My Lord, Ebenezer & Way Maker: Part 1

By Chong Ho Kim

Our Christian faith is not a philosophy, an academic discipline, or anything theoretical or abstract. It is a religion of miracles that must be obtained and applied concretely and practically in our real lives. Living eternal life in heaven and wishing for things we cannot do on earth are all living a life hoping for miracles, but most Christians today do not believe in miracles.

God led his chosen people through forty years in the wilderness, shielding them from the scorching sun by day with a pillar of cloud and from the cold by night with a pillar of fire (Ebenezer). The motive for writing this book is to rediscover in our lives the pillar of fire and cloud of the Lord God Almighty, who has led and protected his chosen people without change for forty years in the wilderness (Waymaker). It is my prayer that through this book, you will encounter God the Holy Spirit, who is alive and active, and that you will find meaning for your life in this dark and chaotic world and that you will recover your lost dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891303805

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My Lord, Ebenezer and Way Maker

Part 1

Chong Ho Kim

ISBN 979-8-89130-379-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89130-750-6 (hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-89130-380-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Chong Ho Kim

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1

1

A Life of Empty Nets

2

God at the Edge of the Cliff

3

The End of Darkness, the Beginning of a New Day

4

Drive in the Foggy Night

5

Look to the Cross of Hope

6

The Lord's Hand

7

Fear—the Root Cause of Anxiety and Worry

8

Dreamer, Come Out of the Shadows of Darkness (the Dreamer)

9

In the Stormy Sea, Why Me? Why Not?

10

The Story of the Begging Bowl

11

In a Dark and Long Tunnel

12

Young Man, Have a Dream for the World

13

Storm and Silence, but At Last

14

Elijah, the Man of Fire

15

The Earnestness of Blind Bartimaeus

16

Recover

17

God of Ebenezer

Part 2

1

Waymaker, God Who Makes a Way in the Wilderness

2

Coincidence, Grace, and God's Providence

3

The Honorable and Valuable One, Jabez

4

O My God, Do Not Be Silent!

5

Faith for Blessings and Blessings in the Bible

6

The Spirit of God, the Work of the Holy Spirit

7

God Working in the Swamp of Silence

8

Obstacles to Prayer

9

Cane and Sticks

10

A Purposeful Life (Shaking Faith, Unshakable Faith)

11

Prayers That Are Pleasing to God

12

How Does God Lead Us?

About the Author

Other Books by Chong Ho Kim

The Silence of God and the Fallen Leaves (Wheat Grain Press, 2019)

In the Stormy Sea (Wheat Grain Press, 2022)

Lord!

The sea of life we must navigate until we stand before the Lord is too wide,

The waves of the world's temptations and the storms of trials are rough

To get through this stormy sea

My boat of faith is just too small.

The sail of faith is torn apart by all the storms and trials of the world

I can't handle the fair wind that the Lord blows

I am going to make my way little by little riding the strong wind and waves that the Lord raises.

Lord!

Hold my little hand tightly,

and lead me right away, step by step, slowly but surely.

On that day,

Until we face the face of the Lord…

Rule me to burn and melt into light and salt

Introduction

Our Christian faith is neither philosophical nor academic, nor is it theoretical or abstract. It must be applied and obtained concretely and practically in real life. God protected the chosen people from the scorching sun with a pillar of cloud during the day and saved them from the cold with a pillar of fire at night for forty years in the wilderness. The motivation for writing this book is to rediscover the pillar of fire and cloud of the Lord Almighty, who has led and protected his chosen people for forty years in the wilderness in our lives filled with chaos and darkness.

Our fears are driven by not knowing what awaits us in the future. But if God is still there in the future, then the story is wrong. It is always a correct proposition that the future of Christians, who have received the grace of the Lord God Almighty, who created the heavens and the earth, should be a future of hope, not despair. It is truly a pleasure to be there. However, we must continue to pray and work hard for this. Because if you just think about it and don't make an effort, it will be just a vain dream.

