All tagged God’s Will
Are you frustrated with God’s response to your prayers? Do you ask something of Him repeatedly, and feel like it is falling on deaf ears? Well there are two reasons that come immediately to mind which could cause us to feel this way. The first is that we consider God obligated to obey our request, and the second is that we give Him our solution rather than simply presenting Him with the problem. Both of these are rooted in our greatest pitfall... praying outside the will of God.
When was the last time that someone took the blame for something you did? Better yet, when was the last time you took the blame for an offense that someone else committed? For this to occur in either way it involves love. The person who stands in propitiation for someone must at the very least like them enough to take the punishment, but as the offense, or sin, increases in its distaste, then the love must increase as well.
When we are pursued by our enemies, and set upon by illness or other catastrophe, do we weep, and cry incessantly, before God? Do we stand before Him shouting towards His throne as if that would move Him to swifter action? Maybe we grow weary and turn to others for deliverance? The question today is How do we trust and wait upon the Lord? Trusting in God’s salvation will bring His peace to our souls... and absolute silence to us as we wait upon Him.
Does God’s will for you seem like a total mystery to you that can’t be resolved, or understood? Do you pray for Him to reveal it to you, but hear only silence? Well, the will of God for you is not meant to remain a mystery, it is as certain as the blood of Christ, as complete as our forgiveness from sin, and we have no part in determining it... It is totally in support of God’s purpose and is made known to us through His grace which flows through Jesus Christ; facilitated by the Holy Spirit.
We all suffer in our lives. When we become believers in the one true God, and Jesus Christ, life’s suffering does not end, but the manner in which we suffer does. As Christians we are no longer meant to suffer in sin, but we will suffer because of it, and even in the process of doing God’s will. When we are going about our life as believers, doing the will of God, we will meet hardships and suffer calamity along the way, but we have a faithful God in whom we can place our trust, and turn to for help. He will not let our souls slip into sinfulness, but will strengthen us against it. Are you facing hardship? Well, lean on Him, and stay the course of righteousness. Do His will.
Last night a message popped up on my phone, and the husband of a couple that Ann and I hold very dear was asking for prayer. He had just taken his wife to the hospital with the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. I read the text message aloud to Ann, and then we began to pray together for her, and them. Have you ever been tested by such events in your life, and how did you react to them? Did your trial cause you to dig deep into your faith, or was your faith and prayer just a side note, or perhaps an afterthought?
Do we profess faithfulness, and yet are dissatisfied with our life? Is our faith easily shouldered on Sunday, but burdened down by life the remainder of the week? We are meant to be satisfied in every aspect of our lives by our faith alone, and yet we often find ourselves wanting the things of the world, and asking in prayer for the worldly. Contentment in those things that God provides through His Word, and that Jesus teaches us, should be enough to meet our every need... and yet the comforts of the world continue to tempt us, and we wander lost so much of the time.
So many of us make empty attempts at fasting and prayer, or say we believe and then act differently during our days. We call a day Sabbath, but never rest, nor attempt to seek the presence of God in it. In these ways, among others, we dishonor Him, and raise His ire against us. Then without our focus on Him we believe that the calamities that befall us are not meant to be our punishment, and act surprised when they arise. It is time to open our eyes to Jesus Christ, to pray and fast before God as we should. It is time to honor Him on the Sabbath, and call out His name with expectation.
Are you proud of the faith you have? Is your nose held high as you look down on the faithfulness of others? Do you go to church thinking “What a great Christian I am!”, or that you have built such a wonderful church building for God... isn’t it beautiful, and He most certainly comes here because of my exquisite handiwork! If you entertain thoughts such as these then my friend, you are teetering on the precipice of hell. God works in us, and our work without His presence means nothing. Jesus prepares a place for us, and we have nothing to prepare for Him, or offer Him, except our humbled heart that longs to believe in Him, and love Him.
When we are in the midst of some earthly challenge, or tragedy, and our prayers have been made, but the answer escapes us, or is not to our liking, do we begin to question God? Perhaps God intervenes, a miracle occurs, but it isn’t exactly what we have envisioned; do we approach Him with indignation and frustration because what He gave us wasn’t enough in our eyes? Well how do we, creatures of time, presume to think that our thoughts, or plans, are more perfect, good, or wise, than Gods will for us?
Sometimes our spirit leads us into a vulnerable place; one in which we find ourselves alone, and being tempted, or tested. We often experience this when God is teaching us, or preparing us for something new; perhaps a calling. It can happen in those times when we are about to be lead into a new ministry... or God is preparing us to be stretched in some way. Have you ever found yourself experiencing a spiritual wilderness? Are you there now, and don’t really know why?
When we are living and asking within the will of God, then He will give us our desires because they are His also. So often we misinterpret scripture regarding what God has told us He will give to us, and think that He has promised us all things without reservation ; including our earthly desires that fly in the face of God’s character, but that is not so. First we must ask within His will, or in other words... delight ourselves in Him.
How often in the course of our lives does the Lord ask us to do something for Him but we turn our heads because we don’t think we are able? In such moments do we convince ourselves that what we heard couldn’t have been from God because He knows we can’t possibly do this? Yet I ask, is that really true?
How are we living our lives? Are we living as the Spirit directs us, or are we living in the world, and for the world? Do we pray to obtain from God those things that bring Him glory, or for those things that are simply of the world, and that make us more comfortable in it? We must decide if we will live our life spiritually as the sons and daughters of God, or live it according to the flesh and die... what is our choice?
Are we advocates for God and Jesus Christ by reflecting God’s glory, or do our words and actions turn people away from a waiting faith by presenting it in an unfavorable manner? Perhaps we cover the Lord’s light altogether in an attempt to horde it for ourselves? God and the Gospel of Jesus are meant to be like a sweet aroma to the hungry, and an enticing light that beckons every ship in peril to enter God’s safe harbor. How do we bake our bread, how do we man the lighthouse?