Father God, we place today, tomorrow, and all
the tomorrows of our life with perfect confidence
in your care and care.
We would not exchange the trust, our confidence
in you, for a title deed to the
whole world.
For we know that in all things you
never make a mistake, and you only give
to us that which is for our best.
But you want to know something?
God's presence with his people is not merely
a theory.
God's presence with his own is a fact.
And always remember something.
He does not leave us in the eleventh
hour.
He will not leave you when the waters
are deep.
He will not leave you when the night
is dark.
He will not leave you after you have
received that last paycheck.
He has not left you when the flower
bin is empty.
I want you to remember that.
His presence is a reality.
I want to make this very real to
your heart, and I pray the Holy Spirit
shall make it real, because I know there
are many trying days just ahead for many
a precious family, many a dad who will
awaken in the morning, faced with discouragement, heartbreak.
And so I wish to read a portion
of the word of God as found in
2 Kings 6.
Oh, this is thrilling.
Sure, here he is.
The king of Syria had just sent a
whole army after one of God's men.
Just one.
I think that's one of the greatest compliments
that could have been paid, Elisha.
Really, I do.
No wonder Queen Mary of Scotland said that
she feared the prayers of John Knox more
than she did an army of thousands.
Ah, your own family trembles when they know
that you're on your knees praying before the
throne of God.
The greatest power that God has given to
you and to me is the power of
prayer.
That's the greatest power in the world today,
the power of prayer.
Believe me, that's true.
That's the reason I keep saying to you
over and over again, that no matter what
your circumstances are, no matter what you're faced
with, no matter what the problems are in
your life, as long as God is still
on His throne, as long as He is
still God Almighty, as long as you and
I know that He is still there reigning
and ruling, as long as we know that
He is still hearing and answering prayer, you
and I do not have to be defeated
on a single score.
That's right.
And just so long as you know in
your own heart that there's absolutely nothing between
you and God, that you have a hearing
before the throne, that there's no obstacle in
the way to keep God from hearing that
prayer of yours, you have nothing to be
worried about.
You have nothing to fear.
You need spend no anxious hours.
You need not roll and toss all the
night long, afraid to face tomorrow, afraid of
what tomorrow will hold for you.
You need never give in to defeat.
Never.
Not for one minute.
So long as you know God is there,
so long as you know how to pray,
everything will come out all right.
Elisha knew that.
Even in the face of an entire army
that had been sent by the king of
Syria.
Let me read this portion of the word
of God.
Oh, I just love it.
Here it is, 2 Kings, you read it
for yourself.
The sixth chapter.
Let me begin, if you will, please, with
the thirteenth verse.
And he said, Go and spy where he
is, that I may send and fetch him.
And it was told him, saying, Behold, he
is in Dothan.
They're out trying to get Elisha now and
his servant.
Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots and
a great host.
And they came by night and compassed the
city about.
In the natural, if ever there was a
man who needed to be scared to death,
it was Elisha.
If ever there was a man living who
needed to be afraid, who had cause for
fear and anxiety, it was Elisha.
The king of Syria was out gunning for
him.
He was going to get him if it
was the last thing he did.
He not only sent one man or two
men after Elisha, he had sent an entire
army.
And they came with horses and chariots and
a great host just for one preacher, that's
all.
And they came by night and compassed the
city about.
What were they after?
One poor little preacher.
If you don't think God takes care of
his own, if you don't think God's interested
in just you as an individual, look at
this.
You know, sometimes we think, Oh, the world's
so big and there's so many people in
the world and God has so much to
do.
Surely he's not interested in me as an
individual, but he is.
He's as interested in you as though you
were the only person in the whole world
that he had created in his own image
and after his own likeness.
He's as interested in you this hour as
an individual, as one man, as one woman
as he was in Elisha.
And when the servant of the man of
God was risen early and gone forth, behold,
an host compassed the city both with horses
and chariots.
And his servant said unto him, Alas, my
master, how shall we do?
Elisha's servant was scared stiff and he said,
Master, my word, there absolutely is no way
of escape.
This is once we're crapped, there's nothing we
can do.
The whole city all around about us is
filled with horses and chariots.
We're going to be taken as sure as
you live and breathe.
We haven't a chance for escape.
What shall we do?
I can just see him, he was trembling.
And he answered, that's Elisha answered and said,
Fear not.
Don't get scared.
Fear not.
Get hold of yourself now.
For they that be with us are more
than they that be with them.
What did he mean, they that be with
us?
There the two men were standing.
They couldn't see anything.
They were just standing there, two poor men
in the flesh, as human as you may
be this very hour.
And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray
thee, open his eyes.
You don't have to open my eyes.
I can see by face.
But this poor fellow, my poor servant, he's
still in the natural and he doesn't understand.
Just open his eyes and let him see.
That he may see.
And the Lord opened the eyes of the
young man and he saw.
And what did he see?
And behold, the mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
That's real.
Elisha saw it by faith.
He saw God's protecting power by faith.
He knew God was there and that he
would provide.
He knew that God was there and that
God would not let him down.
He knew that God was there loving and
caring and that he would make a way.
He did not have to be shown.
He knew by faith.
But he said, Lord, let your servant see.
Just open his eyes for a moment.
And when his spiritual eyes were open, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of
fire round about Elisha.
Beloved, if you could see this very moment,
you would not be afraid.
The last paycheck may have come in, but
you will not be afraid of tomorrow.
The mountains are full of God's power.