You shouldn't give up halfway if you can't see it no matter how hard you try. In some cases, it is not that we keep trying because we see hope, but we see hope because we keep praying and going forward. It's not knocking because the door is open. It's because you have to keep knocking to open it. That's right. We don't pray because we see hope. Hope is visible because we continue to pray with faith. If we continue to go forward with faith, the Waymaker God will make the way. Deep rivers part. At the age of a hundred, we may have a son we never expected. We must hold on to God's numerous promises and knock on them until they are opened. The most important thing in obtaining God's grace is earnestness and persistence. Do not hold back tears before God. This is because God's inspiration comes early to prayers offered earnestly and patiently with tears.

The most important thing about prayer is the praying itself. We often say that whenever we want to accomplish something, we should prepare for it with prayer. The more you plan for great things, the bigger your prayers, such as intentional prayers and fasting prayers. That's right. We should prepare with prayer.

But we shouldn't forget one important thing: prayer is not a preparation for a greater work, but prayer itself is a greater work.

Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who can rescue me from this world of darkness? These days, such a sigh comes out by itself. However, God opens the eyes of faith to those who pray. Just as the prison doors were opened when Paul and Silas prayed and the dead were revived when Elijah and Paul prayed, pray with full anticipation for prayer, keeping in mind that countless signs and wonders in the Bible were accomplished through prayer. You must know that nothing will come true if nothing is desired.

There are more things we don't know than what we can know about the past, today, and even more tomorrow. But God knows everything and is in control. Even the sad, painful, and frustrating things don't happen by chance. They happen in God's deep providence, and God knows them all. Only fervent and persistent prayer can help us accept and adapt to all of God's providence in a positive way.

Don't be afraid of the many difficulties that come your way in life because there are many more benefits to be gained from suffering than when things are going well. In ordinary life, there is little progress and change, but hardships make you think deeply about life. Above all, suffering breaks the ego. So It makes you see a new world; it makes you seek God. It is a life opportunity and a challenge to create a new life, such as looking back at the difficult and struggling neighbors. These are the people God uses deeply. Abraham was like that; Jacob was like that; Moses was like that; Paul was like that; and the people of faith whom God uses deeply were all people who had fallen off a high cliff and had flown for a long time.

Like this, the edge of the cliff is a dangerous, painful, fearful, trembling, amazing, and frightening place with increased pain and sorrow and an amazing and scary place with increased pain and sadness, but it is also a place of blessing because God's grace is at the cliff's edge.

This is the paradox and mystery of the Christian faith. Just as God opens another door when one door closes, the end is the end of yesterday and the beginning of a new today. Closing an end is like starting a new chapter. For the unbelievers, the end may be the end of life, but for the chosen by the Lord Almighty, a new history begins at the end, so we must not give up until the very end. That's right. The edge of the cliff is the cradle where we begin to learn God's love and God's statutes that we have forgotten.

It is a world that is dark, stuffy, and hopeless, so it is a world that needs more fiery faith like Elijah and Elisha. I pray that the brothers and sisters of faith who are going through the tunnel of darkness at this time realize God's mercy and love through this book and learn the law and that God will cover the gray and dark world with bright colors of hope and victory. I pray fervently.

Part 1

1

A Life of Empty Nets

Jesus got into a boat, which was Simon's, and asked to be brought a little farther from shore. He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. Simon answered and said, Sir, we have toiled all night and caught nothing, but at your word I will lower the nets.

—Luke 5:3

Not too long ago, I met a deacon. He was someone I knew from the church I attended before moving. He has been leading the business dealing in health products for nearly twenty years. I met him by chance after almost eight years, but the figure of a person who was so voluptuous while handling health products was beyond words. He was suffering from stomach ulcers caused by the sluggish business and the stress that followed, and he felt more guilty than anything else about his faltering faith.

When a large distribution business called Amazon was launched, he should have already looked to the future and put down the business, but I hung in there a little bit longer, and then he went over all the houses and health product stores and even became a credit delinquent, so he couldn't find a place to rent there. Then he came across this place by chance while looking for a house three hours away from. It reminded me of the seven disciples who were holding an empty net by the sea of Tiberias if they were tired while talking to him, who had worked hard all his life in vain and now avoided the dew and cold and had no place to rest even for a moment. Seeing that many people, both inside and outside the church, were shaking not only the problems themselves derived from work, business, money, health, and human relationships, but even the fundamental problem of faith, as a result, I hope that this will be of some help in reestablishing faith. I am posting this from the heart.

