Doubting God

We actually deceive our self when we think that we have life all figured out (1 Corinthians 3:18-19). God smiles patiently at those who profess to be wise. He considers human wisdom as foolishness (Romans 1:22). As foolish as Satan was to rebel against God, he is smarter than we are. God calls him the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Yet, we have power over Satan if we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We can take authority over Satan when he tries to take advantage of us, and attempts to get the victory in our circumstances (Daniel 10:13). As Believers we can refuse to rely on our human wisdom; and, instead, seek God in all of our choices and decisions (Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 55:6).

At times, we are subjected to life's fears, worries and anxieties. Actually, we are doubting God when we worry. Sadly, worry causes us to view our self as an orphan, alone in the world without nurturing caretakers (Psalm 68:5). We are saying that we can achieve a better, more sure change in our circumstances by worrying than we can by trusting in and waiting on our Father God (Matthew 6:27).

Often we worry our self right out of faith in God. We get discouraged and we cry our self to sleep, if we can sleep at all with all of the stress hormones ravaging our body. We look to people, places and things to make us happy, when all along the King of the Universe dwells right in our heart (Ephesians 3:17).

In Christ, we have an antidote to worry. Someone said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Everything is small stuff.” In other words, “Don’t worry. Be happy.” God is capable of perfecting orchestrating both the large and small details of our life. He daily cares for the birds and flowers; and we are even more important to Him than they are (Matthew 10:29-31).

God’s Spirit will give us the mind of Christ if we totally surrender our life to Him (1 Corinthians 2:16). Only God can save and provide for us in body, soul and spirit. We can live by faith in His faithfulness, because He never lets us down (Hebrews 13:5). We often forget that there is a seed for a miracle in each and every trial we experience.

Prayer:

Father God, the more trials we experience in this life, the more we fear we will have to go through. We insult You by limiting Your resources, power and love for us. Remind us that we can cast all of our cares on You, because You always care about us and what we need (1 Peter 5:7). Help us to depend only on You as our Savior, Lord and King.

Thought for the Day:

If we live in fear of the future, we forfeit the blessings of today.

Mistaken Identity

I spent the first third of my life searching for my identity as I grew from an infant to a woman. After high school, I married and had three children, each eighteen months apart. I supported my husband as Sarah served Abraham (1 Peter 3:6), centering my focus on him and his needs. In the churches he pastored, I taught in the children’s ministries, and discipled and mentored the women. I busily served God vicariously through my ministry to my family and our church.

Although years earlier I came to understand my need for a relationship with the true and living God through Jesus Christ, presently my obsessive busyness pervaded every moment of my life. I knew God; yet, I did not know how to be one with Him. I loved Him, claimed His promises for my life and spent my days trying very desperately to please Him. I knew my eternal Salvation was guaranteed by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. However, I was so active for God that these distractions prevented a qualitative relationship with Him.

I stayed at home with my children in their toddler years, then home schooled them through part of their elementary years, and center my life around my husband’s and children’s needs, activities and interests during their high school years. I went to every ball game, band concert, art exhibit, school function, church program and Taekwondo event they participated in. I taught them to cook, keep up their own laundry, clean a home and balance their checkbook. Then, they launched out into college, one right after the other.

One day, I came to the sudden realization that they did not need me any longer. They had lives of their own. The empty nest took me by complete surprise. My identity disintegrated. My husband resented me for clinging to him to fulfill my ravenous need for attention. I was alone for much of the time. I had no idea what to do with myself! I still read my Bible, went to the church and worked in my job; but I was not used to receiving so little attention on a daily basis. I suffered with depression and melancholia. The empty house and the barren loneliness haunted me.

One day during my quiet time, I thought about the disciples in the upper room. They waited for days for the Holy Spirit of God to come to them, as Jesus promised (Acts 2:1-6; Luke 24:49). During this time in my life, I decided to wait quietly on the Lord too. This became my own personal Pentecost: a time where day after day I stayed in my prayer closet, until the Lord revealed Himself to me more intimately than ever before. I totally surrendered my will and my life to Him. I truly felt like we were one, just as He and God were one (John 17:21).

