So if my I take my
relationship to God seriously, how does this affect my prayer life? That is,
how much do I believe that God will answer my prayers? First, does He answer my
prayers? I John 5:14,15 says that most assuredly if I pray according to God’s
will then I must know that I will get what I want and certainly what I need.
What does it mean to pray according to His will? It means I must pray as Jesus
taught, with humility, respect, and love for “Abba”. I must, because that is
the relationship that God wants with me, a child-parent relationship.
God does much more than friends or even family would ever do
for me. (Luke 11:5-13). God is the spiritual father, mother, sister, brother,
friend, etc. I am never alone, not really, because God is still with me, even
when I am in a cave and have run away from the rest of humanity, as Elijah did.
(I Kings 19:9) Even when I want to give up on people and to tell them they are
worthless. Even when I want to break the 10 commandments over their head and
then retreat back to Mount Sinai. God will not leave me alone. And He demands
that I maintain relationship with others even if I have serious issues with
people. That is the reason He puts me in various places, because I must deal
with what is between others and myself. And that is why He leaves me in those
positions, because if I don’t deal with them at that juncture, life will get
harder and harder. Dealing with difficulties is a struggle, but God says that
unless I learn to cope and deal then I will not grow. Paul says it best, “Perseverance
builds character” (Romans 8:18) More important than that, who am I not to
forgive people for sinning against me? When did God leave me in charge? In
Genesis 18:23-33, the story of Abraham in Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham
asks God about the 10 righteous men and so on, God’s mercy is perhaps not
apparent but it is nonetheless there, as is the flip side of that, His
judgment. But He and He alone has the right to lay judgment on people. He tells
us to be merciful. While He doesn’t tell us not to judge He says be careful how
we judge. (Matt 7:1) But that quality is not one of the beatitudes, and then
again how many times are we told to be anger and sin not. We cannot focus on
the negative, but accentuate the positive. We cannot wish others ill, and
expect judgment not to be present for us as well. I had a spiritual brother who
has since fallen away, who had issues with accepting total obedience and
commitment to God because of what he saw where he was worshipping and because
of his various weaknesses that he would not confess to others. And my first
reaction was to resent what he did in coming into the body and the people he
led away. The next reaction was to realize that perhaps I could have been more
of a steward of my knowledge and what God gave me in terms of talents. It is
sad and I pray for him consistently, even though I am pained to keep in contact
with him because of things he has said about me and others. But Christ would
put that aside and tell him that he has to live by the truth and that God
called him out of his sin and is willing to put people in his life that would
help him. I may be one of those people. I may just be an encourager. Only time
will tell. But God’s mercy is all-powerful and He is all knowing. He loves us
and He created us to be His beings
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