Prayer

First of all, at this time, I pray for all those who are in despair with the empty net of life in front of them.

"Lord! We remember the day two thousand years ago, at this hour, when the resurrected Lord watched the seven disciples fishing from afar with loving eyes. The disciples toiled all night with all their might, but in the end, they fell into despair with their empty nets. The Lord called the disciples and blessed them by satisfying their hunger with the meat and bread God had baked with his own hands!

"Why shouldn't there be some of your chosen sons and daughters, even now, at this hour, on this seat, who are struggling with empty nets because their life's labor is in vain?

Now, at this time, upon this place, we lay before thee the empty nets of a spiritually thirsty soul, the empty nets of material hardship, the empty nets of weak health and physical sickness, the empty nets of fear because of uncertainty about the future, the empty nets of loneliness because of estrangement from neighborly relations—all those empty nets of, all shapes and sizes, Lord! Fill these empty nets with your compassion and grace, and bless me so that we may once again regain courage and strength to continue walking in faith. We pray in the name of Jesus.

The wilderness is the way to Canaan, the promised land

We often refer to becoming a believer as coming out of the land of Egypt into the wilderness, and we also refer to our faith on earth as being trained in the wilderness. After the Exodus, the Israelites encountered several places with good water for living in the wilderness. They could have stayed there, pitched their tents, settled down for a long time, and rested their weary bodies, but when the clouds lifted, they would fold up their tents again and enter the wilderness road.

Why? Because for them, the wilderness was just a way station, not a place to live for a long time. Their purpose in life at that time was to get into the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, no matter what. Sometimes, whenever they ran out of water and wanted to eat meat and vegetables, they would look back and thought about going back to Egypt. The fact is that Egypt didn't send them away because they wanted to. They could always go back if they wanted to, and they would have been welcomed in Egypt.

But even though there was a wilderness road ahead of them, they still had to enter the wilderness road because they knew that their final destination was the land of Canaan, the eternal land flowing with milk and honey, and that in order to get there, they must go through the wilderness road. That's right. Whoever was chosen by God and in the course of living out of the sinful land of Egypt must go through the hardships of the wilderness without exception. Therefore, we should not be discouraged or disappointed by the difficulties we encounter in life as if they were a strange test.

James 1:2–4 says, Brothers, if you face trials of various kinds, count them as joy. Know that the trial of your faith produces endurance. Therefore, endure to the end and become perfect and mature people who lack nothing.

You cannot reach Canaan, the promised land, by leaving the wilderness

In the beginning, God created humans for his pleasure. During creation, he gave us all free will to think and act because we didn't want to live lifelessly, like Robert, but our ancestors abused it and ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, and through that, sin entered us. As a result, we cannot live without toiling and sweating. In the process, quarrels, murders, and lies between brothers and neighbors become rampant, and as long as we are human beings, we all suffer. Look at our many ancestors of faith, starting with Abraham. No one could avoid suffering. In a word, suffering is human destiny.

However, it seems that there are too many cases in which people lose vitality in their religious life because they have a wrong understanding of hardships and blessings. The biggest misunderstanding is the belief that believers with good faith do not suffer. When believers have a false belief that believes that they are suffering, they become frustrated and discouraged even in small trials.

The Bible doesn't promise to remove suffering, but it does promise to be with us always and to give us the strength to overcome it. It would seem that humans would be happy if all hardships were eliminated, but that is never the case because Adam and Eve sinned despite living in the best of conditions.

Pillar of cloud and pillar of fire in the wilderness

Just as sunlight and rain are sprayed by the wicked and the good, no one in the world is the descendant of Adam, and there is no way to escape from the path of suffering due to Adam's original sin. But we must know that the hardships that come to those who believe in God are different from normal hardships.

Psalm 66:10–12 says, God, the Lord has judged us as if he were burning silver. He led us into a net, and put a heavy burden on our backs, and the enemies trampled us. We passed through fire and water, but now you have brought us to safety.