As I continued to sit quietly at Jesus’ feet over the successive days, weeks and months (Luke 10:42), God required that I completely empty myself of all of my negative thoughts and feelings. He taught me how to stay connected to His Holy Spirit throughout the day (Galatians 5:16, 25; Ezekiel 36:27; Romans 8:1, 4). The hollow place within me eventually filled with His peace and joy that transcended all of the circumstances in my life (Philippians 4:6-7).

I realized from that moment on, that out of this relationship flows our ministry to our family, our church, our workplace and our community. God’s Spirit within us allows us to ride serenely in the wake of every storm in our life. We are never alone or lonely, because He lives within us, fills us, fulfills us and makes us complete in Him (Hebrews 13:5; Colossians 1:27, 2:10; Romans 15:13). His love pours over us like a waterfall, if we will quiet our soul – our mind, will and emotions – long enough to experience it (Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 58:11).

Soon after this time of sitting still before the Lord, I went to work at a fast food restaurant. Thankfully, my boss identified with my place in life. She pointed out to me that I was a person too. She reminded me that I could minister to my own needs, just like I ministered to the needs in others. It was not necessary for me to codependently wait on my children, a husband or a best friend to make me happy or fulfilled. We are sufficient with Christ within us to live as a whole, completed person (Colossians 2:10).

At this same time, my husband went through a dark night in his own soul. He decided there was no option for us but divorce. God had a purpose even in this, however. Since I had that deep, abiding relationship with Christ now, and I learned how to meet my own needs, I was not overwhelmed by his defection. I was one with Christ and I lived with the assurance that God loved me unconditionally (John 15:4; Romans 5:8).

God had a plan for my life that did not include my former husband or my children. They had their own lives now, and God had a fulfilling life in store for me as well. Over the next eighteen months, I put into practice everything I learned at Jesus’ feet. I followed His Spirit’s leading for each new day’s adventure and I looked forward to Him writing the new chapters of my life.

One night, the Spirit led me to help a girlfriend with her project at Books-a-Million bookstore. There I met a Pastor whose wife was divorcing him. We had a great deal in common and hung out together or talked on the phone every day after that. He had young children, and I helped him to do their laundry and to fix wholesome meals for them. We soon realized that God wanted more for us than friendship. God took the ashes of our individual lives and forged from them a union of beauty and a harmonious pastoral ministry to His people.

Now, even when my husband’s schedule keeps us separated for much of the time, when I do not hear from my children for months on end and my friends are busy with other pursuits, I still have the abiding presence of the Lord filling my days and nights. My unity with the Lord is the foundation for my life. This brings fulfillment to me that no earthly relationship provides.

Even when I am alone, I am never lonely. God’s unconditional love transcends any lapse in the circumstances of my life. God is truly all we need. As we abide in Him, we have His love that surpasses anything available to us on this human plane. Each and every day, He fills us through all of our being with all of His fullness and gives us the richest measure of His Spirit (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Prayer:

May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him alone, expecting nothing in return; so that you may overflow with hope by the power of His Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

Thought for the Day:

We are complete in Christ, lacking nothing (Colossians 2:10; Psalm 23:1; James 1:4).

 

Why Prayer Does Not Work

Millions of prayers go up every day. Some prayers are sent to an unknown god; others are offered to our personal Savior. We pray for all sorts of details that we deem very important and necessary for our life.

A Newsweek poll, titled "Is God Listening?” stated that if you count up the number of prayers that were answered exactly like the person who said them wanted them answered, it would only tally to around 15% of answered prayers. It also said that 13% declared they lost their faith because of God’s failure to answer their prayer.

