2020-01-17
Good Morning Dear Ones,
It seems like a long time ago when I wrote that the Knowing God series would soon be completed. Well, I obviously offered my anticipation much too soon, because the Holy Spirit had a lot more to give me on the topic of our relationships with God vertically and other people, horizontally. He orders me to continue writing on the effectiveness of prayer today, while I give supporting Scripture for the book of Colossians. 1 JN 5: 14-15, “We have courage in God’s presence, because we are sure that He hears us, if we ask Him for anything that is according to His will. He hears us whenever we ask Him, and since we know this is true, we know also that He gives us what we ask from Him.” I can’t tell you how comforting it is to know that He is always listening to every prayer we send up. Since we are not always sure that some-thing we ask of Him is within His will, He has one of these three answers that He can give us--“yes,” “no,” or “maybe later.” After all, with His greater perspective than ours, He may choose to delay answering a prayer, because He can see a better time later to answer our prayer maximizing the lessons He wants to put forth. It’s never comfortable to get the answer “no,” but whatever God decides, we must remember, is in the subject’s best eternal interests. I have a dear friend who is suffering from Super Nuclear Palsy. I have been praying that this normally fatal disease might be reversed. However, God alone knows if it is in her best interests to gently go home to Him, or for medical research to come up with a cure first. We must learn to accept God’s will in such matters, because of His unmatched love for His human creation. The only way to know God’s will is to study His word.
Another tenet that illuminates the need for our dependence on God comes in HE 11: 6, “No one can please God without faith that God exists and rewards those who seek Him.” This deceptively simple statement has huge ramifications. My own experience has been that I was miserable in the years of my life when I didn’t believe in His existence. God is touchy about that, justifiably so, because of all the blessings He wants to give us. God wants us to seek Him, especially in the most difficult of circumstances. JER 29: 11-13, [God speaking] “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. Then you will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me, and You will find Me, because You will seek Me with all your heart.” Because God is omniscient, there is nothing that we can hide from Him. He knows when we are being genuine and when we are hypocrites [HE 4: 13]. God is a sensient Being, i.e. He has emotions and feels our pain when it’s real. Just as He will laugh at our antics, He will also work to do what is best for us at any time. He wants us to feel welcome to pray and turn to Him when it’s necessary. He always hopes we will turn to Him first, before any other source. When we don’t know what to do at a crossroads in our lives, He will give us direction, which is always in our best eternal interests. We should never forget this!
LK 11: 24-26, “…When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and it will be given. When you pray, forgive anything that you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive any wrongs you have done.” As my reader, you probably remember me telling the story of the woman who lived on a Greek Isle and her pastor who was on a vacation ship stopping there twice. The first time, she told him she had been praying for something and her prayer had gone unanswered for a long time. The pastor told her to examine her life and see if she was holding any grudges. She said she didn’t get along with her mother for a long time. He told her to do something about that, and he would return in a couple of weeks to talk with her again. She went to her mother and offered to make peace with that lady. The mother was very relieved, and they worked out their differences. Suddenly, the lady’s prayer was answered. She reported that to the pastor when he made his second stop on that island.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne to acknowledge the wonderful wisdom and blessings you give us. We are sinners, who don’t deserve all the grace You give, but You give this to those of us willing to come in humility and reverence to You in prayer. We are grateful for Your generosity and the love You have for us. Yes, there are times when we don’t recognize that You are showing us that love in your answers, or lack thereof, to prayer. You examine the circumstances each of us is in, and Your answers to our prayers take that into consideration. If you want us to learn something about one of our sins, You take the time to work on it with us. You did this for me, regarding pride, arrogance, impatience, and destructive anger. I’m grateful, because my life is better for it. You take this kind of time with all who believe in Your Son, Jesus. Your relationship with us is based on love, prayer, and the will to eventually bring us home to You forever. There are times when You are disappointed by our attitude, the length of time it takes for us to recognize what you are teaching us. However, You have asked us to persist in prayer, and we can count on You to persist in teaching us what we need to know to have a better chance of gaining eternal life. We hear You, Lord, and will listen for Your teaching. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded by the Holy Spirit to write about persistence in prayer and other related topics, as I go on presenting supporting Scripture for the book of Colossians. If you are astounded at what goes into this little book with its four chapters, you are not alone. As for the forgiveness God wants us to give others, one finds it in the Lord’s prayer and all over the word of God. He knows in some cases offering forgiveness is a very hard thing to do. Imagine the recent case of a female police officer that accidently missed the correct apartment number and ended up killing her upstairs neighbor. Later, her mistake came to light, and she was arrested. Can you imagine the courage it took for her neighbor’s brother to embrace her in court and forgive her? This is truly a man of faith who did that. Would we forgive in such circumstances? The only way we would know is to be placed in a situation where it is easier to hold a grudge than to forgive a wrongdoer. I carried a hardness deep inside of me toward Austrians and Germans because of the Holocaust and losing so many members of my family in it. It wasn’t until 1989 that a couple who led JoshuaMission, a European outreach to Jews helping them to forgive Austrians and Germans. By then, many of the wrongdoers had passed away. It was time to let go of the hard feelings, so that their lives could go on with God’s blessing. The leaders of this mission, who were visiting our congregation in MN, prayed with my daughter and I that we could forgive. It was as if that hardness broke up and left me right there. Tears streamed down my eyes that weren’t of my making. My life has been better and richer ever since. Praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
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