Welcome Home!

When we are praying and asking God for help it is a great comfort to know that He is not irritated or annoyed by our requests. We are not bothering him. He is not too busy doing something more important. In fact

1509619173182_image.jpgtoday’s scripture reminds us that in fact God is saying, “I’m so glad you came and asked!”

He is glad because when we ask our Father for help, we are recognizing Him as the one who can provide our needs. God is not a cheap skate. He is not a miser sitting on His throne counting the eternal gold of heaven. God is the biggest giver in the universe and is delighted to promise that we will receive.

God is happy when we seek. He sent stars for wise men, dreams to men like Joseph, and angels to women like Mary. He wants us to find what we are looking for. Jesus said that He was the way to the Father because He had come from heaven and He knew His way back home!

One afternoon when I was working as a salesman I arrived for an appointment with a customer who was expecting me. As I knocked on the door I heard loud barking and the sound of dogs running. In my mind I pictured Doberman Pincers lunging for my throat, so I grabbed onto a porch pillar and jumped up on the railing. As I nervously prepared to fend off the attack, two happy looking Golden retrievers came bounding around from the back of the house and up the stairs wagging their tails. Next, the front door opened to reveal a very surprised  and amused customer! That may be just a funny story but it is exactly the way many of us come to God. We are afraid of what might happen when we knock,. We are not sure what He will do with us and anything unexpected we regard as an impending attack. But God is not angry with us for coming. God is willing to give us all that we ask. He is waiting just inside the door ready to open if we will only knock!

Desperate Times Desperate Prayers

I was struck this morning by the difference between my own nice sweet quiet prayers and the prayers of Jesus Christ. The Bible astonishes me when it says that “He was heard because of His Godly fear. Maybe many of my prayers are not heard because they are no more than just words recited by habit as I begin another day. What is this Godly fear that even Jesus had and how can I enter into this to find His help for my needs and for the desperate needs of the world around me?

Seeing in this morning’s news yet another account of a terror attack in New York I am burdened for the needs of New York and for our nation. Rather than the usual finger-pointing as to who is to blame; why don’t we fall on our faces and cry out to the only one who can help? Jesus was not afraid of His Father in the manner of worry that He would be rejected. He was instead praying with the reverent fear that says, “On;y you can help!” In fact Jesus stated plainly, “I can of Myself do nothing. ..” John 5:30 Jesus said again “then you will know that I am He,and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me…” John 8:28 The same Jesus who walked on water, healed blind eyes and multiplied bread, said that He wasn’t doing even one single thing without asking for His Father’s help. This morning before we try again to come up with new solutions or new people to blame for our vulnerability we must run to our only hope and refuge: God Almighty, who alone is able to save!

We are not protected by our technology, our weapons or by our popularity. Our protection, blessing, help and strength can only be found in Jesus Christ. Who will join me this morning and truly cry out for God to hear, to help and to deliver from death? It may seem out of touch with modern attitudes towards prayers of faith but it is never wrong to pray like Jesus prayed. No one had greater faith than the Son of God; yet no one prayed more earnestly to be heard by His heavenly Father. And He was heard because of His Godly fear! He was not delivered from the cross; but from the grave! What a mighty Savior we serve!

 

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Three Not Easy Steps to Forgiving

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses Mark 11:24-25

Have you noticed that most of the teaching on believing in advance to receiving is usually focused on getting something? My healing, my financial miracle, or career all crowd into my thoughts quite easily while forgiving someone who has hurt me remains far away. But Jesus time after time links faith, prayer and forgiveness. While God alone is in control of supplying our needs, we are the ones in control of those whom we forgive. This morning why not begin with three not so easy steps to forgiveness?

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I don’t know about you but when I have allowed someone to get close to me and then discovered that I have been betrayed or used by that person, it is very hard to let go of their offense. God taught me a valuable lesson on this forgiveness a few years ago when I did some work for a man who didn’t pay his bill. Fall passed into winter and I hoped by Christmas that he would pay. After New Years had passed I thought that maybe with he would pay by spring. April came with still no check but in May I received a phone call from him apologizing and promising to pay. I was so happy that I also agreed to return to do another small job. P1030396After finishing that job and even another later on it began to be clear that I would probably never get paid. As time passed I complained to my family, then to my friends and then one day God showed me that I needed to forgive him. I was so ashamed as I realized that I had who had preached forgiveness had practiced forgiveness only in theory. In reality when I was the one who held the bill I was expecting payment in full. Slowly I began a process of forgiving which has led me to freedom and joy worth far more than the unpaid bill. Continue reading