Almighty God

P 2218 Don’t give up!

/ DVH

I want to talk a little bit about seemingly unanswered prayers today. In my lifetime, by the Grace of God only – I have learnt that I don’t have to see something to believe it is true. There are all sorts of illustrations from the bible, of ordinary people who loved God and followed Him. They were just like me. But there have been times when I have been greatly disappointed because my prayers appeared to lay about like limp lettuce leaves. Sadly, the result of chronic sickness is that it takes over this life, and you can start to have a sickness mentality. That becomes a battle all by itself. Plus your faith can take a heck of a beating.

However, I know, that I know, that our God answers our prayers. His book is filled with testimonies on that subject from an unbelievable variety of people. I have chosen to learn to take His Word over my experiences – but that doesn’t mean I don’t wrangle with my feelings on a difficult day! One day, I know I will be healed, up there or down here. But for this moment, I will just keep on asking – and thanking Him. I have learnt that my disappointment does not cancel out His promises. That’s like an ant trying to wrestle an elephant. It’s.Not.Gunna.Happen! 

Jesus Himself told us to: “Ask and keep on asking, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” The saddest thing we can do when we pray about something, or someone, and nothing appears to change, is to give up our belief about the Lord’s Character just because of that unanswered prayer. He loves us. Our God always does things for our good, let’s add to that our hope that He is always listening to us. “… He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  So my exhortation today is that we need to keep going after the impossible, and don’t give up!

Our human limitations abound, but HE has no limitations and He is not deaf. We must never ever stop our pursuit of Him, so we can deepen our understanding of Who He is. There is always more we can learn about our Heavenly Father, and the way He does things. Just because some prayers we’ve prayed seem to have led to a dead end, that does not mean we should give up. Jesus Himself told us to press IN and keep ON keeping on. “Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1-8.

Meanwhile, if our human relationships are worthy of careful attention and passion – just imagine how much more our relationship with Almighty God is worth! We are His people, and He is always worthy of our attention, passionate love and prayers. He loves to care and provide for us, and that love IS His nature. However, I also know, personally, that when our hope is deferred, it can make our hearts sick. That’s a good place to ask for His help. Total dependance upon the Lord and His mercy is not a weakness or a character flaw – we can rely upon Him to always do what is good, right and profitable in our lives. 

Right now whilst you are reading this – you could be ill, or injured, or something bad has happened to the people you love. Perhaps you are estranged from someone, or you are living in constant fear, or you have major difficulties in your life and you’ve tipped over into despair. Awful things do happen – ‘the rain falls on the just and the unjust.’ However, these circumstances are not God’s punishment. When Jesus died on that cross humanity entered a new Era. The Grace Era. The hard things are simply part of this imperfect life we live.

First of all, please don’t beat yourself up over your flagging faith. Simply ask for our loving Saviour’s help to move past your despair … there are days that I have to pray like that one minute at a time. However, today, I wrote this to remind you that He has heard you and He is not ignoring your desperate cries. I can’t possibly explain the situation you find yourself in or even the delay, but I know the Saviour, He brought Lazarus out of that grave and He has heard your prayers. Hold onto that.

Lastly, I want to say to those who are suffering: please don’t give up. “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” Hebrews 10:35. At this very minute, Jesus is praying for us, and the Holy Spirit is praying too, that our faith won’t fail. I want to remind everyone that we always need to continue to ‘ask and keep on asking’ and we must not give up and faint –  “…because in due time we will receive our reward.” (See Galatians 6:9-10.)  Bless you and bye for today. 🙏

P 2152 “Who do YOU say that I am?”

/ DVH

Jesus asked this question once, and it is a great question to ask the Lord about ourselves. The Lord Jesus is our Saviour, we need to care what He thinks about us and the lives we live. We can all spend a whole lot of time justifying our lifestyles, and not enough time checking that lifestyle out with the King! Who are we in His eyes? Jesus sent His disciples out to work for God’s kingdom. Ya might want to think on that. 

