This is the coolest guy I know...... the other is a really awesome preacher.
Seriously, we're the two youngest thirty-somethings you'll ever meet. And we always will be.
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First of all, I'm exhausted. No, make that dead. I've worked harder today after work than I did all day. And I had a really hard day. Enough whining.
I've been inspired to say a little something about prayer. I want to tell you about the greatest prayer lesson I've ever learned. The circumstances aren't important, but the point of the story is.
I've often heard it preached that praying in faith means to make your requests known to God and then consider it a done deal. Not that it will be answered to our liking, but once it's prayed, drop it and trust it to God. I'm not saying that's wrong, but I have a different testimony.
If prayer is our way of developing and maintaining our relationship with God, then that means learning about Him, but also learning about ourselves. He reveals things about Himself to us. But He reveals things about our own hearts and conditions, too. He shows us things that need work, things that need changing, things that are strengths, and things that He wants us to focus on a little more. What I'm getting at is this; if everything you hear from God feels good and comes easy, then you might be hearing the echo of your own voice.
Growing up, my parents took care of my needs. And they also fulfilled some of my wants and desires. At times I could ask for something and it was given to me. Other times, I was told no, sometimes I was told maybe. And sometimes, the answer was not yet.
If I had been given everything I wanted, right then, without effort or persistence, what would I be now? Spoiled? Arrogant? Prideful? Pampered and coddled? The answer is yes. I would be an even worse person than I am.
If God answers every prayer instantly, and gives us what we want, would we ever be humble, self-sacrificing, and dependent on Him?
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! --Matthew 7:7-8, 11
Prayer sometimes takes persistence and perseverance. God wants us to remain close and dependent on Him and that means that He might have to delay His response to us occasionally. But that should not dissuade us from asking, seeking and knocking until we have an answer.
There is a song that I remember from my childhood that applies. It's one of those old-timey, foot-stomping, bluegrass/country, 4/4 beat kind of songs.
"If you knock one time and there's no answer,
Don't turn away from the door.
You've got to knock again until you've been let in,
Sometimes it only takes once more."
Just because it's cheesy doesn't mean it isn't true. God desires to give us good things. He also desires for us to be all that He designed us for. So, along with yes and no, listen for the "not yet."