It took God only one night to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, but it took forty long years to wipe out the remnants of Egypt from them. Even after being chosen by God, it takes a long period of suffering and hardship to fully stand as God wants. Therefore, we should not be surprised that the fiery test is coming, and we should not be discouraged or shaken, thinking that it is impossible even if we believe in God. During the forty years of our life in the wilderness, he blocked the scorching sun with a pillar of cloud during the day and saved us from the cold with a pillar of fire at night. Even in our lives at this time, God protects us with the same pillar of cloud and fire as at that time. And, if necessary, he makes the empty net so full that it bursts and returns. You should never be afraid.

Grains and chaff

We can know whether it is grain or chaff through the way they go through hardships. Most of them seem to have doubts and leave God when they suffer hardships in their life of faith, but on the contrary, we can see many people whose faith is rightly advanced to a greater level of faith as they undergo hardships. It's raining a lot these days. Every time the rainy season sets in, the small stones are washed away by the water, but the large rocks overcome the current and hold on, rather rising up little by little. This is because the sand under the rock is dug by the water, so the center of gravity of the rock tilts upward and rolls upward little by little. Although we feel infinitely resentful when faced with harsh rainstorms, we have seen many cases in which faith matures like a great rock and gains greater things from God through this process.

Romans 8:28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

The mystery of faith is here. Therefore, the more adversity you experience, the more you walk out with a greater reverence for God. Also, the more blessings we receive, the better our faith will be, but in reality, this is not always the case. We must not forget that Adam and Eve sinned under the best conditions, where they seemed to lack nothing at all.

God works in empty boats and empty nets

Just as it is darkest before dawn, in the Bible, great suffering must come before God hears our prayers.

Exodus 2; 23 After many years the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned and cried out for their toil, and the voice of their cry ascended to God because of their toil. 25 He remembered the covenant and remembered the children of Israel.

Because they prayed in pain like this, God remembered the promise and sent Moses. In the case of Elijah and in the book of Judges, great pain always came before God worked. It is the same in life. No matter how hard we worked, there must have been times when the fruits of our efforts were so small that we fell into discouragement. Same with Peter. It must have seemed empty in his mind, body, and soul after toiling all night in vain. But he was in such a state of collapse that when the Lord came to his empty boat, he was welcomed. If his boat were full, he would not have stopped Jesus from getting into the boat, but he would have refused Jesus's request to row out into the deep and cast a net.

However, because his boat was empty, he was able to take Jesus. Even in my case, it seems that God comes on board when we thoroughly realize our own incompetence and become completely empty. He wants them to be completely empty and filled only with Jesus. For God's chosen people, empty boats and empty nets are the sign that it has become a time of grace for the Lord to set to work, to experience his filling. That's why we shouldn't despair in any case. The worst situation is the time to meet God who is the best in the world. Sometimes our longing desires of the heart may return as empty nets like echoes in the air, but we must never stop praying until the empty nets are filled with the grace of God of love and mercy.

The many reasons why hardship is approaching

There must have been times in our lives when we threw our nets in the stormy sea of life where we could not see the Lord at all and said, Where is the Lord? and never felt the Lord in us. The Bible says that even the fall of a sparrow to the ground is providential, so why shouldn't the coming trials of God's chosen be significant? Many reasons have been given as to why. Fellowship with God is not perfect. You must repent. You have to forgive others, you have to live righteously, you learn God's statutes, you become humble, you look only at God, you believe in the heavenly Christ, but you live a worldly life. You need to seek the things of heaven rather than the things of earth. Theoretically, it's all right, and partial answers come out, but a definite conclusion can't and shouldn't be made. This is because God has withheld a definite conclusion.

Propos 8:17 and 7 says, "And looking at what God is doing, man cannot understand what is being done in the world. No matter how hard I try to find it, I can't find its meaning, and I can't really understand it even if the wise man claims to know everything.

Suffering is the megaphone God gives us

C. S. Lewis said, Suffering is the megaphone God gives us. It's like pointing a microphone at someone who doesn't understand God's words and speaking. We often choose to express suffering as a wilderness. In Hebrew, the wilderness is called Midbar. Its etymology is derived from the verb davar, which means to speak. Due to the sinful nature of human beings, they pay little attention to the voice of God in a state where everything is satisfactory without lacking. However, when they come out into the wilderness of hardships in the empty field where there is nothing to see, they understand it well. That's right. Because the wilderness of suffering is like a loudspeaker. Therefore, when suffering approaches us, we must fall on our knees to know God's will hidden in suffering, rather than thinking, Why do only I have to suffer so hard?