These people insist that prayer does not work. They act like prayer is some magic formula to get what they want. They perceive God as a genie in a bottle who is bound to grant their wishes. They get angry and pout when God does not interfere in the affairs of mankind. They blame God for what sinful human choices caused.

Some people see God as an impersonal deity who is too busy to consider our needs. Others have the misconception that some prayers are not important enough to bother God with. Then some people feel that their life is too immoral and God no longer cares about them. At times, a prayer is even offered as a last resort, because the person tried everything else first and it failed.

So, what is prayer and how does it work? Prayer is an intimate dialogue with our eternal Father. It involves us sharing our needs and then praising God for the results. It also includes us listening to His response to us. Sometimes we do not hear the answer to our prayer; because we quickly send it heavenward, and then rush right off without taking the time to listen to God’s answer. At other times we never stop talking long enough to hear His answer.

There are many other reasons we do not get answers to our prayers. We may have sin, which is blocking God from hearing them (Psalm 66:18). When we pray selfishly, rather than according to God’s will, He cannot answer (James 4:3). If we have unforgiveness in our heart, God requires that we settle these issues first (Matthew 5: 23-24). Doubt will block an answered prayer (James 1: 6-7; 2 Corinthians 10:4). If we ignore the needs of others, God cannot provide our needs (Proverbs 21:13). If we rob God by withholding our tithe, He cannot bless us, as He wants to (Malachi 3: 8-12). Our faulty motives will also hinder the answers to our prayers (Proverbs 16:2).

Satan often blinds us to the fact that God really is answering our prayers. The devil will not allow us to see the answers, because he does not want us to give God any glory. He wants to hinder our faith from growing. He would rather that we get angry with God, so our heart gets cold against Him and we fall away from serving Him. This way, Satan has us right where he wants us…in the palm of his evil hand.

God actually wants us to love Him more than we want the answer for our prayer. He wants us to love Him even if He does not give us what we want. Do you love God more than you love what you prayed for?

God answers our prayers more often than we think. God often says “No”, because what we want will be harmful for us in the big scheme of life. He says “Wait” when He is working in the situation, and it will take more time for the other parties involved to be willing to cooperate with His plan. Also, He wants our faith to grow, so He will make us wait for a while to give us time to learn to trust Him.

God delights in delivering us out of our troubles and making us a testimony for the world to see...just like the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. Jesus met them in the incinerator and kept them safe (Daniel 3: 25). God did not answer Mary and Martha’s prayer to heal their brother, but allowed Lazarus to die. Jesus later told them, it was for God’s glory, and He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:14). When our loved one dies, it means that God healed them for eternity, instead of only for this lifetime on earth.

Sometimes, God just wants us to persevere in prayer. In Luke 18:5-8, He tells a parable about a persistent widow. In it He states, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to lose heart.”  When you pray, do you get discouraged? Jesus teaches us the importance of persisting in prayer. It is not a lack of faith to pray for something more than once; that is persistence.

With every issue you experienced since dedicating your life to God, He really has resolved them one by one, even if you are not aware of it. You may be having continual trials, but that is because Satan is trying to get you to give up and to curse God (Job 2:9). If you look at these circumstances more closely, God is actually answering every one of your prayers.

In this world, we will have tribulation, but be of good cheer because Jesus already overcame these trials for us (John 16:32-33). God will use our trials to build His character in us and to further His Kingdom in the earth (Psalm 34:7,17,19). We can believe that God will deliver us out of all of our troubles (Psalm 5:15), because He promised that He would ~ not in our timing, but in His own.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when doubts fill my mind, Your comfort gives me renewed hope and cheer (Psalm 94:19). When I go through deep difficulties, You will not let me drown. When life gets overwhelming, You are right there with me. When I walk through the fire of oppression, You will not allow me to be totally consumed (Isaiah 43:2). Help me to trust in You no matter what this sinful world brings my way.

Thought for the Day:
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. - Psalm 34:18