Prayer, faith and the will of God

Dear friends in Christ,

I am very excited to share another article with you. We are truly so blessed to have a God that is ALIVE, that reigns forever and that holds our lives in His Hands.

I took a lot of time over the Easter weekend to simply talk to God and share my feelings, concerns and questions with Him and He has once again come through and made so many things clear to me. If you still don’t believe in the POWER of prayer, I tell you now, you are missing out on so much in your relationship with God. I would like to share with you a couple of things that I have learnt and to which God has opened my eyes, regarding prayer, faith and His Will for our lives.  Over the last two weeks, I spent some time studying the Gospel of Matthew, and found myself imagining how amazing it must have been for the disciples and the followers of Jesus to witness His miracles, one after another. What I specifically also noticed was that it seems like it was so easy then for people to ask Jesus for something, and receive it. Whether it was healing, driving out demons, raising people from the dead or even providing food for thousands of people.

Why is it then that we don’t find it as easy today? We pray and beg and bargain and cry and get all emotional when requesting something from God. Then, when we don’t get it, we blame God, blame ourselves, get depressed and feel worthless and that sets off another round of emotional cracking up in the next begging prayer session. Why is that?? The answer is one we all know, but tend to forget so easily, and it is seen very clearly throughout the Gospels.  While reading from Matthew 8 and onwards, the answer seemed to hit me right between the eyes over and over again. Dear friends, our God responds to FAITH, not to our emotional outbursts. Each and every time Jesus gave someone what he or she asked for, His words were “your FAITH has made you well” (Matt 9:22), “Do you BELIEVE that I am able to do this? Then, according to your FAITH, let it be to you.”(Matt 9:28-29), “Great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.”(Matt 15:28).

Our God responds if we show FAITH. That’s it! Yes, we are allowed to cry before our God and share our emotions with Him, of course, but God is not going to answer our prayers because we have begged extra hard or cried like never before. In Matt 11:28-29 Jesus says “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest….for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” Does that sound like a God who wants us to beg our lives away before He answers us? No way. (Matt7:7) “ASK and it will be given to you.” No begging needed! Begging won’t make you earn what you ask from God, you CANNOT earn anything He gives, but He Will reward your faith- always!!

Secondly, when we pray, yes, it’s true, God says we can ask anything in His name and He will give it to us. (See John 14:13-14 and John 16:24.) But, at the same time, God showed me 1 John 5:14 “If we ask anything according to HIS WILL, He hears us.”  Thus, my friends, if we ask God for something and we have faith and we still don’t get it, we have to make sure it is in line with God’s Will. In fact, even BEFORE asking for ANYTHING, make sure that what you are asking for is in line with God’s Will, in general, AND God’s Will for your life personally.  I am learning, slowly but surely to do this and I can tell you for a fact that God is answering my prayers and giving me the things I ask for. If He still chooses not to give it to me, He gives me a reason or shows me why, for example, that it is not the right time yet, or that I need to grow in this area, then He will give me what I ask for now.”

And lastly, remember, If you want to see God working in and through your life, you HAVE to listen to what He teaches you, do what He asks of you, don’t just ignore the things God shows you to change or work on in your life, and expect to grow closer to Him and experience Him as a living entity INSIDE of you, working in and through you. If you actively take part in the process and make the changes in your life that He shows you to, you will find yourself growing closer to Him quickly.  When that happens, you will amazingly find that more and more of the things you do ask for in prayer, are naturally in line with God’s Will for your life. Other things just start becoming less important and you find that you truly start desiring and asking for the same things that God desires to give to you! My friends, then you will see your prayers being answered like never before and you will receive the true desires of your heart before even asking for them! Praise God!

Thank you Heavenly Father, for teaching us how to grow closer to You. Thank You for having so much patience with us. Thank you that we know for a fact that You hear every prayer that comes from our hearts. Teach us to trust You, to have faith and to listen to the answers You give us. My God, you are my everything and I desire only You. I praise Your Holy Name.

Amen.

Be fearless in Christ!

Lizz (Elizma Bylefeldt)