Suffering comes to everyone, but if you have the ability to interpret it, it becomes a meaningful suffering and gives you the strength to endure it. And if you don't, it becomes a futile suffering. There is hardly anyone in this world who lives without suffering, and there is no successful person who has not overcome suffering. That's right. Whether you believe in God or not, suffering comes. Hardships are just hardships, and enduring for a long time does not mean that hardships turn into blessings. Believers should use this suffering as a medium to look back on themselves deeply and use it as an opportunity to change their lives. This is because all the hardships that come to believers have a deep reason. In no case should you collapse in an environment of hardship.

Seek the presence of the Lord with an earnest heart

We have listed the reasons for suffering above, but these are conditions that are almost impossible to solve with only the will of a fundamentally fallen human being. However, if you put on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of it, you will voluntarily and happily fulfill everything without anyone pointing out or teaching you. Therefore, the most important thing in front of the empty nets of life is to pray for the Lord's presence with an earnest heart. Paradoxically, you should know that the more empty your boat is, the faster and more fully it will be filled. Are you an empty boat now? The Lord is only with those who admit their weakness.

Peter, who tried to move the boat of life with his own strength, confessed after obeying the Lord's command, I am a sinner (Luke 5:8). If you can confess like Peter even in the midst of failure and adversity, you will become an empty boat that has failed in the world but will become an empty boat of grace that brings back life because of God. God's works happen steadily, but there are many cases that suddenly happen one day. The fall of Jericho, General Naaman's healing, and Daniel's prayer all came true in an instant at the end as God had decided. Therefore, the prayer of perseverance is so important

Learn to fall but get up quickly

After the crime in the garden of Eden, all human beings falter and sometimes fall. Even Abraham, Moses, and David faltered and sometimes even fell. Therefore, just because you have entered the test, you should not blame yourself for your faith or take a backward step in your faith, thinking it as if you were in a strange fiery test. The important thing is not to fall down but how quickly you can get up again after falling down. We still have a long way to go, and no one knows what tests, temptations, and difficulties await us. However, if you are prepared for this, you will never have to be afraid.

Testimony

In my own case, I cannot even begin to calculate how many times I have faltered and fallen, even after the wonderful experience of God's living presence over the past many years. At first, there were many times when I struggled with prayer to die, but once I fell, I couldn't stand up for a long time. At that time, the Word of God itself would completely disappear from my mind due to doubts about the existence of God, but I still meditate on the Word every day according to my usual habit of prayer and meditation on the Word, and I never forget to go to the cross at the appointed time and prostrate myself before it.

Although the sound of prayer was completely gone, the empty head remained, and nothing but sighs and tears came out. As the years passed, the amount of time I fell over began to decrease, and I don't fall much now. But even so, I don't think I've ever passed more than a day because I've learned to stand up again. Now, whenever my faith is shaken, I would like to share with you how to hold on to it and build it up again.

How to deal with adversity

The words that I read countless times in the long tunnel of darkness that seemed endless were the Psalms. Among them, the prayers of tears written by David were especially comforting to me. What I felt in the Psalms at that time, and what I culled from the books and words I read and heard countless times, are the following three. It's not something ingenious that isn't even in the Bible. I would like to clarify that I have already briefly summarized the details that you would have known individually and vaguely. However, what I dare to conclude is that if you use these three things well with patience, you will not feel any lack in firmly establishing your shaky faith.

First of all, we should have time for repentance to open the door to prayer

Isaiah 59:1–2 says, It is not that the Lord cannot save you because of his lack of ability, nor that he cannot hear you cry because he is deaf. Because your sins have separated you from God, he turns away from you and does not listen to your cries.

As in this verse, as the first order of prayer, you must take out all the sins you have committed knowingly or unknowingly and have a time of repentance to clean the room in your heart where the Holy Spirit will dwell. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who invade. If a problem beyond your ability is bothering you at this time, isn't this an opportunity to meet God again? Wouldn't it be the wisest course of action to go through hardships like fasting and praying for a few days and be freed from all the problems that will plague your life? And you will have to think deeply. In order to start a conversation with God, you must first break down the wall of sin that forms a wall between you and God. If you feel the need to have a conversation with God, as soon as you come to the place of prayer, you must begin with the time of prayer of repentance.

