God Wants to Say Yes

GOD WANTS TO SAY YES

Dr. Wyveta Kirk

This book is not intended to replace the Holy Bible. Readers are advised to study the Scriptures for themselves and never take another’s word without verifying its accuracy. For assistance in handling struggles with spiritual issues, I believe turning to God in prayer should be the first place to seek.

Copyright © 2015 by Wyveta Kirk

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission by the author. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Dr. Wyveta Kirk/ SuccesSteps Publishing

God Wants to Say Yes/ Dr. Wyveta Kirk. -- 1st edition.

Print: ISBN: 978-0-9915998-6-8

Ebook: ISBN: 978-0-9915998-7-5

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan.

All rights reserved worldwide www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Cover designed by Maria Gandolfo, Italy

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Dedicated to my deceased Facebook friend

and all the many people God puts in my path who serve as my Spiritual teachers.

"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him "

WHY?

To conform us to the likeness of His Son

(Romans 8:28, 29)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE: HOW THIS BOOK BEGAN

PRAYING AS I BELIEVE - FINALLY

FAITH REQUIRES ACTIVE RESPONSES

BAPTIZED, THEN WHAT?

RELATIONSHIP THROUGH PRAYER

INTENT OF PRAYER

JUDGMENT DAY

FEAR NOT

PRESS UNTIL THE LORD ANSWERS

CONFRONTING DEATH

IMPORTANCE OF GOD’S WORD

SERVE TO THE END

MOMENT OF DEPARTURE

PART TWO: CONTINUED GROWTH

ASK FOR WHAT’S WANTED

WAIT ON THE LORD

DISOBEDIENCE OBSTRUCTS GOD’S ANSWER

SELFISH/EGO PRAYERS GO UNHEARD

MARITAL DISCORD THWARTS PRAYERS

DOUBT IMPEDES GOD’S ANSWER

GOD WELCOMES REPENTANT SINNERS

GOD SAID. NO, TWICE

OUR LOVED ONES

CHOOSE WHO YOU WILL SERVE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PART ONE: HOW THIS BOOK BEGAN

Scrolling through Facebook, I discovered a woman who said she was dying and terrified. I offered to pray for her. This chance meeting led to a lengthy email relationship with her asking numerous questions regarding her faith. I felt unprepared to answer many of her concerns, but I knew God’ Word held the answers. What follows is a summary our communications. Realizing how God helped both of us grow spiritually, I no longer believe our meeting was an accident.

PRAYING AS I BELIEVE - FINALLY

I am dying very soon, and I am scared! I saw this post as I scrolled Facebook. The woman said she was in Hospice care and had two to four months to live. I offered to pray for her, and when I did, she responded with a question about baptism. When I answered, she asked another question. With each of my replies, she asked something else. She and I chatted numerous times by email, but we never met.

I liked communicating with her because it forced me to study and helped me to grow spiritually, especially in how I prayed. Her questions made me search Scriptures to ensure I answered with what God’s Word said, not simply what I thought it said or what I had been taught. I attempted to support every answer with multiple Biblical examples and personal experiences. I hoped my replies would give her peace as she faced death, and I know it increased my faith.

After her questions about baptism, she asked what I thought about Christian living, God, prayer, heaven, death, and more. She wanted Scriptures that promised heaven. She needed their comfort and sought reassurance of God’s promises of salvation. She feared she had not lived a good enough life to deserve heaven. I found this very sad. Either she did not understand God’s grace or she did not accept it. But then most people find it difficult to accept an undeserved gift of such immense value.

Like all of us, this sister’s faith wavered at times. Still, she tried to live as God asked. She questioned her salvation because she judged herself by her weaknesses when she should have judged herself by Christ, the foundation of her faith. While she often failed, Jesus Christ’s promises never do. God’s grace covered her spiritual deficits.

