the Left because it opposes same-sex marriage, abortion, teen pregnancy, strict teaching of evolution, and the liberal secular movement. Thus, we are targeted even before Rush Limbaugh who actually sways elections.

While President Obama was vague on this issue during the campaign, he is no longer! The White House Web site on its technology agenda page states that the president plans to...

encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum.

George Orwell's 1984 may have been 25 years early but the world it envisions has arrived. Welcome to the new America. God has allowed a strong delusion to take over this nation.

Hopefully Christians on their knees can lessen the damage.