Repentance is a rush on the spot

Exodus 34:7–9 says:

I will give love up to a thousand generations and forgive sins and wrongs, but I will not leave the criminal unpunished, and I will punish him for his sins up to the third and fourth generations of his descendants. Then Moses quickly fell to the ground and worshiped and said, O Lord, if I have been blessed by you, you will come with us. Although this people is a stubborn people who do not obey well, forgive our sins and wrongs and accept us as your people.

Likewise, repentance is to be done in a hurry, on the spot, but it cannot be postponed and should not be done. Before Satan interferes, the moment you realize your sin, you must do it on the spot. When David heard Nathan's rebuke after committing adultery with Bathsheba, he did it on the spot. He said in 2 Samuel 12:13, I have committed a crime against the Lord. And Nathan replied, The Lord has forgiven the king. Therefore, the king will not die.

As soon as he realized his sin, he repented, and the story began to unravel. You come to the place of prayer, and you must take the time to repent and start a conversation. Above all, we cannot hear the voice of God unless we cleanse our hearts of envy, jealousy, selfishness, anger, and arrogance that are lurking in our hearts.

First, meditation of the chosen words and singing encouraging songs (especially gospel songs).

Second, remembering and giving thanks for answered prayers in the past (writing thank-notebooks—restoration of gratitude and faith).

Third, desperately and persistently adore the grace of the Holy Spirit and the need for extreme religious determination (special prayer).

In order to establish one's faith firmly and receive God's grace, the effort of my own determination (first and second) and the help of the Holy Spirit (second and third) are essential.

Prayer and the Word—key guides to the life of faith

The two cornerstones of faith are prayer and the Word. The only way to overcome the test is through the word and prayer. The Word is given to us by God, and prayer is what we offer to God, and neither is sufficient without the other. It is often said that the power of the Word is understood to come out just by studying and reading it, but the reality is never so. When we live according to the Word—that is, when we live by doing (obedience)—the true power of the Word comes out, but the problem is that the power to do this does not come from our will. It can only be done with the help of the Holy Spirit. That's why we need earnest prayer to seek the help of the Holy Spirit. It means that we become strong and courageous by always coming close to the Word, meditating on it, holding on to it, praying, and obeying it.

There is never a fluke about how it will turn out in life. The only weapon Jesus used in his fight against Satan was the Word of God. There can be many interpretations of Satan's temptation to Eve first, but what is clear is that the Word was given to Adam in (Genesis 2:16, 17), but God never directly gave it to Eve. That is why Satan took advantage of this gap. However, studying the Word alone is difficult. No matter how nutritious food we eat, it is meaningless if it does not turn into energy in our bodies.

In order for the Word to become energy in our lives, we need to pray wholeheartedly. There are many appearances of angels in the Bible, but they appear twice in relation to Jesus, both of which are related to prayer. In other words, after forty days of fasting and prayer and in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus devotes himself to prayer.

The know-how to being strong and courageous

Joshua 1:7–8 is the key guide in our life of faith:

But be strong and very courageous, and observe and do all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left, and you will prosper wherever you go. This book of the law will not depart from your mouth, day and night. Meditate on it, and be careful to do all that is written in it; then your path will be prosperous, and you will prosper.

There won't be only one or two obstacles that you bump into while living by faith. Because God knows better than anyone else that there are so many difficulties everywhere that our weak faith and body alone can handle, the words Be strong and courageous appear three times in Joshua 1. However, since God said, Be strong and courageous, you do not become strong and courageous just by making a promise in your heart that I must be strong and courageous or I must be strong and courageous. But God is showing the know-how in verse 8. The know-how to becoming strong and bold is only one word.

Meditating on the Word day and night and obeying the Word is the way to prosper. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River to go to Canaan, where enemies roamed, the first thing they set up was the ark of the covenant—that is, the Word of God. Even when they attacked Jericho, it was not brave soldiers with powerful weapons in the lead. They surrounded the ark of Jehovah God in the middle and just turned around.

