Thursday, April 10, 2014

I Know That My God Hears My Prayers!!!



I trust in GOD, but sometimes just like other people, I get scared. 


I have said it before, but I don’t know what I would do without THE LORD!!!


I just don’t know how to live without HIM!!!  And I don’t know how other folks do. 


I trust in MY GOD!!!  And I depend on HIM!!! 


I am so thankful that the LORD knows what I think and how I feel!!!


I know that HE hears my prayers and I know that HE watches over me. 


I tell you all this, because I am SO BLESSED!!! 


I told you last week that my folks are being audited by the IRS. 


I have been somewhat concerned about all this so I have been praying and talking to the LORD!!!   


While I was praying, the LORD reminded me of the threatening letter that King Hezekiah received from the King of Assyria.  GOD reminded me how Hezekiah brought that letter (and that situation) to the LORD.   


2 Kings 19:14-18 (NKJV)

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.


2 Kings 19:19-20 (CEB)

19 So now, Lord our God, please save us from Sennacherib’s power! Then all the earth’s kingdoms will know that you, Lord, are the only true God.”

20 Then Isaiah, Amoz’s son, sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: I have heard your prayer about Assyria’s King Sennacherib.


In my prayer, I said to the LORD, I hold up the letter which we have received from the IRS and I give this situation to you, LORD.  And I know LORD that you are going to take care of this for me and my folks. 


You see, I use bookkeeping software and I post all of my folks’ banking transactions.  And I found out that I had posted some of their transactions incorrectly, so I got a bit scared.   


As usual the devil wants to make me run away in fear.  He wants me to bury my head in the sand, but instead I prayed and have continued to pray.  I decided to pray that the LORD would have the IRS find that they owed my parents money.


When I spoke with the tax pro about the errors that I had made, I was told NOT to worry because when the taxes were redone, a lot more deductions had been found in some other areas!!!    


I was very pleased to hear that.   


But then the devil reared his ugly head!!!  When the IRS contacted us, they said that they had decided that they wanted to see NOT only last year’s taxes, but also this year’s taxes.  Now that is scary!  


And of course, the devil wants to worry me, so I decided to pray some more.  Wouldn’t you?


The devil doesn’t give up and he is constantly trying to make me worry.  So, every time he starts whispering in my ear, I say, “SHUT UP, devil”, and then I speak in FAITH and say, I know that the LORD will take care of this and the IRS is going to find that they owe my folks money!!! 


You see, I know that MY GOD is taking care of this and I have decided NOT to worry!!!  I refuse to worry over any of this!!!   


Then today, as I was watching one of my favorite preachers, he began to preach about King Hezekiah and that evil king.  And as he pointed out, there are 3 different books in the Bible that tell of this incident. 


You can read about King Hezekiah and how he did right in the sight of GOD and how the King of Assyria tried to terrorize him in Isaiah 36-37, 2 Chronicles 30-32, and 2 Kings 19:18-19. 


After hearing this message and because I know that God is telling me HE HAS HEARD MY PRAYER and SEES MY SITUATION, I decided to write about how GOD has used what happened to King Hezekiah to encourage me.     


I hope you will enjoy this message and I hope you understand that if you will decide to TRUST in THE LORD, HE will make a way for you!!! 


The devil always attacks those that do right in the sight of the LORD.  And this is what happened to King Hezekiah.  He did what was right in the sight of the LORD and the devil just couldn’t stand it, so he sent an evil king to attack Hezekiah and Jerusalem. 


2 Chronicles 32:1 (CEB)
After these things and these faithful acts, Assyria’s King Sennacherib invaded Judah and attacked its fortified cities, intending to capture them.


2 Chronicles 32:2-3 (NKJV)

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him.


2 Chronicles 32:4-8 (CEB)

A large force gathered to stop up all the springs and the streams that flowed through the land. “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they asked. Hezekiah vigorously rebuilt all the broken sections of the wall, erected towers, constructed another wall outside the first, reinforced the terrace of David’s City, and made a large supply of weapons and shields. He appointed military officers over the troops, assembled them in the square of the city gate, and spoke these words of encouragement: “Be brave and be strong! Don’t let the king of Assyria and all those warriors he brings with him scare you or cause you dismay, because our forces are greater than his. All he has is human strength, but we have the Lord our God, who will help us fight our battles!”

The troops trusted Judah’s King Hezekiah.


Now, I have already told you that this evil king sent a letter to King Hezekiah and I have told you how Hezekiah took this letter to the LORD!!! 


GOD always answers our prayers.  And as you read you will find out that GOD answered Hezekiah’s prayers and HE rescued them from the King of Assyria and all his army!!! 


2 Chronicles 32:20-22 (NKJV)

20 Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven. 21 Then the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there.

22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.


So that you can see in greater detail what the LORD did to save Hezekiah and Jerusalem, here is what the THE WORD says in 2 Kings 19. 


2 Kings 19:35-36 (NKJV)

35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.


And that wasn’t the end of what GOD did to the king of Assyria for speaking evil and trying to reproach HIM and coming against HIS people!!! 


2 Kings 19:37 (NKJV)

37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.


Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t dare pray that the LORD kill anyone, but I certainly don’t mind praying that God end this audit and have the IRS find that they owe my folks money and pay them!!! 


SO RIGHT NOW, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, I proclaim VICTORY over this situation!!!  I know that GOD will bring VICTORY, because HE IS FAITHFUL!!!! 


2 Thessalonians 3:3 (AMP) Yet the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen [you] and set you on a firm foundation and guard you from the evil [one].

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