Satan wanted her to recall her imperfections and every act of sinfulness, and he used her painful memories to destroy her peace. She needed to judge herself by what Christ did for her, not by what she did or failed to do because God keeps His promises. God can not lie. His promises compel Him to ensure that she and all faithful believers who strive to adhere to His Word reap heaven. God makes such promises because He wants everyone to know they live saved and not live fearing death. "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Pe. 3:9).

After she died, I realized how dramatically I had changed how I prayed. Now I prayed about concerns that I never would have considered taking to God before corresponding with her. Even if I had, God would not have answered because of my questioning if he would respond to such pleas. I held too much doubt. She proved that God, sometimes, has a way of using unusual circumstances for furthering our growth. Let me explain how differently I now talk with the Lord.

I begin by sharing the things I prayed about on our recent vacation. I had completed a rough draft of this book before leaving home, and committing my beliefs to paper challenged me to practice what I claimed to believe. Therefore, as we traveled, God heard requests from me that proved atypical of my prior prayers. I asked God for things that a year ago I would never have sought. So I owe enormous appreciation to this woman for vulnerably expressing her concerns which forced me to study God’s Word.

She and I both learned a lot about prayer and how God wants to respond to our every concern. Her questions helped us both to increase our trust in the Lord and this added faith supported my new prayer life. Let me explain what I mean by sharing how often I prayed and what I prayed for as we recently traveled to Europe and the Holy Land.

Our Trip Abroad

Ten months ago, the doctor diagnosed my husband, Rod, with COPD and prescribed his use of oxygen 24/7. At home, it is not a problem because he uses a large concentrator with tubes that reach throughout the house. But when he goes out, he must drag a smaller concentrator. He struggles to load the equipment into the car and to avoid distracting others as he changes batteries during worship or other quiet places. He has no choice because it’s what it takes for him to maintain normal oxygen levels.

Before he retired, Rod’s job required him to travel every six to eight weeks to Asia. I always wanted to accompany him, but was never able. He promised to take me this year to celebrate our anniversary, but that was before his oxygen use. As time to travel neared, he recognized he could not handle a 22-hour airplane flight. Even with oxygen, sitting at such a high altitude that long would stress him. He asked me to choose a place closer to visit, and I chose the Holy Land.

I am not going to share every detail of the trip. That is not what is important. Instead, I want to share each request I took to God and His answers. I prayed very different. Perhaps it was because it was our first overseas travel since Rod’s need for oxygen and the added tension this caused, or maybe, it was because I am finally maturing in the Lord. I prayed about every situation we faced, from the tiniest to the largest. And God answered with a Yes, 100% of the time.

Many readers will find what I asked surprising and more astonishing that God responded. And I readily admit had I not studied long hours for answering the questions of our Facebook sister, I would not have asked for all that I did. But after my hours of study to answer her questions, I realized God wanted to hear about everything that concerned me, and on this trip, it is exactly what He heard.

Pre-flight Prayers

We traveled using free frequent flyer tickets and paid only the taxes. As expected with free tickets, the airline assigned us the worst possible connections. To return home, we were scheduled to arrive in Boston at 2:00 a.m. and leave for Little Rock at 5:00 a.m. This connection allowed no time to recharge the concentrator’s batteries, not to mention that we are now too old for an all-nighter. I prayed before phoning the airline, and the agent rearranged our flights to arrive in Philadelphia before bedtime and leave for home the following morning, rested and with batteries fully charged.

We booked a cruise from Istanbul to Rome with intermediate stops to see the Holy Land sites. I prayed about doing this because the ship’s Holy Land excursions were mega expensive, triple what other tours cost. Then I discovered a Facebook site designed by another on the cruise where groups organized private tours that were half the ship’s costs. We joined them.

While in Rome, I wanted to do two things: visit the newly opened underground area of the Coliseum and take lessons to learn to make gelato, which I consider the best ice cream in the world. Both activities required booking on-line and bringing receipts of payment with us. Only the evening before leaving, our receipts had not arrived. I prayed about these activities, and both admission slips arrived in my inbox just minutes before we left home for the airport.

