Make my life a prayer

Ever been in a situation where you  feel your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling - no-one is there - you feel nothing and all is silent?

I have - and it's very disconcerting to say the very least.

Many leaders in our churches and well meaning friends take a leaf out of Job's friends and point out to you that God has sent this silence. God is really pointing out that maybe you have sinned and turned away from Him and now it's really up to you to fix the problem.

Some may tell us that we get no answers to our prayers because we are simply overwhelmed with guilt and it's fairly and squarely our own fault. We are afraid and self centred and have no real faith in God.

Then others may say it's because of our deliberate and continual sin that's stopping communication with God.

When we look at Job's three friends we can see those very points leaping out at us and basically what they were saying can be correct, sin is wrong very wrong and nothing will ever change that.

If we continually sin and feel nothing, never asking forgiveness, never repenting just expecting God to automatically forgive us, then we are doomed never to feel the gentle touch of the Lord or experience the confidence He gives us of being one day eternally with Him.

So it feels like God's not listening when we pray and we seem to be getting nowhere?

It's so easy to say God isn't listening to our prayers because we are disobedient; it's so easy to say rid ourselves of guilt and keep asking God for forgiveness, over and over again.

It's so easy to accept that I must have sinned so badly that God has cut me off from His blessings - I must repent and keep on doing so.

I feel the answer to our problems is not so much as we have sinned and have to go looking for that illusive problem from way back when,

It's not so much as we are consumed with our guilt and therefore separate from God, It's simply in the word "feel" - think about for a moment.

The question I had to ask myself was - How do I expect God to answer my prayers?

Do I expect God to answer me in a set way? Should I 'feel' something when I pray? If so what should I 'feel'? If we expect God to answer us with feelings then often we will be mightily disappointed.

Of course God can do anything, but praying to Him just to feel good or to get some sort of warm and fuzzy, then it's no wonder he doesn't 'seem' to answer.

Of course God answers our prayers - thing is are we listening? I feel God mainly answers us through His word. Read it and draw closer to Him - feel the words as you read ask Him to reveal Himself through them.

God doesn't turn His ears off and turn away from us - it is more like we are not listening properly when He does answer us.

My suggestion: (and only what I have learnt myself) Get familiar with His Word and He will speak to you through it.

Another problem of seemingly unanswered prayer is giving up on God - our prayers for deliverance of some problem, family, illness, you name it, often never sees results. So we give up.

My mind goes back to Paul. He prayed and prayed that he would be delivered of a problem that was obviously holding him up in his ministry.

Paul was given the answer 'My grace is sufficient for you'. In other words what I have done for you is enough for now.

Often we don't ever find out what the long-term answer will be - we need to accept that God's grace is indeed sufficient for us and learn to trust Him with the solution.

So instead of questioning God, giving up on Him or feeling our prayers are just going nowhere, let's get closer to Him by reading his word, asking Him to reveal Himself there. Let's grab hold of the promise that indeed His Grace is sufficient and that His will for us is perfect.

As we go about this week, let's pray that His will be done in our lives. let's be aware of Him in every situation we find ourselves, knowing that He hears our prayers regardless of how we are 'feeling'.

Let's dedicate our very lives to Him and ask Him to make them a prayer for Him so that everything we do, say and think brings Him honour.

God bless you as you step out with God this week. My prayer for you is that you experience His closeness regardless of your feelings, doubts or insecurities.  

Believing the Lie

Its so easy to tell a lie - white or black depending on which school you went to I surmise.

God of course doesn't tolerate lies of any sort - deception included - we can so easily fall into the trap of deceiving our friends and loved ones, letting them believe this or that when in actuality we are a completely different person on the inside to maybe what we have shown them  on the outside.

So lies and deception, in my opinion, go hand in hand and as such is certainly not tolerated by our God and King.

All lies including deception need to be forgiven by Christ, then only through His amazing grace and the work of His Holy Spirit can we ever even HOPE to live and love as a true Christian, pleasing to God and obeying His commands.

Satan of course is the Father of lies - he loves to deceive and condemn us constantly and in perpetuum.

The thing is, we can fall for his lies over and over if we don't keep on by faith basking and washing ourselves in the promises of God.

God is a loving and caring God. 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has LAVISHED on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

Notice the word LAVISHED - how awesome is that word! - Not a little bit not even a copious amount but God has LAVISHED His love to and on us.

His amazing love goes from everlasting to everlasting - why else would He have sent Jesus to die for us?  Why not let us die in our sins hopeless, useless and worthless?

Yet, God loved us SO much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins. The only one good enough, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God - taking away the sins of the whole world.

We know this!- the Father's love is boundless and free, yet so many of us believe the myth and the lie of Satan that we are simply not good enough for God!

If you are anything like me, sin comes so easily and so often. All it takes is the Tempters quiet little voice whispering sweet lies and deception in our ears for us to fall and if we do it often and repeatedly we will eventually believe his lies that we cannot be a Christian because of all this continual sin.

Jesus didn't die and the Father doesn't LAVISH His love on us for nothing! He didn't do all of that just to maybe give us a six million to one shot of 'squeezing' into Heaven.

He also knows that we are so so weak and that we can fail so often. That's exactly why His forgiveness is eternal and daily. We are weak and can hardly stand without Him yet we can be strong and steadfast but only by standing on His promises.

I wrote a blog recently titled "Deliberate Sin - Forgiven or Not?"  Here is the link.
http://itsbygracealone.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/deliberate-sin-forgiven-or-not.html
In it I have described my thoughts on sinning deliberately. Read it if you will.

I truly believe that Jesus died for ALL sin - those in our past, our present and future. BUT if we can deliberately sin and feel no remorse, or repentance, not asking for forgiveness, then I also believe that we have condemned ourselves and there really is no way back for us.

So here we have an amazing, loving God, LAVISHING His love on us. His is an intimate love, a sacrificial love that blows out of the water Satan's lie of "I'm not good enough for God".

God loves us no matter what we have done, who we have been with or whatever sins we have committed in our past, our present or in our future.

Thing is - we need to come to Christ, openly and honestly. He is not a Law Enforcement Officer wielding a big stick, forcing us to capitulate. He is loving, He is gracious and yes! He is also just.

So again I would reiterate that Satan is indeed the Father of lies and deception, he loves to throw our past at us, he loves to accuse us and tell us that we are no way worthy of a loving, holy and just Father. When we stumble and fall, which we all do, he loves to throw us the line "there you go again - How can God love you?"

So please take heart, we, none of us are perfect and we won't be until that mighty day when Jesus comes again to take us to His perfect home.

Don't "believe the Lie" - there is nothing that bad that we can't bring to Christ - absolutely nothing.

God bless you this week as you come to terms with the unfailing and on-going love of God.

My prayer for you is that you bring your sins, failings and foibles to God, lay them all unwavering at His feet, trust in Him to forgive and forget them covered eternally by the saving blood of Jesus..