Because I don't ask

Sometimes things are right in front of us and we don't see it.  I've heard in sales that what separates an average salesperson from a great one is that the great one's ask for the sale.  God wants to give us the best.  I wonder how many times I limit God by my small mindset?  I convince myself that what I'm praying for is not that important.  I make the decision for God without even asking.  James 4:2b-3 says.

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

I could care less about getting rich.  I didn't get into vocational ministry to make money.  But God has given me a dream.  It has been stuck in my head for almost 4 years.  It hasn't happened.  Was that dream just indigestion?  Or have I just said that my request is not important to God?  It is a God-sized dream.  It is something that I have no way of doing on my own.  Maybe I'm the problem.  Maybe I just ask with the wrong motives.  My dream has nothing to do with money.  So it isn't to get rich.  I'm asking God today.  I'm not sure how much I believe.  But God helps those with just a little faith.  That is all I have.

God provided

I was reading in Jonah this morning.   I kept circling and boxing in God or the Lord provided.  This is really a story of disobedience yet God still provided.  God asked Jonah to go share his love and repentance with Nineveh.  Jonah hated the Assyrians because every good Hebrew did.  Jonah ran from God but as God attempted to get his attention, God provided.  He provided the wind to get Jonah's attention.  He provided a fish to swallow Jonah.  He provided a plant to protect Jonah from the sun.  He provided the wind and sun to rebuke Jonah.  God's provision is not always pleasant for us but it is always needed.

One person can make a difference

Sometimes we think that we can't make any difference in the world because we are just one small person.  Yet twice in Amos 7, the Lord relented from the destruction He planned because of the prayer of Amos.  Amos 7:2b-3 (NIV)

I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”  So the Lord relented.  “This will not happen,” the Lord said.

My prayers can make a difference.  I can't change the world, but through prayer I can ask God to change the world around me.

Encouragement goes a long way

I have written extensively about the importance of encouraging others.  Today, I was on the receiving end of encouragement.  It was very unexpected today.  Not that the person who said it is not encouraging, but I didn’t know I would see them and wasn’t expecting what they said.  As they said it I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear it.  I actually had to hold back my emotions as they spoke over me.  Let that be a reminder to me to keep encouraging others.

Causing others to sin

Jesus talked about the consequences of causing others to sin in the New Testament.  But it wasn't a New Testament problem exclusively.  Hosea talked about this in Hosea 4:5-7 (NIV)

You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you.  So I will destroy your mother-my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.  “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the lawl of your God, I also will ignore your children.  The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.

 I don't think we take how our sins can cause others to sin seriously enough.  I pray that my life will draw people closer to Jesus rather than causing people to sin.  I'm reminded by that song by Sweet Comfort Band called You Led Me to Believe. 

You led me to believeAnd I followed everything you'd say and doYou led me to believeYou've changed your way of thinking nowBut I know what is trueAnd I will keep on holding onTo all the thingsYou led me to believe

I don't know the entire story behind the song but obviously, someone influential in the author becoming a Christian had walked away from their faith.  Thankfully, the author didn't turn his back on God.  I pray that nothing in my life will cause someone else to stumble.

Your words were heard, BUT!

Have you ever had someone hear you but you aren't sure if they really did?  I'm sure I have been guilty of that more times than I would like to admit.  Do you ever feel like your prayers aren't being heard?  Boy, that is a regular thought in my mind.  I know it comes from the enemy but it still happens.

In Daniel 10 the scripture says that an angel came to care for Daniel.  But in Daniel 10:12b-1a (NIV) it says:

your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But

The angel told Daniel that his prayers were heard, but.   I don't like to hear but.  However, as you continue on the but is because Daniel was in such a spiritual battle that the angel had to call in reinforcements. Daniel 10:13 (NIV) says,

But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 

The angel needed to call for Michael to help him.  Not only that but they battled with the enemy for 21 days.  Now I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty big battle.  If an angel can't win on his own is one thing but that it took 2 angels 21 days tells me that spiritual battles are not for the faint of heart.

I wonder how many times there are angels battling on my behalf?  Sometimes I wonder why God seems so distant and silent?   I spend at least an hour a day in prayer and Bible Study.   I wonder if God hears me?  Maybe what God is going to do is so big that it is taking multiple angels to battle on my behalf. 

So distinguished himself

I was studying in Daniel 6 this morning.  I love vs 3:

Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

What an awesome way to be known.  I've made some bonehead moves in my life.  I've schemed, I've gossiped, I've slacked, I've been a sinner.  But, for the last few years, I've been working hard to let God mold me and shape me.  I have no idea how it is going because I only see the junk I need to change.  The last 2 years have been extremely trying.  We moved and in the move, moved my mother in law in our home.  This wasn't so bad for me but for my wife who didn't want this to happen.  But we are trying to honor God by taking care of her.  Then my ministry/job changed drastically.  I not only lost pay but lost the leadership position that I so loved.  Now at my age, I'm going backward career-wise.  Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing the things I'm doing.  Right now on my "vacation", I'm writing a 24-page paper for my organizational leadership class.  Not sure why I'm even working on my D.Min but God clearly told me to do it.  So for all two Google bots that read this blog, I hope this gives a glimpse into my state of mind.  As God continues to mold and shape me, my prayer is that my exceptional qualities (that come from God) will distinguish me from others.