Tuesday, March 15, 2016
VIDEO
Trust in the Lord with
all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all
you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT)
There are a number of things I share
with others. I share DNA with members of
my family. I share space on our street
with our neighbors. I share a love of
ice cream with my bride (the love of ice cream…I didn’t
say I share the actual ice cream with anyone).
Something else I share (gladly) is
with Christians everywhere; at a point in time each of us who love Christ yielded
to Him, confessing our sin, being forgiven by God, and having the Holy Spirit
take up residence within my heart and soul to teach me how to
live a life pleasing to God, encourage me to live that
life, awaken me when I slip off the right pathway, and help
me relate well to the Body of Christ as I serve the King.
This yielding to Christ’s
Lordship is something which is almost palpable when Christians gather. Paul declared in his letter to the Roman
church that:
…his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are
God’s children. Romans 8:16(NLT)
But the Christian family is not one-size
fits all! Because we are all created
uniquely in God’s image, we are different and we respond to life in Christ in
different ways, to different depths of commitment and within no set timetable. In short, this is a journey that has many different
pathways, obstacles and outcomes, as well as different joys and sorrows. One thing is certain, however, genuine
Christian life is never boring.
For the rest of this week, let’s
concentrate on the differences that yielding to Christ makes in
our lives. First – the ways the Father
answers us when we yield in prayer:
I cannot point you to a single verse,
but the over-arching principle in Scripture indicates that God always answers
our prayers when we are truly seeing His will.
He answers in a variety of ways:
Sometimes God answers by shaking-up my mind
I don’t know what your experience is
in prayer, but (too often) I go to God with pre-conceived ideas about how He
ought to answer me. “God, I need this,
and this, and that, and oh, a little bit of that other wouldn’t hurt…and, and…!” Often God just remains silent (I think He
does, but sometimes I can swear I hear muffled laughing – or crying, though). These have been times when seeking His
will somehow got lost in what I considered my “urgent” needs.
Sometimes God answers by changing my circumstances
There have been times when God sent
such an immediate answer to a need very connected to His will that it was
scary. I prayed one time for a dear
friend who had asked me to pray about his smoking habit – my friend had a heart
attack shortly after. When we spoke
several days later, my friend thanked me, but told me the next time I pray for
him to pray gently!
Sometimes God answers by changing me
I don’t know how you interpret that
statement, but the change in me is generally a change
in the
way I look at the circumstances.
God usually answers me this way with a friend who brings a different
viewpoint to the table than I hold. I’ve
found that it’s important for me to treat everyone with the kind of holy
respect God said we should have for each other, because those with whom I most differ
in opinion are the very ones who often press me to think outside myself, so I
can see the moving hand of God.
For You Today
Have you noticed how God answers your
prayers? For me, these are not the only
ways God answers, and I don’t know which kind of answer I prefer more. But I’ve found all His answers are
opportunities for me to yield and be obedient to His
perfect will.
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