Always come from Scripture. I like to pray and think about an incident or passage that bears some way on whatever the crisis is.
Some examples:
- When an unexpected death occurred, I spoke on 2 Kings 4 and the little widow who lost her husband and sounded as if she was losing her faith in a good God. Elisha has the answers and the widow ends up amply supplied.
- When the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, happened, I was in the air trying to get back home from Russia to Chicago. I stayed six days in Newfoundland on a Salvation Army floor. While there, I revisited 2 Corinthians 7, where the Apostle Paul is facing some general crisis and advises, “Because of this present crisis…”
- Live single-mindedly—whether you’re married or not.
- Un-clutter your life—don’t be engrossed in the things of the world.
- Revel in God—in undivided devotion to the Lord.
All of this because the time is short and the days are evil, and Jesus is coming soon!
There’s nothing like a good crisis to wonderfully focus our attention on what’s really important! It proved a pertinent word to preach when I eventually got back to a United States in crisis.
It helps if you have experienced some crisis yourself! Don’t use the chance to vent, but a small illustration may create the empathy you feel, the help from God you received—and you can make a bridge and a blessing of it.
