Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.
I have gone through a terrible lot, these last few months. I've had to do lots of soul-searching, deep thinking, and praying during this time.
When I thought how to understand these things (brought before me), it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God. Psalm 73:16-17
Two days ago, I experienced the greatest miracle of my entire life. A real, live miracle from the Lord. A miracle so big, that it could never be described nor denied as anything but a true miracle.
I should not even be here writing this to you, today. With all that happened to me two days ago, there's no way I should even be here, plain and simple. That's how big this miracle was, that saved my life. I was talking to a friend and told her what was going on and she was begging me to go to the hospital.
From the sight of things, one would have naturally concluded without hesitation, that I needed to immediately call for an ambulance to get me to ER. No doubt about it. Because I want you to see how big this miracle was, I will only share with you that I was in such bad shape, I could not shower or do one thing for myself. This went on for 3 days. I would quickly grab something to drink while I could at certain times, and maybe a bag of cheese so I wouldn't be so hungry. But I don't live by sight. I live by faith in my beloved Jesus.
Anyone would have thought "you will not survive, if you don't go NOW!", and that's what my closest lady friend I've known for years, was begging me to do. I was not going to give in to fear. And that's not because I thought I was just "so" above anything and everybody else, or so "good" that God would SURELY show special favoritism to ME. No. That would be such arrogant, prideful thinking, which I want no part of. I just wanted to let God be God and show that He is real and still alive. That night, God touched me so powerfully, I was instantly relieved of having to call an ambulance. Now that's a miracle, I don't care what anybody says and I've been well, since. Not even a hint of a problem. But I'm not getting cocky about it, by any means. I've neglected this body for way too long and I suffered for it. Rightly so. I still have much work to do on it, but I'm letting God lead me on how to do that. I think this is what it took to straighten me up and stop messing around with my health. We can't abuse our bodies and expect them to carry us to old age. This body has even more healing to do but I'm getting there because I'll be taking care of myself and what God calls his Temple, for those who have invited Jesus into their hearts and lives.
I'm sure God gets so tired of people questioning if He is real or even still alive, and then when He actually gives us a miracle, we still question his existence and capabilities! What God wants to do for us, and show us, we STILL insist on putting a question mark behind it. Then we wonder why we don't see many miracles today. We're so in the habit of placing limitations on the God of this universe. He shows us the most beautiful things in the sky and nature, and the miracle of babies being born and what have you...His signature is written on everything...yet we still question him and have the nerve to call ourselves people of faith. Instead, we have become a people greedy for lots of "signs" and Miracles, instead of our Miracle Maker. In our arrogance, we want and demand proof of him. How 'bout loving and believing in Jesus because of who He is and why He came? Because of His perfect sacrifice on the cross, to save us from our sins!
Jesus said, "Seek me with all your heart, and all your mind, and then you will find Me." That's because your heart will then be in the right place in wanting to find him, and for the right reasons... because you're looking for Him as Savior...not for gifts, "show", or only what He can do for you. How dare us even want to reduce him to that. And we couldn't, even if we wanted to, but it's sad that we would even want to. He never came to this earth to be our personal "cosmic Genie" on demand...to spoil us with our every "selfish-motivated" desire.
We have not, for three reasons:
1. We have not, because we ASK not. That means we don't even think we have enough faith to ask. But that's a devil's lie, because God gave each and every one of us, a "Measure of Faith!" Romans 12:3. It is a GIFT from God to each and every one of us. It cannot be earned.
Ephesians 2:8–9: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast".
If you don't exercise your faith to even ask for something, you leave God with nothing to work with, on your behalf. It's dead! We pray, "God please do this! or help me with that" and then the very next second, you're wondering if He heard your prayers, or if he'll answer them. What kind of faith is this? None at all. It's telling God you don't believe him to begin with, if you start worrying the very minute your prayer ends. It's an empty prayer and God moves by faith. Faith is what activates God to immediately move on your behalf.
2. We ask amiss.... out of our own selfish desires.
3. We would rather have "things", than God. Look how poorly we treat the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our minds look to limit what the God of this universe can do. We should never underestimate what God can do, because nothing is impossible for God. We should never put a question mark at the end of God's promises.
