God gives us blessings, treasures, that we don’t see coming, and He does so to show us that he is God, and that He loves us, but what do we do with that treasure once it is received? How much do we value it when the package arrives and it has our name on it? How do we react to the old and new gifts God gives us?
We have learned to never stop praying, but are we sorrowful in our prayers? Our troubles often prompt us to come to the Lord broken, with great despair, and our needs hanging around our necks like heavy weights. But, although these are things we can’t solve for ourselves, they are nothing that our Lord God can’t easily solve, or lift from us. When we are praying before God there is no need to lament. We should rejoice to be in His presence, and we should be filled with joy and thanksgiving because as Christians our God defends us, and provides for us. What is our mood when we pray?
Have we ever been through times when our sins became so intense that we cried out in pain from within the midst of them, and sobbed as we asked for God’s forgiveness and mercy? Perhaps an addiction was destroying our body, or ruining our marriage; maybe we stole or lied about something, and when found out, our transgressions brought great shame on us, or we lost our job as a result of them. The consequences of sin can be severe as God disciplines us for them. Are any of us being disciplined now? If we are, take heart for God loves you… and will bless you in your correction.
How often do we call on the name of the Lord to save us in our moments of trouble, or from our various hardships? How often do we call on His name when we are hungry, or in bodily distress? How often do we call out to Him to save others, or perform miracles to encourage their belief? Do we not trust in His Word, and His promised answer, do we doubt He will manifest Himself always? If we do believe, then why do we hesitate to reach out to Him for certain help, and salvation? We need no priest or intercession because He tells us that everyone who calls on His name will be saved… and yet, do we cry out to Him? Do we hear Him calling us near?
We long for eternal life, and yet we want to remain here in this place we have come to know forever, but although we will receive the gift of eternal life that God has promised us in Christ, this place we have called home will know us no more. Something far greater, and more wonderful, awaits us as we put on immortality.
What comforts us most, is it that by our faith in Jesus Christ we have eternal life, or that God never lies? To find comfort in our belief that eternity awaits us, we must first believe that God doesn’t lie. One offers proof of the other.
We can easily get in the habit of doing things for ourselves, and only praying about the others that we think we can’t do alone, but is that really what the Lord expects of us? There are many small pebbles in life that we should be able to easily step over, and yet they often trip us up, or cause us to slip and fall. Sadly, they could have been avoided, but once we are on the ground it is too late to step round them, and we are left to deal with the consequences of the tumble. So we should raise all things up to God in constant prayer, and seek His council while offering thanksgiving for everything in life… the large and small alike. There is no substitute for prayer in our lives.
When was the last time we prayed for something and it did not happen? We asked the Lord if this was His will, and then we simply stopped praying when our prayer was met with silence. Sometimes we need to be more like Elijah when he asked for the rain to come again. When we tell this story it is easy to tell it like James did, by overlooking the fervency and frequency of Elijah’s prayer, and that he sent his servant to look towards the sea seven separate times. The first six times… “nothing”, and then on the seventh, a small cloud the size of a man’s hand. How will our story of prayer be told… will it be said that we went once and “nothing”, or, that on the seventh time it rained? What is our nature when we pray?
What happens to us when we stray from God, and we place all manner of gods above Him? What happens when money becomes our god and the focus of our lives, or our sexual desires desecrate our bodies which are the temple of God, and what happens when any number of things turn us away from obeying God’s Word? Well, we are made to see how vile, and ruthless, these carnal gods truly are, and how much our souls suffer under them, until at last we return to prayer, and call out in the name of Jesus for God to place His hand back on us, and deliver us.
What will our reaction be when we see Jesus face to face? Will we fall to our knees because we are unworthy? Will we fall to our knees and praise Him? Will we kiss his face, or maybe we will wash his feet with our tears? Any of these might happen, but there is always the possibility that we will be so overcome with emotion that we will faint, or that we might not recognize Him at first. How do you think you will react, and will it be in shame, tears, joy, or utter disbelief that He has come to you at last?
When we give, whether it be tithes, gifts, or to sustain another, the act of giving in love increases the worth of what we have given. On the other hand, when we receive a gift from someone, we shouldn’t revel in what it has done in our lives, but for the fruit it produces in the life of the giver. In this way, we might help someone in need, or benefit the church with our offering, but the real value comes in how it increases our own faith, and the spiritual warmth we realize from this simple act, because we are giving God’s bounty… not ours.
Having a conviction is to have a firmly held belief in something. Is this how we describe our belief in Jesus Christ? Is this how we confessed it to be on the day we first accepted Him as our Lord and Savior? On that day did what we were unable to see become alive to us? Well it is Eastertide, that time between Easter and Pentecost, and what better time to reaffirm our core belief, and conviction, in Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we feel like we are surrounded by trouble and that everywhere we turn there is a problem brewing, an enemy preparing to harm us, or some form of suffering that has befallen us, and in such times it is easy to fall into despair by believing that there is nowhere safe for us to turn, and that there is no waiting rescue. However, as believers in God, and Jesus Christ we do have relief, and there is a calm at the center of every storm we find ourselves in… let me tell you about that calm. Let me tell you about Jesus.
As men and women of faith we know that the path that leads us through the world is filled with traps and snares, but we are not deterred because our God knows the way, and He sees every obstacle as we approach it. We reach out to Him as we pray in the Spirit, and call on the name of Jesus for His intercession; yet still, the journey wears on us, and our spirits are prone to faint. In such times when we are weary, or are walking carefully, realizing that there are hidden traps ahead, our God knows the way. He sees the enemy setting his snares, and leads through them.
Does our faith make us righteous? When we are doing the hard things in life are we able to lean on God with sufficient trust, knowing that He is not only more than capable of doing what He has promised, but will do it? When we believe with this much strength in the Lord then there is no room left for doubting Him, or for us to claim or reassign a shred of His glory as He is working.