A Little Self Reflection Never Hurt

As we ended our last discussion we looked at how we are using prayer. Are you only approaching God when it benefits you? Are you only praying when you have a need, and forgetting God after you’ve received it? Or, are you using this blessing as an opportunity to grow your relationship with the big guy upstairs? The theme to this discussion is why our prayers seemed to go unanswered at times. Today we are going to look in the mirror and ask ourselves why are we worthy of our prayers being answered, are we deserving of what we ask for?

I ask this because at times we forget that God has laid out his desires for mankind, and asks for only one thing in life…obedience. There is nothing in this world we can give God that he doesn’t have or hasn’t created. The only things that bring him joy are obedience, love, and respect. As parents isn’t this our true hearts desire. We crave for them to listen to our rules, respect our authority in their lives, and grow up to live a lifestyle reflecting the morals we’ve tried to instill in their hearts.

When our children listen, do we not crave to reward them in life? When my son eats like a good boy and decides not to throw his food like a boomerang around the dinning room I often find myself looking on with joy, thinking of how much I love him and how cute he looks. On the other hand when I look over and see spaghetti on our walls I tend to feel like punting him like a football, not that I would…wink..wink.

I challenge you to reflect on your personal walk with God and ask yourself…what kind of child have I been for him? Have you been the kind of child that brings him joy, the kind of child that when hearing your voice his heart is filled with excitement? On the other hand, are you the child that refuses to listen to what he asks? Or….have you chosen to worship God ala cart style, picking and choosing what to listen to according to what best fits your desires. Now not every child is perfect and even the best will fall short of their parents expectations every once in a while, but where do you fit?

"I will go to church, I will read my bible, I will pray every night….BUT…I will still choose to sleep around, maybe catch a little buzz once in a while…But I’m doing my best....don’t judge me…God knows my heart, he knows how hard it is out here".

Once again, we have to put our feet in God’s shoes once in a while. How willing would you be to granting your child’s wish if they only listened to you according to what they desired, or flat out didn’t listen at all? I will clean my room, do the dishes, and finish my homework…BUT…I’m going to sneak out at night, smoke a little of the green stuff, and so on and so forth.

Obedience, love, respect: those are the only things God asks from us.. In all honesty, there isn’t a desire on this Earth that God couldn’t satisfy with the blink of eye. Healing your loved one from an ailing condition, he gave us life he can restore it without a thought. Helping you get a job, people were placed as Kings because of him. Helping you save your home, he made King Solomon the wealthiest man to ever live. Helping you over come a sin you battle with, he gave Paul the grace necessary to overcome a thorn in his flesh he equated to a messenger from Satan, (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

God doesn’t avoid us we tend to avoid him, and imagine how insulted he must be when we refuse to acknowledge him, never think of him, constantly disobey him, and only remember him when it benefits us. Here’s the good news, God is a loving God, never holds grudges, and is always willing to give a person a new start no matter what skeletons are hiding in your closet. All it takes is for you to approach him as your Heavenly Father in sincere repentance. He loves us so much that at times he is willing to step aside and allow us to live as we desire, even if it comes against what we asks of us.

If you get anything out of this series I hope its encouragement to look at the possibilities as to why your prayers may seem unanswered. Let’s not be so fast to blame God or lash out against him because we pray…pray…pray and nothing happens. It may be that God is giving you what your lifestyle has reflected, a life without him.

What if you’re living according to what God asks, what if you are that child that brings him joy, that spiritual honor role student…why are your prayers sitting there unfulfilled. We’ll touch on this next so stay tuned.

How Are We Using Prayer

In an era of so much hardship I have come across more and more people opening their hearts to prayer then ever before. As a result I am starting to talk to more individuals starting to loose faith because they feel as if their pleads are falling upon deaf ears. If there’s a God, why am I still suffering? I fall to my knees every night in tears and pain, I beg you God and I know you can feel my pain, and yet my situation is still te same. Where are you God? Before we look into this deeper I want to warn you that you will be challenged to reflect on yourself, your walk with God, and some of this info may be hard to take in. On this note I ask you a question, what is prayer…what purpose does it serve in your life….and how have you been using it?

I ask this question because it seems like society has turned prayer into a 1-800 help line. It’s only used as a request channel to God when a need arises and nothing more. It seems like this is the only time people actually speak to God or reach out to him. Prayer is one of the greatest privileges ever handed down to mankind, the gift of openly speaking to God one on one.

Think about it as your own one on one phone line to God himself, our creator willing to set side time for you, the one whose hand is responsible for your very existence, the God who hand picked you to be created on this Earth. Prayer is meant to allow you to bond with God, talk to him, pour your heart to him, simply put…communicate with him as your heavenly father. This gift was handed down to us as a way to fall in love with him. I wish I could put into words how much I appreciate talking to God, thanking him for opening my eyes and heart to him, helping me to understand his word, the wife he has blessed me with, the son he’s allowed me to raise on his behalf, our new child on the way. There are times when I am approaching him for forgiveness, and thanking him for never giving up on me. There are times where I need his help. There are times when I just talk to him as if he was sitting right next to me.