The airlines required a physician-signed document that confirmed the person using oxygen as healthy enough to fly. Rod made multiple copies because we were traveling twice on two different airlines, but as we left home, he decided to change suitcases, and he forgot to switch the doctor’s forms. We had flown previously without anyone asking us if we carried the approval sheet but never overseas. We did not miss these until we arrived at the airport, and by then, it was too late to return home.

As we boarded the first segment of the trip in Little Rock, the gate attendant asked if our doctor had completed an airline approval form for Rod’s travel. We told her he had. What we did not say was we did not have a copy with us.

I prayed as Rod and I discussed multiple ideas for obtaining the required form. We considered asking a friend with a key to go to our house and fax our copy while we waited in Charlotte for the overseas flight. Ultimately, we decided to phone the doctor and beg for help. I prayed and hard! Without the document, we faced the possibility of being turned away at the gate, having to rent a car, driving home, and forgetting the trip.

After much discussion, Rod convinced the doctor’s office to fax us a copy they had retained on file. Then the airport’s public fax machine refused to work. I begged the Lord for help, and an airline employee let us use their private fax number. God had the doctor’s office fax not one copy, but two, and ultimately, we needed both. I was beginning to acknowledge God’s care for us as we traveled.

Turkey Prayers

After staying four days in Rome, we were scheduled to fly to Turkey. We planned to visit Cappadocia, home of one of the world’s most unusual rock formations where people live inside caves. We took the Metro to the airport and standing less than a foot from me, a young man began vomiting. Thoughts of Ebola flooded my mind. I prayed for him that his illness would be something less severe and for Rod and me to stay healthy.

When we checked our luggage with Turkish Air, the employee kept our Turkey Visas, which would prove a requirement for entrance into Turkey. We thought nothing about it until standing before the customs agent in Istanbul. He demanded a Visa and was not letting us enter Turkey without one. He did not care that an employee of their airline had kept it, nor that we had a connecting flight waiting. I prayed and suddenly remembered I had a copy. We kept everyone waiting in line while we scrambled through bags until we found it.

By this time, we were late for the connecting plane to Cappadocia. I prayed as I raced ahead. Rod can no longer run, so I promised to hold the plane for him. After Rod arrived, the gate agent refused to let us board until he verified that the brand of oxygen concentrator Rod carried was approved by Turkish Air. The agent did not care that we had just arrived there on another Turkish Air plane, nor would he accept our word that we intentionally purchased one that was on the approved list of all airlines. I prayed as the agent took pictures of the concentrator, talked on the telephone for what seemed hours, and finally, personally escorted us onto the delayed plane that had waited just for us. I am now certain that God was handling all that was happening.

Because Rod could not take tours with others to climb mountains and explore caves, we rented a car to travel throughout Cappadocia on our own. The map the rental agency supplied was not drawn to scale and what looked like a couple of miles proved 25 or 30 miles. It was getting dark. We feared being lost, and neither of us spoke a word of Turkish. I prayed and suggested that Rod should stop and ask directions. He pulled up beside the first person he saw walking, and it was a man who had attended Auburn University in the US. God provided us an English speaking guide.

Arriving at our cave hotel, we discovered our reserved room was on the fourth floor, and they had no elevator. I sat praying because neither Rod nor I could haul our heavy bags up their steep stairs. Thankfully, the owner finally offered us his last accommodation on the ground floor. He repeated multiple times that we were fortunate because this room remained booked continuously.

The following day I awoke coughing with my sinuses aching and head throbbing. The local druggist insisted I had to visit their doctor before I could purchase sinus medicine. I prayed it was not Ebola from the sick young man on the train. The physician gave me a shot, something I had not had in years. I have no idea what he injected, but at least, he was not treating Ebola, and God supplied the needed medicine.

Istanbul Prayers

After Cappadocia, we returned to Istanbul for three days. Istanbul terrain is extremely hilly, and we did not know if Rod could manage. I prayed as the desk clerk attempted to locate a tour company to transport us to the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar. All tour agencies refused, saying the sites were too close to our hotel, so I prayed again as Rod decided he would attempt to walk. The clerk gave us directions for avoiding the longest hills and for riding their tram. God allowed us to see every place we had hoped to visit.

