“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” (Psalm 4:1)

July 2005

Dear Friend,

Trusting that all is well with you and your loved ones. We are fine, and praising God for all that He has done in this past month! By the time you receive this,  Pray NY has taken place, where hundreds of churches in NY took to the streets to pray blessings upon the people, homes, businesses, schools, churches, etc. Our ministry volunteers walked the zip codes in our areas and we are trusting that God has done above and beyond what we could ever think of or imagine in the lives of the people that were prayed for! By the time you are reading this, the Billy Graham crusade will be in progress. CHN will be working on the follow-up from the Crusade, and we are looking forward to the in-depth ministry that will take place as our volunteers call those who made a decision for Christ at the Crusade. Glory!

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 4. I can identify with David as he goes through his good and bad times. Can’t you? He pulls no punches, he is either in serious difficulty, crying out to God, or he is dancing and rejoicing in what God has done. He does not think twice when it comes to saying exactly how he feels, and he speaks to God with his heart, opening up completely, not holding anything back. Isn’t this what we should be doing? It is so easy to just grumble and complain, and think that we have prayed!!! What we learn from David, is to open up our mouths and tell God everything from beginning to end! As a Loving Father, God waits for us to do just that! He knows what we need before we ask, but He wants to have that relationship with us, where we will open up and talk, telling Him everything. He wants to hear from us, and He also wants to speak to us!

In Psalm 4, David is in distress, crying out to God for mercy and relief. We can surely identify with David in his prayer. All of us go through seasons of life where it seems as if nothing is going right. We find adversity on all sides, no matter how hard we try to make things right! During those times in the valley, we realize that our only hope is in Jesus Christ. Even then, we are affected by lack of sleep as we toss and turn all night. I think we can all agree that sleep is the first thing that is affected when we face adverse trials. The enemy loves to rob us of the very thing that can help to strengthen and rejuvenate our body! When we allow our sleep to be troubled, we are giving in to the

enemy. We are showing lack of faith that our Heavenly Father is there, waiting to hear from us, and answer our prayer.

What is the remedy for this? Let us look at where our safety lies! Psalm 4:4 tells us “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.” We can understand from this verse that it is okay to be angry, but we are not to let that anger cause us to sin.  It is what we do with it that counts.  If we are losing sleep because of our situation, then it shows us that we are not putting our trust on the Lord! We are to be still, to maintain our trust, and put our hope in the Lord. This is the answer to receiving peace and rest, and a good nights sleep! We are to return to God, to trust in His wisdom in our situation, and allow Him to work things out His way. How many times have we gone over something in our head a hundred times over, agonized over it, and lost sleep over it, only to find that God has already taken care of the situation? Meanwhile we could have been doing what David said he would do, “I will lie down and sleep in peace.” (Vs. 8)

Summertime is a wonderful time to slow down and rest. It is a time where we can stop, and take in the beauty of the world around us; the flowers, the trees, a cool stream found near a mountainside, birds singing, and sunshine. We can lie on the grass in a park and look up at the clouds and take in the majesty of God’s creation. We can remember God’s promises, and know that they are for today. We can look up at a rainbow in the sky and take in His Glory!

We can rest, and be at peace because God is on the Throne and no weapon formed against us can prosper! We can remember that the God we serve hears not only our spoken prayers, but also our sighs. Even when we don’t know what to pray for, God’s Word tells us that “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Rom. 8:26).

Faith is simply taking God at His Word. Strong faith respects the Greatness of God, and that kind of faith is a Gift from God, and it is freely given to those who ask. God wants us to be satisfied in our walk with Him. He wants us to receive all that He has to give! He wants us to enjoy the gift of life, and know that He is our Source for all that we need. When times are hard, we are to look up! “...the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18)

Let us take this time to rest, to talk to God, to grow more in the knowledge of Who He is, and grow closer in our walk with Him. Let this summer be a time of growth. As we look to the Source of all that we need, our hearts can rest, and we can be at peace.

God bless you,

Rev. Barbara Anne Yovino, Ph.D.