I encourage you to look at your prayer life. Are you using this gift as an opportunity to develop your relationship, or do you only use this privilege when it benefits you? Imagine if your marriage was only based on demands. Imagine if the only time your spouse spoke to you is when they needed something and nothing more. Honey can you get me some coffee, Honey can you get me something to eat, Honey I need some money, Honey this and Honey that. Imagine if your significant other never called to say hello, tell you they loved you, complimented how wonderful you look, how they appreciate you, or if there’s anything they can do for you. How would this make you feel?

Imagine if as a parent the only time your child ever acknowledged you is when there was a need that you could fulfill. They come home, walk past you, turn on the TV. They sit at the dinner table, talk to their siblings, and call their friends. They walk right past you at bed time, never to say a word. All of a sudden their favorite video game is on sale and now you’re the light in their life. The hug you, bat their eye’s, and tell you how much they love you and can you get this game from them. Afterwards, you become a shadow in their life again until the next desire you can satisfy for them. Sadly, there are marriages that can relate to this example and children who treat their parents in this manner. If you can relate I challenge you to be honest in how this makes you feel? Are you motivated to fulfill the requests of your spouse, or give your child what they asked based on the illustration above?

This is where I challenge you, how are you using prayer? Are you only approaching God when it benefits you? Are you only praying when you have a need, and forget about God after you have received it? Or, are you using this blessing as an opportunity to grow your relationship with the big guy upstairs? God looks down on us as an Earth filled with his children and yearns to develop a parent like relationship with us. You have to put yourself in God’s shoes once in a while and ask yourself what kind of child have I been? Do I bring him joy? Am I the child that calls him everyday to tell him how much I love him, and how appreciative I am of him? Do I come to him just to talk and build that father, son / father, daughter type of relationship, or am I the child that only shows up on the scene with my hand always out?

In our next Blog we will continue on this question what kind of child have you been for God in relation to prayers. Understanding that there are those who are truly trying their hardest to follow God in obedience and yet feel as if their prayers are unheard, we will look into this a little later.

I'm Praying, Is There Anyone Listening

This is a question that I hear quite often, and at times I catch myself asking the same question. Is there really someone listening or am I going mad talking to myself, pouring out my heart to someone, or something imaginary? If there is a God listening to me then why hasn’t my request been fulfilled, why am I still suffering from the same ailment….what am I still jobless….why is my marriage still going south…why am I still suffering from this sin…Why, Why, Why!

I have a good friend I met a year and a half ago. I was his sales support as an agent with my company. I would call on him monthly to see where we could establish a business relationship, and in turn we would develop a wonderful friendship even though we have never met outside of talking on the phone. One day I called on him and during our conversation I learned his son was suffering from Leukemia. The first thing I could think of was praying for his son with him. I would call him back on my cell and asked if I could pray for his son, and learned he was a pastor of a smaller church and worked on the side.

We sat on the phone and prayed for his son’s healing, and everyday he would keep people informed of his progress. In private I would continue to pray for his son and we would talk once a month. Eventually, we could start to see God’s hand of healing in his son’s cancer. A year later his son would fall into remission and life seemed good, until less then a month went by and he learned his wife was diagnosed with early stages of breast Cancer. Just recently I found out his son’s leukemia has come back and now both the mother and the son battle cancer together.

Everyday people are praying for them and pleading with God to heal them as his word promises. Everyday people reach out to God and ask for his mercy on their lives, and strength for them to make it through. My friend has had to deal with these struggles for over a year and a half now, and you would think a man of God would have first dibs on a miracle for his family.

So why hasn’t God answered his prayers, why isn’t his son walking out of the hospital a healed young man showing the world the power of God? That I can not answer, but I can tell you if you were to talk to him today he is a man whose heart experiences fears, pain, doubts, and questions like any ordinary man…..but he still has his faith in God, and trust he is being heard.

You see god promises us so many times that he hears our prayers, and urns to answer our prayers. Take a look at a very small example:

Matthew 21:22: 22 - If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Mark 11:24: 24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God

Colossians 4:2 -  2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Hebrews: 5:7 -  During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

In fact if you were to go to biblegateway.com and look up prayer in their keyword search of the bible you would find dozen’s of pages of reference.

Truth be told there are many different reasons and factors that can lead to an unanswered prayer, and this can be hard to accept because sometimes it takes honesty on our part when it comes to our walk with God. Over the next couple of Blogs we will focus on a couple of these factors such as our obedience, do we truly have faith in God to answer our questions, have we forgiven those who have caused us pain. That’s right; did you know that refusing to forgive those who have transgressed us could hinder God from answering your prayers? We will also look at another factor: our time line vs. God’s timeline and the truth that not all prayers get answered. But before we can look into these we will first start with what is truly something that is prayer worthy. You have to understand what prayer is before one can truly use participate in it. This should be fun.