WE MUST EXPECT GOD TO ANSWER WHEN WE ASK

by Rick Warren


“If you want to know what God really wants you to do, ask him . . . but if you don’t ask in faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.” James 1:5-6 (LB)

God wants to direct you in life, but two things need to line up:

1 - You have to ask the right person—God.
2 - You have to ask with the right attitude. We must ask in faith, expecting that God will answer.

Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t expect to get it? That's may be why you didn’t get it!

God works in our lives according to faith. So many times we say, “God, please guide me!” But then, we walk away not even waiting for guidance. We just immediately start to work. We say, “God, I want you to give me wisdom, help me make the right decision.” But we don’t really expect Him to do that. We still think it all depends on us.

God promises to give us wisdom, if we will ask. Wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view. Wisdom is the ability to make decisions the way God makes decisions.

Think about this: God never makes a bad decision. He never makes a mistake. He says if we trust him and listen to Him, he will guide us to make the right decisions. The key is asking in faith.

HIGH POSITIONS

by Os Hillman



"The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position" (James 1:9).


Whenever God takes a saint to a very lowly state it is designed to accomplish something only that process can do. Job learned that "He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light" (Job 12:22). Job's trials allowed him to learn things about God, himself and his friends that we all needed to know as well. He assumed things about God that he had to recant: "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know" (Job 42:3).

God reveals things in the dark places of circumstances that will be used to reveal something He wants you and others to know. He has sent you ahead to learn these things so that you and others will benefit from your unique experience. God views this place where you receive these truths as a high position. The world views it as a place to be despised.


"He called down a famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; and he sent a man before them - Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true" (Psalms 105:16-19). Joseph was also led to this high position. It was here he was prepared to be the most powerful man in the world as a thirty-year old. He learned many things about God during his captivity that was used later as a ruler over a nation.

So, if you find yourself in a lowly state, realize your lowly state is considered a high position by God that is preparation soil for revealing deep things from the dark places that God desires you to learn.

GRACE

by Sandi Patty

It was an interesting day. I hadn’t felt “on my game” if you know what I mean; I felt clumsy and out of sorts.

I left home in Oklahoma City to travel to Women of Faith. It seems like wherever I am traveling I have to go through Atlanta. Bill Gaither used to tell this joke: “When you die and go to heaven, you’ll have to go through Atlanta first.”

I arrived at the Atlanta airport and searched the screens for my next flight’s gate. Realizing I had a bit of extra time, I decided to stop and get some coffee at Seattle’s Best. Perhaps this would wake me up and help me feel a little less “off.”

I placed my order and as I waited, I reached for a coffee cup sleeve only to knock all 100+ of them onto the airport floor. I bent over to begin to gather them up. The nice lady handed me my coffee―at which time I dropped it and it exploded all over the same floor. I felt horrible and began to get napkins to sop up the mess. One of the workers came out with a mop and bucket and began to clean up BOTH my messes.

I quietly slithered away and began to head to my gate thinking to myself, “Just get to the gate and sit down. Just don’t touch anything else”.

As I was trying to sneak away, I heard a voice behind me saying, “Ma’am? Ma’am?” I didn’t want to think he was talking to me because honestly, I thought if he was talking to me he would probably scold me for being so careless. Finally I couldn’t ignore him any longer since he was right behind me.

He was out of breath from running and said to me, “Ma’am? Why don’t you come on back . . . come back and have one on us.” I almost cried right there in Atlanta airport. I followed him back and they fixed me another mocha “on them” and he quietly said to me, “Ma’am, believe me, this happens all the time. It’s no problem. Just enjoy your drink and have a nice day.”

I’ve been thinking all day about that phrase “Come on back and have one on us.” That’s really how grace should feel. When we mess up and make mistakes, when we are having an off day, God isn’t standing by ready to shake his finger at us in rebuke. He chases after us and probably says, “Believe me; I see this all the time. Come on back and have one on me.”

I love that about our God.

Come to me, all who are weary (and having a bad day) and rest….on me! —Matthew 11:28

DEFINING YOUR SELF-WORTH

by Os Hillman

What measurements do you use to define your self-worth? Do you define it based on your financial assets? Is it based on what you have achieved professionally? Perhaps you define your value based on the number of children you have.

There are many things we can use to define our self-worth. However, the scriptures tell us there is only one measure for our self-worth. Each of us has self-worth because we are made in the image of God. And because we are made in the image of God, we are valuable. Whenever you and I place a value in ourselves that is based on some other performance criteria, we have moved beyond God's view of our worth as human beings. You are never more valuable to God than you were the day you were born.

