This week’s reading: Matthew 7:7-12
Hi Friends,
Let us continue with the incredible teachings of Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount. Today we will struggle with whose will we really want in our lives. This has been my recent battle, and by God’s Grace, it seems like He is helping me surrender, once again, to His perfect will over my self-centered one. Self-centered, not because I am being selfish, but because I am still seeing life through my own eyes, through my own understanding. And when what I think things should be, does not match up with what they actually are, I tend to get frustrated, angry and depressed. Anyone else out there like that? So let’s allow our Loving God to set us straight…it is for our benefit, after all, that we do this! As we learn to trust God further, we, ourselves, have more peace, joy and can love God and others, the way we were always meant to…and our lives become more and more abundant. The reading for this week is the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 through 12, but listen here to the first two and the last verse:
“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened….So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Mt 7: 7 to 8 & 12 AMP
Ask, seek, knock. First, we must ask ourselves: does God love us or not? Is God wise or not? Is God looking out for our best interest or not? Hopefully you have lived long enough in Christ to answer with a resounding “YES” to all of those questions. God IS both Love and Wisdom, and because of this truth, He always and only desires what is best for us. Question is, are we really going to trust that God knows what “the best for us” is? I know I have struggled in this area these 21 years since I became born again. On the surface, it is easy to understand why. My Baby Girl endured what I call one “horrendous miracle” after the other my first 7 & 1/2 years of this New Life…and after all that, God still chose to bring her Home and take her away from me. Needless to say, my heart was broken…and yet as I continued to hold on to my Jesus, because He was holding on to me BTW, He brought me through the pain and sorrow and made me stronger than I ever thought I could be. But then other hardships quickly followed and they have not let up. You see, since the real enemy has lost me, he doesn’t want to lose anybody else because of me, and so the attacks keep coming. Sometimes I feel like I am a drowning person who just gets her head above water, but then the next wave of trouble and sorrow hits me, and down I go again. It is only because I have this firm foundation that God does Love me that I am able to rise again…and again…and again. It is only His Grace that does not allow me to actually drown and die. Yet this onslaught of attacks can weary the strongest of us believers, right? And so I have asked, and I have sought God’s Face and I have knocked on doors for opportunities to share my love of Him…and yet, again on the surface, it would seem I am being met with crickets instead of opened doors. So what do I do? I continue to ask, seek and knock! I love this Amplified version of these verses because it clearly shows us this is not a one time thing, nor is it a quick response thing. Note above it says keep on asking, seeking and knocking. Keep on doing these things, not once, not twice, but until God gives, until we find and until the doors open! This is not a quick fly by night scheme to get your dreams fulfilled. Jesus is talking about endurance here. Growing in our trust of God. Living our lives by Faith that He is Love, Wisdom, and will always and only do or allow what is best for us. This talks about maturing in Christ. This encourages us to let go of the old “I think, I feel, I want” way of living and start the “God knows, God discerns and God’s Will” way of this New Life in Christ. It is all about Him, after all. We tend to forget that God is the Master and we are His servants…and very blessed to be so, I might add! And so we must remember that He has the perfect plan, timing and way for us. And I continue to learn this as I struggle, but by His Grace, I keep on keeping on in Faith.
God answers every prayer, do we believe this? As Jesus continues with this line of thought, He begins to talk about how we, as imperfect parents, would give good gifts to our children, so how much more would our Perfect Father do likewise…and the greatest gift, of course, is Himself via the Holy Spirit Who is the One Who helps us to continue asking, seeking and knocking. Again, only by His Grace will we not give in to despair, but continue to rise up from those waters, the troubles and sorrows, that are trying to drown us. The issue is that when we do not get “our way” we make false assumptions about God and His Love and Wisdom towards us. We begin to question whether He has our best in mind or not. This is, of course, the same attack the old serpent used on Eve, right? If he can get us to question God’s intentions towards us, he can get us to disobey God. Instead of living a life filled with love towards God and others, including ourselves, we push away from God and are not be able to love anyone, including ourselves. See? We must learn to hold on to these three truths: God IS Love. God IS Wisdom. And God always and only wants what is best for us. The truth is God does answer every prayer…just not the way you or I would have thought it should be answered. Our Good God can only give good gifts…the issue is they do not always look like what you and I would expect, but He does answer every prayer. Let me share this quick lesson with you.