"There is a secret place...where no one else can enter, but you and the Lord. It is your own special, quiet Sanctuary....where you talk to the best friend you'll ever have, and where He listens and answers." LadyGrace
Asaph, who wrote Psalm 73, confesses that seeing prosperity among wicked people, brought him bitterness and envy. That nearly caused him to lose trust in God. But by carefully considering God and His eternal truths, Asaph was led to a much stronger faith.
Aseph knew in his head that God was good (verse 1), but he was troubled in his heart by what he saw around him (walking by sight, instead of faith). The wicked were thriving. They scoffed at the notion of God, yet they were growing richer. Asaph, who tried to live a godly life, wondered why he had more problems, than those who were acting arrogantly (verses 13-14).
What did Asaph do? He expressed his questions to God. Prayer is often considered the "sanctuary of the Lord," meaning that when one prays, they are entering a sacred space where they can connect with God and find peace, refuge, and a close communion with the divine, essentially creating a personal "sanctuary" within themselves, where they can draw near to God.
So Asaph went into the Lord’s presence, his sanctuary, and he gained new insights about the brevity of life for the wicked, compared to the eternal glory afforded him, by his faith (verses 15-24).
There’s a temptation when faced with spiritual questions, to withdraw from God in frustration; when we should withdraw to God, in faith. We may not always understand our situation, but we can draw closer to the One who does understand.
Do you have spiritual questions? Go to God with them. Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.
Above all, and in every situation, we will want the will of our Father in Heaven to be done, because we love Him, trust Him, and we know that He being perfect and all-wise, knows exactly what is best for us... even if we can't see it now. He always has our best interest at heart, even above His own self. We saw that, when He volunteered to be nailed and hung from the cross, to pay for our sins. He wasn't thinking of Himself at all that day. He only had you on his mind, and what he was working to accomplish for you... wanting to save you and I from hell...all who will believe and trust in his divine Plan of Salvation.
Even when the answer to some of our prayers might be "no", we know that God knows best, and He always gives us His utmost best, because He loves us with an everlasting love.
Let me assure you. God is definitely real and alive. But you don't have to take my word for it. Check him out yourself. The proof of Him you seek, will never be found in the things of this world, but in the experience of accepting Christ, himself, as Savior. That's when the Holy Spirit entwines with your dead spirit, and makes your spirit come alive...giving you a brand new life in Christ.
When I thought how to understand these things (brought before me), it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God. Psalm 73:16-17
Two days ago, I experienced the greatest miracle of my entire life. A real, live miracle from the Lord. A miracle so big, that it could never be described nor denied as anything but a true miracle.
I should not even be here writing this to you, today. With all that happened to me two days ago, there's no way I should even be here, plain and simple. That's how big this miracle was, that saved my life. I was talking to a friend and told her what was going on and she was begging me to go to the hospital.
From the sight of things, one would have naturally concluded without hesitation, that I needed to immediately call for an ambulance to get me to ER. No doubt about it. Because I want you to see how big this miracle was, I will only share with you that I was in such bad shape, I could not shower or do one thing for myself. This went on for 3 days. I would quickly grab something to drink while I could at certain times, and maybe a bag of cheese so I wouldn't be so hungry. But I don't live by sight. I live by faith in my beloved Jesus.
Anyone would have thought "you will not survive, if you don't go NOW!", and that's what my closest lady friend I've known for years, was begging me to do. I was not going to give in to fear. And that's not because I thought I was just "so" above anything and everybody else, or so "good" that God would SURELY show special favoritism to ME. No. That would be such arrogant, prideful thinking, which I want no part of. I just wanted to let God be God and show that He is real and still alive. That night, God touched me so powerfully, I was instantly relieved of having to call an ambulance. Now that's a miracle, I don't care what anybody says and I've been well, since. Not even a hint of a problem. But I'm not getting cocky about it, by any means. I've neglected this body for way too long and I suffered for it. Rightly so. I still have much work to do on it, but I'm letting God lead me on how to do that. I think this is what it took to straighten me up and stop messing around with my health. We can't abuse our bodies and expect them to carry us to old age. This body has even more healing to do but I'm getting there because I'll be taking care of myself and what God calls his Temple, for those who have invited Jesus into their hearts and lives.