Holy Land Prayers

As we boarded the cruise ship in Istanbul, I began praying about our tours to the Holy Land. Going with six other couples, I did not want Rod’s slow pace to cause them discomfort or to have his concentrator crowd them in the van. But as I should have expected by now, the van had one extra seat, and Rod used it for his concentrator while I sat across the aisle.

Israel was also hilly, and I knew Rod could not last if it required him to walk up a steep hill. God answered this prayer with our tour guide suggesting he would begin our tour at the location where Christ was crucified and then walk down the hill. Later, he explained this was opposite of how he typically conducted the tour.

Visiting the birthplace of Jesus, we had to change tour guides and use a man from Palestine. Bethlehem also consisted of long hills. I began praying because our Palestinian guide walked faster than Rod could handle. I prayed for Rod’s strength as he slowly trudged up the hill, until finally, he could go no further. He sat down on a concrete post to catch his breath. Another couple in our group stopped and stood with us everyone stopped. Rod told them to go ahead, and they refused, insisting they would stay as long as he needed them. Afterward, everyone in our group walked Rod’s pace, and it forced the guide to slow.

Naples’ Prayers

During the ship’s day in Naples, we purchased tickets to ride the On-Off Bus. After we rode a couple of blocks, the sun disappeared, and rain began to sprinkle so we remained seated for two tours. Then, as it continued sprinkling, we asked the driver to let us off at the location nearest the ship. However, the minute we stepped off the bus, the sprinkle changed to a monsoon downpour.

I asked God to stop the rain because getting Rod’s concentrator wet might ruin it. Having an alternate plan if something happened to his machine remained one issue we failed to consider before leaving home. Standing there in the drenching rain, he teased, You can just fly me home in a long wooden box inside the plane’s cargo. I failed to find humor in the comment, because I knew he could not survive flying without oxygen.

I pleaded for God to let the rain stop just long enough to get Rod’s equipment safely back on the ship. We only had one umbrella, so Rod purchased another from a nearby vendor. I held mine over the concentrator until we found a sheltered doorway where we huddled protected from the bucketing rain. Again, I prayed for the rain to quit, and it immediately calmed to a gentle mist. We dashed for the ship, two blocks away. After walking several feet, the mist stopped altogether, and we folded the umbrellas. But once we arrived safely on board the ship, it again hammered a torrential flood.

Back to Rome Prayers

We talked with fellow passengers who had previously been to the port nearest Rome about how to leave the ship and return to the city. Some people told us it was an easy five minute walk to the train station. Others said it required a grueling 25 minute uphill struggle, something that would prove impossible with us each pulling two cases. I began praying about our departure.

While in Naples, the ship’s last stop before Rome, we learned that the cruise ship was not allowed to dock in Rome. Rome was experiencing their most severe flooding storm in 100 years. No ships could dock in Rome’s port. All rerouted to Naples.

The cruise line chartered buses and bussed everyone on ship to Rome. For us, this proved a blessing. We no longer needed to make plans to go from the port to a train station and on to Rome. The bus took us, and we did not have to handle our luggage. God heard a big thank you for this blessing.

Only one of our suitcases was not loaded on the bus. The cruise personnel explained they would deliver it to our room the following day, leaving us with only one large suitcase of clothes and the two small ones that contained the concentrator and batteries. By now, I was singing the song God Is So Good. I thanked God and asked him to care for us during our remaining days in Rome.

As we entered the metro stop near the Coliseum, we discovered this station did not have an elevator. We stood staring at two long flights of stairs, when a young man stepped forward and told Rod he was going to carry his large suitcase to the top. He snatched it from Rod’s hands before Rod could respond. By now, I am not sure if I prayed more to request help or to thank God for all His kind care.

Our gelato lesson was the following evening. After this fun event, the neighborhood stores were still open, and I ducked into one. But Rod felt a sprinkle of rain and insisted we should go directly to the bus stop. As we dashed for the