1- Direct: “Yes, here you go. Trust Me.” Oh how we LOVE when God answers our prayers this way! This is what we want, and how we assume He should answer every prayer, right? But God loves us way too much to do this! We would become complete spoiled brats if He did this. Instead of being transformed into the peaceful, loving, gracious image of God, we would dig deeper into our own selfish, prideful, MMI person we are! That’s not a loving thing to do! This requires little Faith since the thing we asked for is right there. It can help grow our Faith, but this answer does not often stretch our Faith. God wants more for us so He will not answer every prayer this way. Praise God when, in His Love and Wisdom He does answer us this way, but since we are children who do not know better, and do not see all the issues surrounding our prayer, God will more likely answer us other ways.
2- Deny: “No, that’s not what is best for you. Trust My Plan.” As I mentioned above, since we are children, do we really know what is best for us? What if your 16 year old son asked you for a Ferrari? Assuming you could afford it, would you give it to him? My goodness, I hope not! He does not have the experience to handle a powerful car like that. Well, guess what, you and I do not have the experience to handle just about anything in life apart from God’s power! We must learn to trust that, if God says “No” it is because He has something much better planned for us. Since we are not God, we are not Omniscient, so we have no idea what we truly need today to get us safely to tomorrow. Again, Faith must be used here, but “yes and no” are not the only ways God answers our prayers.
3- Delay: “Yes but you’re not ready yet. Trust My Timing.” So let’s say that 16 year old son is now in his twenties and has proven to be a responsible driver. Again assuming you could, would you give him that Ferrari now? Possibly. My Friends, more important than what happens in our lives is the Timing of what happens in our lives. Go back and think about your life. Is there an event that happened to you that, if it had occurred earlier, it would have been disastrous, but because it happened WHEN it happened, it was glorious? Sometimes the right thing is the wrong thing when it is the wrong time to have it, yes? Timing is another test of Faith. God would never grant us something we were not prepared to handle…and this only with Him, of course. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we can only live through what we live through by His Grace. And God alone knows when we are ready to handle whatever “it” may be. Knowing deep in our heart that the Father really does know best, stretches our Faith so that it becomes stronger than it was before. And this last answer to our prayers is another way God does this.
4- Different: “Yes but not the way you expected. Trust My Way.” Isaiah 55:9 speaks about how God’s Way is higher than ours, and this just makes sense since God is seeing life through the lens of Eternity, while you and I barely understand this life on earth. As I usually say, “I do not remember all the details of what happened yesterday, I barely know what is going on today and I have no idea what will happen tomorrow!” Yet we like to think we know it all. We think we can make decisions for ourselves, and worse for others, based on this limited knowledge! Let’s thank God that He loves us way too much to let us! One more time, I remind us that we are children of God. Children! We think we know better, but we don’t because we do not even see half of what is actually going on. We want something one way, but it is so much more of a blessing when it is given to us the right way. Only God knows the right way. If this doesn’t stretch our Faith then I am not sure what does! But every time our Faith is stretched beyond our own limits, we become stronger and stronger, then nothing can sway us, nothing can steal our peace and joy…nothing! All these ways God answers our prayers is what is best for us! All we need to do is exercise our Faith and trust Him!
The Golden Rule. One more thing before I go, the Golden Rule does NOT say: do unto others as they have done unto you! As children of God, we must rise up and refuse to take the lower road. If someone hurts us, we have no right to hurt them back. That lowers us to their standard. But if we choose to lean on the Holy Spirit and act in love, then we just might be able to raise them to God’s standards. That’s a huge part of Sanctification, my Friends. Not only are we supposed to become better people, but we are to influence others to become better too. Once again Faith is required. Treating others the way we want others to treat us means we are imitating God. If you are not sure, see Lk 23:34. If someone does something wrong towards us, we are not saying it is ok, but we are saying that their wrong will not force us to do a wrong thing too. See? As the saying goes, two wrongs do not make a right! We must trust God to deal with those who do not follow this Truth towards us. We are not responsible for what they choose, but we are responsible for how we respond or react to what they choose. We should not be controlled by others or by situations. We should be self-controlled because God loves us. His Love inspires us to do the right thing, even when, and especially if, the other person is not. God sees everything, the very depths of ours hearts. Only He knows how to bring about justice. Again, we must trust Him with those who are not doing right by us. This is another battle I am facing right now! But as I surrender the issue, and the person causing it, to God, trusting Him to do what He knows is best, I am filled with the peace that surpasses understanding and the joy that strengthens me to keep on loving, in spite of the challenge. This is the way Jesus lived and loved, and it is what I want for my life too. How about you? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