The skyscraper buildings in Manhattan, New York, shake greatly from side to side when a typhoon blows, but they never topple over. Because its foundation is made of solid rock. The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, took just two years to build the foundation, and many people criticized the construction process because of the high cost, but the designer did not waver and finished the construction in four years. A few years later, during the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923, two-thirds of the building collapsed, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed, but the hotel was said to have suffered no damage.

First, meditate on the Word and sing encouraging praises

In order to escape from the crisis of faith, the first thing we need is to pick out God's promised words that especially give us courage and comfort from the Bible, read them often, and meditate on them (there are many related scriptures in the appendix at the end of the Thompson Bible). Praise is a tune to our prayers. Praise lyrics are our prayers. Among the gospel songs, there are many gospel songs that express our earnest hearts as they are. Memorize all the sheet music as much as possible. Pray to your heart's content in a place where no one is present, with tears and songs. The blocked heart and the flow of prayer are opened.

At this time, sometimes the grace of God's Word stays only in the head, and the heart is still dry. Therefore, it is effective to use second while using first.

Second, give thanks by reading the thank-notebooks that contain the answers to prayer topics.

God of Ebenezer

The second step is to give thanks while looking at the notebook in which prayer answers are recorded in detail—such as When I was in such a difficult time before, God responded like this—while remembering God's grace and power that he has been with us in the past. In order to receive the guidance of God who meets us in the wilderness of life and guides us to the good path, we must control the heart of complaint and resentment in our hearts. This heart of complaint and resentment prevents us from looking at God who meets us in the wilderness and prevents us from walking on the path of grace prepared by God and imprisoning ourselves on the fence of unhappiness and making our lives degenerate. In order to control this kind of mind, the most urgent thing is to have a heart of gratitude and positivity due to God. We meet the God of Ebenezer in the process of remembering God's grace that came upon us in the past through faith of gratitude. God, who has led us this far, is with us now and will be with us tomorrow, so why am I afraid? If you feel the grace coming, you have already won.

To be grateful is to confess that you have received what you have already received

Gratitude is confessing that you have received what you have already received. There is no need to worry about tomorrow's answer in advance. As you read the answers recorded in your gratitude note, take time to meditate on why you should worry in advance when the God who protected you through the difficulties of the past is still alive and will continue forever. In my case, in most cases, in the midst of fulfilling first and second, there were many cases where I felt a new energy springing up in my discouraged soul.

For example, if you have great experiences or other amazing miracles like when God first came to you, try to remember these things first. Remembering the wonderful graces of that time, confessing your wavering faith in God, and earnestly seeking God's help, you will surely experience the grace of the Holy Spirit's work in any form. When you experience the grace of the Holy Spirit, the thoughts in your heart will first change to a positive one. When the heart is renewed, the words of the lips also change accordingly.

An amazing thing happens when a person who was thinking of suicide reverses his thoughts and starts to say, Let's live and a person who used to think It's hard for me is transformed into a dynamic person who says, Everybody, cheer up. Whatever the case, find the conditions of gratitude and learn to give them because God's purpose in creating us is to receive gratitude from us. It is said that gratitude brings gratitude. Realistically, even if we are shedding bloody tears, nevertheless, God, who receives thanks to God, never sends us back empty-handed.

Third, special prayers, such as fasting prayers (faith decision of hard work and persistence)

Of course, the grace of the Holy Spirit, who helps us knowingly or unknowingly, lies at the root of the transition process of first and second. However, in some cases, problems that cannot be solved with the above two methods may appear. For example, when faced with extreme difficulties, no matter how many comforting words you read, no matter how many times you recall past prayer answers and say, Thank you, God, your heart will continue to waver and you will feel distressed.

In this case, it is a problem beyond my ability. In other words, we are talking about cases where it is impossible with human effort alone. At this time, in any case, my zeal and persistence to overcome this crisis of faith with God's grace is the most important means, and this is the case of using the third.

The third refers to the case of hanging on to God with the determination that if you die, you will die only to obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit. For example, it refers to the time when extreme religious decisions such as fasting prayer and intentional prayer are needed. Scenes of making such extreme