Many of us have sought to determine our self-worth based on the amount of money we have. This is a dangerous trap. Paul warns us against seeking to build wealth in order to gain greater value. Paul came to understand that the greatest riches could not compare with knowing Christ. In fact, he considered all other material things to be mere rubbish in comparison: "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7-8).

Basing our self-worth on how much money we have or our achievements is an easy trap. We are bombarded with messages that say we are defined by what we drive, where we live, how many toys we own, and the size of our investment account. The media message is designed to create dissatisfaction and lust for what we don't have.

Paul said the purpose for his existence was......"to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10).

In what terms do you define yourself?

WHAT GOD EXPECTS

By BGEA

What God expects, and all God expects, is that we dedicate completely all of our talents and gifts to Him. That is the meaning of the parable of the talents in Matthew, chapter 25. Read this parable, and you will see that we are always rewarded because of our faithfulness. You can be just as faithful as anyone and have the commendation of the Lord. Take the one talent you have and invest it in eternal things. Some talented people lose their reward because they do things to be seen of men. Some untalented people lose their reward because they fail to dedicate what they have, because it is not noticed by men. Both have sinned equally.

Prayer for the day

Let me not be concerned with the praise of men, but may my talent be completely yielded to You, Lord Jesus.

TRAINING UP A CHILD

By Pastor Andre Butler





Let’s say that you are training your body to run in a marathon, or maybe you’re training yourself to play well on the basketball court. Well first, you have a goal that you’re trying to accomplish. There’s some result that you want, whether it’s being able to make a jump shot every time or being able to run a mile in five minutes.

Second, you have some type of training curriculum. In other words, you have a plan that you’re following to reach that goal. This of course then involves repetition. You have to do it over and over again so that you’re trained to do it. So now let’s apply this to what the scripture is saying. Well, there’s obviously a goal you’re trying to reach with your children. There’s a result that you want, which is for them to be Godly, mighty, and blessed seed in the earth. And the curriculum that you need to use in training them is the Word of God.

This of course involves the need for repetition.

I’ve learned with my own daughters that what this scripture is really talking about is similar to programming a computer. What you’re doing is programming their spirits. You’re teaching them the Word of God so that this becomes a part of their own spiritual programming. As a parent you need to keep giving the Word of God to your children so that the Word abides on the inside of them, becomes a part of their programming, and eventually they can automatically make the right decisions.

You have to keep teaching them the Word of God and making sure that they understand the boundaries that the Word has given them. If you don’t give your children boundaries, they will absolutely ruin their lives. They have to learn about boundaries in the home before they’ll really be able to stay within the boundaries outside of the home. You have to teach them about things that they can and cannot do, and then you have to repeat it over and over.

Training requires constant attention. Sometimes we can get so caught up in regular life—and in many cases just surviving--that we forget about training. And before you know it, your child’s all grown up and you never really trained them, and then you wonder about the result that you see. One of the most important things that you will ever do on this planet is train up your own children.

Doing that should be a high priority in your life. So ask yourself: what kind of job am I doing in training my children so that they can be the type of person that God wants them to be and therefore a person that will be blessed?

Scripture Of The Day: "Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)

SHATTERED DREAMS

by Os Hillman

Naomi's life was going well. A great husband. Two fine sons who had two wonderful wives. Then the unthinkable happened. Her husband died. A little time later both her sons die. Her and her daughter-in-laws find themselves in the midst of shattered dreams. This isn't how life was supposed to be.

How did Naomi react to her situation? "...for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!" (Ruth 1:13). Ah, we see her true feelings about the situation. "How could a loving God let this happen?!" "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?" (Ruth 1:20-21).

Mara means bitter. She knew where she was. She was bitter toward this so called God of love. "How can I possibly reconcile this?!" No life insurance. No widow's fund. "What is going to happen to me and my daughters?"

The Bible says the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. Naomi and Ruth move to a community where some of her relatives lived. Ruth goes out to work in the fields to put food on the table. She just so happens to work in the field of a wealthy farmer named Boaz. When Ruth tells her this the first ray of hope penetrates her bitter heart. Even she can recognize the hand of God.

So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz. Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!?" (Ruth 2:19-20).

Hebrew custom was for the next in kin to care for the widow in the family. Boaz was to be this man. He would eventually marry Ruth. She would bare a son, Obed. He would be the father of Jesse, the father of David. Jesus would come from the same lineage.

Shattered dreams often lead to a world-impacting destiny. But getting there is often a process where we must work through honest feelings before we can see the God who redeems even the most devastating shattered dream.