Tag: prayer

God speaks to us through Prayer and His Word

Prayer needs are plentiful and grace is available

God’s grace is made available to all of us. God speaks to us. We need to be listening. In praying, I thought how great the needs are and how long the “list” becomes. Having a great need within our own families, how can we have time to pray for all the needs we know of. Then the question, “If I pray for those outside my family, will God not take care of my family?”

God can deal with hardened hearts

After prayer, I proceeded to read Romans 11. I do not want my family members to have God allow their hearts to be hardened because of refusing to follow the way of faith. (vs.7) People do not fall beyond recovery. (vs.11) God is able and still desires to give them salvation. Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles, was meeting the needs of people outside the boundaries of his people and still holding onto the hope that his own would come to know the Truth. (vs.14)

God can deal with pride

If God cuts one, a branch, off because of unbelief, do not be so arrogant in your being grafted in to think that He will not also cut you off if you do not continue in your faith. (Col 1:23) Do not boast in those branches that were cut off seemingly for your sake because they were not. It was because of their unbelief and if they turn from their unbelief, “God is able to graft them in again” (vs.23) and how much more willing will they be to “be grafted into their own olive tree”. (vs.24)

We can always learn from others

One can be called a thriving olive tree and with one roar be set on fire and its branches broken. (Je 11:15-17) What would this look like in today’s world/church? Is not history recorded in the Bible to help us know how to live today? (Ro 15:4, 1 Co 10:6,11) We try to teach our children because of what we learned from our mistakes. Can we learn from the mistakes of others that are recorded in God’s Word?

God’s mercy is available to each of us

Because of our disobedience, not one of us can boast and we are all in need of God’s grace and mercy. (vs.30-32) So much to understand and never understood. (vs.33-34) We have nothing to offer Him but yet He gives us what we don’t deserve. (vs.35) Glory to God forever. Amen. (vs.36) God speaks to us. He will speak to us through prayer and His Word.

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What Answer Are You Getting From God?

God answers all prayer. He may answer with a yes, no , maybe, later, etc. He always has a reason for doing what He does and not doing what He doesn’t do and His reason is always right. How can someone think they know what is best when God is God and He knows all that has happened and all that will happen. If we are walking close enough to God and listening, we may know specifically what the answer is and may even know why. If we don’t get specific answers, it is still our job to continue to know and believe that God is God and He is making the right decisions.

It may be our fault that we get the answers we get or someone else’s fault that we get the answer we get. The only one we are accountable for is us. We can’t determine what part others play in the situation and we can’t determine what decisions they make. We can walk close enough to God to know what we are to be doing to get a right answer. God will ask us to do certain things. If we are telling Him, “no”, why would He feel obligated to tell us, “yes”? If we disobey, then we are in sin and sin will separate us from God. It is our job to get rid of the sin with a prayer of repentance so that we are no longer separated from God and He can hear our prayer. God may be asking us to do something out of our comfort  zone in order to show us what can actually be accomplished if we walk in obedience. God may be asking us to do a simple, beneficial thing like to just walk a little closer to Him. If we aren’t walking with God and we are still asking Him to move in your life, then He is probably asking us to walk with Him and allow Him to guide our steps. If we won’t do what He asks, He is not obligated to do anything on our behalf.

And, Yes, sometimes he does do things on our behalf even when we aren’t being obedient because He loves us even when we aren’t loving Him back.

Weeds and Flowers

We can allow good things into our lives and bad things into our lives. When we have given our life to Christ, He will help us develop the good and help us get rid of the bad. This process will be different for each individual. The difference will be in how God wants to work in the individual’s life. It will depend on their past experience and what God wants to do in their life. The personality and character that the person has will also come into play. God created us and knows the best way to guide us. He has given us a free will and if we choose Christ, He will work to give us the best. The process will also depend on our willingness and commitment. With some, God will choose to take a bunch of obstacles out of our way at one time. With others, He may chose to take one at a time. Whatever way God chooses will work. Don’t compare your walk with what you see in others. Every one of us should be working on something if we are faithfully allowing God to work in our life. We will never achieve perfection this side of eternity so we all have progress to make.

We should be asking God to point out our strong areas so that we can develop those and use them to His glory. Don’t look at others and wish you were in that position. God has a special work for you and when you are ready, He will allow that area of your life to blossom like the flowers. We just need to ask Him daily what is expected of us. He will guide us throughout our day. We should be positive and display an attitude of Christ as we walk through our day wherever that is at this point in our life. If we walk in obedience where we are, we will be led where Christ wants us to be. He will lead us to fulfill the desires of our heart. We may not even clearly know what those desires are but when we get there, the joy and satisfaction will let us know we are in God’s will.

We should be asking God to show us our weakness, to remove any sin in our life that has crept in or never been removed, and to  help us in our daily walk to get rid of the things that hinder us and our purpose. If the bad is not removed, it will grow like weeds. If they remain long enough they get deeply rooted and they grow to become seed that continues to multiply. If we cut the bad stuff out as soon as it is recognized as bad, there is less of a chance of that happening. Get it out of there before it goes to seed.

Dandelions multiply quickly. If we allow them to go to seed they can fill a yard in no time. If we live in a development, they are probably a nuisance. We probably have to use weed killer and continue to keep them under control. This is how it should be with the bad things in our life, constantly keeping it in check. Bitterness, idleness, cheating, envy, and unforgiveness are just a few. If you live in the country, you may have grown accustomed to seeing a field of wild flowers. Dandelions may be something you enjoy. People eat the greens and the flower can actually look great when they cover a field. The good in our life can actually multiply in the same way. We can choose to fertilize and help it to develop. The things we do in our life and with our life will affect our life and those around us. We should be asking God continuously to help us keep the things in our life in order.