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God is always good, even when we do not yet understand what he is doing in our lives. This week, John Bailey and Mark Renfroe talk about their life experiences and learning to trust God through good times and bad.

Key Points from the Podcast

  • At times, it can seem like God isn’t hearing or answering our prayers, even when we feel we have prayed according to his word and will.

  • If we are honest, we want things to go our way, but we must remember we are not God. He does not need to do what we want, when we want, how we want.

  • When things around us do not seem to be going well, we must choose to believe that God is good, all-powerful, and working at something that is beyond our current circumstances.

  • If you are in covenant relationship with God, you can expect that God wants to answer your prayers.

  • The things we want and the things we need from a good God are not always the same.

  • You may receive a word or dream from God, like Joseph did, but it may not come to fruition in the time or way you expected.

Bible Verses Referenced in the Podcast

1 Kings 18:16–40; Matthew 7:7–11; James 4:2–3; Daniel 3:8–25; 2 Peter 3:9

About John Bailey

Pastor John Bailey serves as the Chief Operating Officer at World Challenge. John came to know Christ in jail after some difficult struggles as a young man, and God has done a powerful work of transformation since! Spending 13 years in Next Gen ministry, he excelled in discipleship and helping young leaders discover giftings to serve God. John was called next to serve as a missionary and pastor in Western Europe. John and his family then returned to plant the Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Today, the church is a thriving body of believers excelling in outreach and missions. John has now brought his giftings and vision to World Challenge, accelerating the spread of the gospel in America and around the World.

About Mark Renfroe

Mark married his college sweetheart, Amy, with whom he has four adult children—one girl and three boys. The Renfroes have been involved in field missions work for 30 years. They served in the Arab community of San Francisco for four years before becoming foreign missionaries in 1995. Mark was asked to serve as the Area Director for Assemblies of God World Missions in 2007. As part of his role, he led missionaries and interfaced with national church leaders in the 18 countries of the Arab World. In 2017, Mark created Reaching Africa’s Muslims, an initiative to mobilize, equip, and deploy indigenous African missionaries to reach Muslims on the continent. Mark has graduate degrees in Intercultural Studies and Executive Leadership. He currently serves as the Chief Missions Officer for World Challenge in Colorado Springs.