REACHING OUT FOR MORE ANSWERS TO OUR PRAYERS Have you been faced by unanswered prayers? I have on many an occasion. The disciples of Jesus were frustrated at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration because they could not get the epileptic boy healed. They approached our Lord Jesus Christ with the frustration of their failure: Matthew 17:19-21 (NKJV) 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? 20 So Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. But you and I just might say: “But we have fasted and prayed and yet we do not have some of our answers.” That should tell us that there is still something missing: Or perhaps quite a few things indeed. But here is one that we can begin to do something about. John the apostle told us how we can get all our prayers answered. 1 John 3:22 (NKJV) 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Whatever we ask we receive from Him. John tells us how we can have all our prayers answered: a. We must keep His commandments b. We must do those things that are pleasing in His sight To keep His commandments is to study the Bible carefully and follow all the things that we have been asked to do there. This is the twin Law of Love. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and mind and Love your neighbor as you love yourself. In the love for neighbor our Lord Jesus summarized this in the Golden Rule: Matthew 7:12 (NLT) 12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. However, when we come to the second part, we notice that John has raised the bar. WE MUST DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT. This is the barometer of sensitivity to what the LORD God Almighty likes and the things that He does not like. We need great help from the Holy Spirit here. He is the one who can daily sharpen our sensitivity to what our Father in heaven likes and the things that He does not like. If we persist in just doing the things that are commanded we would still be plagued by unanswered prayers that can lead to a great deal of frustration. This is the ETERNAL LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING all over again. If we stretch life and limb to do the things that are pleasing in God’s sight, He will go within His way and out of His way to do those things that our pleasing in our own sight. It is easy to see how the apostle John could have all His prayers answered and we are struggling with quite a few of ours. To reduce our list of unanswered prayers we must move away from basic religion and draw really close to God so we can sense His pleasures and displeasures. Many things are not commanded – like going to movies, the manner of dressing, the length and style of dresses, whether provocative or not. There may be things like the sort of company we keep whether they help or hinder our godliness: there are habits like smoking and drinking. There are dispositions, attitudes, priorities and more. Indeed there is a whole list of things that may not be commanded but which would displease God if we did them. Some of us would rather displease God than displease men. Many would rather keep their jolly company even when they take them away from God and His ways. Many things indeed are not commanded but when you are close to a person you can sense from knit brows and frowns to angry eyes and turns of the head that they are unhappy with certain things. Sometimes we try to suppress that inner voice or discomfort that signals Gods displeasure and struggle to keep our rationalization that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with what we are doing. The problem with our Father in heaven is that He knows the truth of our lives and knows when we are by-passing His displeasure that His Holy Spirit has signaled within us. But when we sense His displeasure and turn away or pull away, we signal that we care deeply about His feelings. This is the sensitivity that speaks to intimacy. It is reserved for those who desire to be really close to our Father in heaven. I do not know anyone who would not like to have a testimony like that of John the apostle. I certainly would like to have all my prayers answered. What John is saying to us is that we can have all our prayers answered if we can keep His commandments and pause each time to be sure that whatever we are up to is not bringing Him displeasure. Anybody can practice that particularly if they want all their prayers answered. IT IS A CHOICE. There may be many who would just want to stick to what is commanded. If that is how far you and I are prepared to go, then we should be prepared to live with our unanswered prayers and the frustrations they breed in life. But if we want to share in this joy of having all our prayers answered, then we must join John the apostle in doing His commandments and the things that make our Father in heaven happy. Our Lord Jesus Christ modelled this when He said at the graveside of Lazarus: Father I thank You that You hear me always. The apostle John who heard Him at the time told us how to make it possible in our lives. Holy Father, please forgive us for our insensitivity to the things that make You unhappy in our lives. May Your Holy Spirit come upon us afresh today and so draw us closer to You that we may behold Your face and so live daily to delight Your heart in everything that it may be well with us and with our children forever, in Jesus name we pray, Amen. Join us at the KINGDOM LIFE SEMINAR on Saturday December the 6th at the Canaan Plaza on the Lekki-Epe expressway as we continue in these meditations. Time is 7 am. Also keep the date Saturday December 20th at 5 pm for our inaugural ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE. The Venue will be Standard Assurance Event Centre on Providence Street off Mobolaji Johnson Way 2nd roundabout on Lekki –Epe Expressway. It promises to be a refreshing time FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY in the presence of the LORD. Watch out for more details.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 03:00:10 +0000
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