I'm sure God gets so tired of people questioning if He is real or even still alive, and then when He actually gives us a miracle, we still question his existence and capabilities! What God wants to do for us, and show us, we STILL insist on putting a question mark behind it. Then we wonder why we don't see many miracles today. We're so in the habit of placing limitations on the God of this universe. He shows us the most beautiful things in the sky and nature, and the miracle of babies being born and what have you...His signature is written on everything...yet we still question him and have the nerve to call ourselves people of faith. Instead, we have become a people greedy for lots of "signs" and Miracles, instead of our Miracle Maker. In our arrogance, we want and demand proof of him. How 'bout loving and believing in Jesus because of who He is and why He came? Because of His perfect sacrifice on the cross, to save us from our sins!
Jesus said, "Seek me with all your heart, and all your mind, and then you will find Me." That's because your heart will then be in the right place in wanting to find him, and for the right reasons... because you're looking for Him as Savior...not for gifts, "show", or only what He can do for you. How dare us even want to reduce him to that. And we couldn't, even if we wanted to, but it's sad that we would even want to. He never came to this earth to be our personal "cosmic Genie" on demand...to spoil us with our every "selfish-motivated" desire.
We have not, for three reasons:
1. We have not, because we ASK not. That means we don't even think we have enough faith to ask. But that's a devil's lie, because God gave each and every one of us, a "Measure of Faith!" Romans 12:3. It is a GIFT from God to each and every one of us. It cannot be earned.
Ephesians 2:8–9: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast".
If you don't exercise your faith to even ask for something, you leave God with nothing to work with, on your behalf. It's dead! We pray, "God please do this! or help me with that" and then the very next second, you're wondering if He heard your prayers, or if he'll answer them. What kind of faith is this? None at all. It's telling God you don't believe him to begin with, if you start worrying the very minute your prayer ends. It's an empty prayer and God moves by faith. Faith is what activates God to immediately move on your behalf.
2. We ask amiss.... out of our own selfish desires.
3. We would rather have "things", than God. Look how poorly we treat the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our minds look to limit what the God of this universe can do. We should never underestimate what God can do, because nothing is impossible for God. We should never put a question mark at the end of God's promises.
"There is a secret place...where no one else can enter, but you and the Lord. It is your own special, quiet Sanctuary....where you talk to the best friend you'll ever have, and where He listens and answers." LadyGrace
Asaph, who wrote Psalm 73, confesses that seeing prosperity among wicked people, brought him bitterness and envy. That nearly caused him to lose trust in God. But by carefully considering God and His eternal truths, Asaph was led to a much stronger faith.
Aseph knew in his head that God was good (verse 1), but he was troubled in his heart by what he saw around him (walking by sight, instead of faith). The wicked were thriving. They scoffed at the notion of God, yet they were growing richer. Asaph, who tried to live a godly life, wondered why he had more problems, than those who were acting arrogantly (verses 13-14).
What did Asaph do? He expressed his questions to God. Prayer is often considered the "sanctuary of the Lord," meaning that when one prays, they are entering a sacred space where they can connect with God and find peace, refuge, and a close communion with the divine, essentially creating a personal "sanctuary" within themselves, where they can draw near to God.
So Asaph went into the Lord’s presence, his sanctuary, and he gained new insights about the brevity of life for the wicked, compared to the eternal glory afforded him, by his faith (verses 15-24).
There’s a temptation when faced with spiritual questions, to withdraw from God in frustration; when we should withdraw to God, in faith. We may not always understand our situation, but we can draw closer to the One who does understand.
Do you have spiritual questions? Go to God with them. Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.
Above all, and in every situation, we will want the will of our Father in Heaven to be done, because we love Him, trust Him, and we know that He being perfect and all-wise, knows exactly what is best for us... even if we can't see it now. He always has our best interest at heart, even above His own self. We saw that, when He volunteered to be nailed and hung from the cross, to pay for our sins. He wasn't thinking of Himself at all that day. He only had you on his mind, and what he was working to accomplish for you... wanting to save you and I from hell...all who will believe and trust in his divine Plan of Salvation.
Even when the answer to some of our prayers might be "no", we know that God knows best, and He always gives us His utmost best, because He loves us with an everlasting love.
Let me assure you. God is definitely real and alive. But you don't have to take my word for it. Check him out yourself. The proof of Him you seek, will never be found in the things of this world, but in the experience of accepting Christ, himself, as Savior. That's when the Holy Spirit entwines with your dead spirit, and makes your spirit come alive...giving you a brand new life in Christ.
It's Whom you have your faith IN, that counts!