The bible says: we are the light of the world. But, we probably won’t ever stand on a stage and speak to thousands – meanwhile the Lord has already given each of us our own platform. We were never destined to be invisible, because if WE don’t speak, then how can He reach them? Right now, it’s way past the time that we must put ‘our beautiful feet’ into ‘the shoes of the gospel of peace’ and BE THE GOSPEL wherever we go. We have no guarantee about tomorrow – some of us may not be here. 

However, it is too easy to get hung up on speaking the right words. Everybody feels awkward when they talk about their faith. Yet, so many people who came before us have said to themselves: ‘With the Lord as my Helper I will not be afraid. What can they do to me?’ We must all move out of our comfort zone and into the God-Zone and just do it.  We need to decide, for ourselves, that whoever is in front of us is OUR JOB. It’s not rocket science – simply love the person in front of you. Ask Him how.

Here are some other simple things to remember. We breath in and out, every single minute of every single day. This battle we are in is going to be won by our focus. So minute by minute, breathe IN His love for you … (look at the cross if you’ve forgotten how much He loves you) … and then breathe everything He died to give you OUT into the world around you. Whether the people in front of you deserve it or not. Forgiveness is heaven’s currency. We all want heaven on earth, but we won’t see it if we don’t trade in His currency! Do yourself a favour and stop expecting the Lord to adapt to you, your life, your feelings … He’s Almighty God – we adapt to HIM..

Another tip is to take a big breath before you decide to let someone have a piece of your grumpy mind. They probably don’t want what you wanna give them anyway. 😶 The reality is, we need to hit the pause button at the point of irritation or provocation and that takes self-control. (It’s a fruit of the Spirit.) And then… say nothing. No matter what the other person says – just say nothing. Why? It’s the back and forth niggly comments at each other that get us going in arguments. Here’s something else I’ve learnt the hard way – people can’t hear you clearly when you shout at them … they turn their ears off. Living like this makes room for us to hear what the Lord wants to say in those difficult moments.

Next, value peace. Seriously. I’ve also learnt that nobody can take our peace away, we actually surrender it. Mind you, there are some people who know how to try to insist on stealing it, 😱 but they can’t make us give up what we want to keep. Here are some choices I face when there is a conflict: – “Do I have to be right? Do I actually need to explain myself? Or would I rather hang on to the peace that passes all understanding?”

“A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarrelling is like the bars of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19. Don’t offend people and then get mad at them when they respond in kind! That’s called provocation. “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.” Ecclesiastes 7:21-22. Yeah. Excellent point.

Here’s yet another tip: We cannot decide to serve God all day, at breakfast, or whenever our quiet time is, and expect that this decision somehow covers the whole day. Do you really think the enemy of your soul is just going to go away and leave you alone because of a decision you made hours ago? To get strong we must repeatedly exercise our spiritual muscles – over and over and OVER again. I tell myself: “For His sake!”(I’m not shutting up for your sake – you just made me mad! 😂) I think the Lord is allowing this day-to-day stuff to badger us because we all need the practice. 

You know, some electronic gizmos nowadays have a default button. When the stupid thing goes whoopsie, you can press the default button and it goes back to factory settings. We need Jesus as our default button. Even if ten minutes ago we were shouting at someone, let’s not write the whole day off, let’s go and find our peace and grab it again! He needs to be our reset button. Go, pray, exercise forgiveness, and repent lots. 

Let other people teach you about your faults. This is very humbling, but instead of dismissing what someone else is saying, listen … take what is said seriously – they cared enough to make the point! Try doing the things they say. Ask the Lord to remind you to make adjustments. What they are saying could be HIM speaking to you. Don’t ever be too proud to learn from someone who seems like your enemy.

Lastly, ask yourself, who does God say I am? And then realise that adjustments may be required – maybe even a reset. I do more praying in the loo, than I do anywhere else. That’s because I need to reset my attitude and align it with His Grace, instead of chasing the wind of my thirst for vindication and revenge.  Bye. 👋🏻