How Much More Will Your Father In Heaven Give Good Things To Those Who Ask Him I was sitting in my car on my lunch break and I started crying. I had been sitting there praying about what to do. We had been struggling financially for the last few years but in 12 years of marriage, our familys finances had never been this lean. It actually seemed like the Lord was going out of his way to make things hard. We had only a few dollars in the bank and it was twelve more days until payday. Yet, I was not crying about that. These were tears of joy. These were an expressions of the spirit within me attempting to grasp the truth of Gods tender care over my life. In that moement I had been given a gift. A gift of seeing and I found that I couldn’t stop thanking and praising God for all of the gifts He had given us over the years. I realized I was rich beyond my wildest dreams. If I had been offered anything that I could ever desire I could never have come up with anything as deeply fulfilling as what God has so perfectly orchestrated in my life. I have a wife that loves me and in her a friend that truly knows who I am. I have children that adore me and by His grace I have been given an appreciation and understanding of the joy that is found in family. The Bible says Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 ESV) I believe this true. I believe it is more true than we even realize and just maybe this is precisely why God doesnt always answer our prayers the way we would want. I believe God knows the deepest and truest desires of our heart even better than we do. What if God knows what we really want at the core of our being even when we do not or when we think we want something different? Jesus taught that God knows how to give good gifts to his children and that he longs to do so like any good father. (Matt 7:7-1) When my first wife had an affair, I prayed with all my heart for our marriage to be reconciled. I didnt realize it at the time, but that was not really the deepest desire of my heart. The deepest desire of my heart was for a loving wife and a house full of children. I earnestly longed for a close knit family that loved God and each other. That was what I really wanted and it wasnt what she wanted. In fact, I see now that it was my desire long before my first wife had the affair. I am so thankful that God heard the true prayer of my spirit over the ignorant and misguided supplications of my lips. Thank God that He is a good father who knows how to give good gifts to his children. In the words of CS Lewis we are far too easily pleased indeed. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matt 7:7-12 ESV Excerpt from Calling Down The Power of Heaven by Dustin Cannon dustincannon.org
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 02:41:16 +0000