9/13/2025
"When prayer is a struggle, do not worry about the prayers that you
cannot pray. You yourself are a prayer to God at that moment.
All that is within you cries out to Him. And He hears all the pleas
that your suffering soul and body are making to Him with
groanings which cannot be uttered."
O. Hallesby
Today marks the 102nd birthday of my daddy, had he lived - John Marshall Cabaniss. He was 89 years old when he passed away on 12/20/2012. Mama preceded him in death on 12/20/2009, at the age of 82 - Margaret Louise Rowland Cabaniss. It seemed rather fitting, perhaps prophetic, that they should depart this world three years apart on the same day. I have always felt that mama was waiting for him at the gates of Heaven, excited to introduce him to Jesus. It's just my thought, but it seems appropriate to me, at least.
My daddy had three sisters, all have passed away, but I have cousins remaining. Sadly, I have been unable to gather them together, but it has become a priority of mine. Today, however, my mama's two sisters and one remaining brother got together with the cousins for a little reunion in North Carolina close to the Assisted Living Facility where mama's oldest remaining sister (well into her 90's) lives. Since moving back home to Virginia in October 2021, I have only visited with family at nursing homes and funeral parlors. This is why we decided to have a family reunion, as we didn't want to "meet up" again for less than pleasant reasons. Some of the cousins and I were chatting, and it appears that I am the third oldest cousin, so it seems that I have seniority at the ripe old age of 75. I guess that accounts for something.
It was a nice time, although I ate the wrong foods and am paying for it severely today. Still, all in all, it is a small price to pay to spend quality time with my family whom I missed for the 35 years I lived in Northern New Mexico. I hope we do it again before too long. I have been meeting with members of my high school graduation class of 1968 for several years for the same reasons - life is brief. Over the years, we would get together whenever I visited my parents, but now I get to see them every three months. We will be meeting this Thursday at one of local restaurants, because we must have food! We always have a good time of fellowship, but I need to learn to mingle a little better. It seems that we become clannish and hang with those we know better, same at family reunions. Why is that? Can it be the sheer number of years makes us reticent? Maybe I'll address that question.
It was good for me to take time away from the prayer closet and prayer calls for just a day. This week has been a particularly difficult one, and my emotions are tied up in knots, yet, although my heart is broken, the joy of the Lord truly has been my strength.
Days are passing by so quickly, just as the day dawns, it quickly fades into the afternoon and evening, leaving little accomplished, at least in my mind's eye. Today marks the 708th day of the war in Israel, and another surge of the battle is mounting up, as the innocent civilians are being moved from harm's way. The United Nations General Assembly started up this week in New York City, adding additional tension against Israel. Plus all the additional "wars" brewing on the streets of the nation and world. But then, there exists daily massacres in Nigeria and the Congo, and that's two places. Evil is virtually everywhere, and Christians are dying daily for their faith. Now it is coming to the America. It is a difficult thing to watch, and sometimes all I can do is cry out to God "Help!" When does enough ever become enough?
My little devotional, 60 Days of Prayer, always seems to hit me where I am at, as the expression goes. Today's short reminder is entitled Running the Race Marked Out for You. It is based on scripture found in Hebrews 12:1-2: "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." This scripture encourages us to continue to hold fast to our faith, setting aside any doubts, distractions, any besetting sins, anything that burdens your soul, and focus on Christ and Christ alone. Do you realize that the words "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" is about "us," those who follow Him, who call Him Lord? He was willing to take the shame of the death of the cross, the bear all the sins - past, present, and future - to ransom us from death. He loved us that much to leave His position in Heaven, to come down to earth, and take our place. I invite you to close your eyes and think about that for a moment. Look at His face, and remember.
Jude 1:3 exhorts us: "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."
These are indeed perilous days, and the enemy of our souls is getting desperate to silence God's voice, as the assassination of our beloved Charlie Kirk demonstrated. But truth never dies, as one pastor pointed out, not even when someone is viciously and cowardly shot in the throat. I never had the privilege of knowing Charlie personally, but he was part of Zoom prayer call vigils of which I was a part. He continues to be a shining example of God's grace and faith in Jesus Christ his Savior and Lord. His testimony and the work began in him will not be silenced! May all praise, honor and glory be unto our Lord and our God.
Let's keep our eyes on the Commander of the Armies of Heaven, and cut off the head of the snake! That was God's mandate to me, and I now share with you. Continue to fight the good fight of faith until we see Him coming in the clouds!
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