... and not ourselves declaring what should be?
(Father, please guide me in this.)
I believe that we may be missing in our lives many things, many blessings, many opportunities, many victories and many successes because we fail to ask for them in prayer.
We fail to communicate effectively with our Lord God.
We may ask; we may plead; we may supplicate day-in and day-out. We may babble.
But do we take the time to listen? Do we bother to ask Him for a sign that might point us in His guidance of our lives so that we know that it is Him answering us, and not just our desires?
Guilty, I am!
I think, too often, that I can do it alone and figure things out for myself. That's tallies to a lot of mistakes that have collected in my basket! Boy! What am I missing?
A lot of people argue that it is difficult to know God's will in His direction of our lives. It really is not.
In the same way, it is not impossible or impractical to do God's will in family, social, and business life.
How can we be sure that it is God's will that is guiding us, and not our own desires?
Well, in believing the Bible, we must accept all of Scripture, not just parts of it.
How about this from Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
That's pretty convincing. And convicting.
Or this one from Jesus, himself: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples." John 15:7-8.
Or, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. . . How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?" Matthew 6:7,11 (Both, NKJV)
I have found that how I ask and what I ask for are paramount. If you are anything like me, you cannot ask flippantly. God deserves our devotion and worship and respect and honor. Nor can you ask for something against his nature, and then expect it to be granted. In the same way, you cannot ask for something that is not in His will and purpose or time for you, and have it tomorrow morning when you wake up.
James is pretty darned explicit about that: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God , who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:5-8
So, who of us wants to be double-minded; or like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed?
Then, why are people like me so ... so ... so ... (what, foolish? Or just plain dumb?)
If I could just recall Proverbs 3 when I should (which really is most of the time)!
I'll practice and learn. Sooner than later, I hope. No, I pray.
When I do apply this way of living that is still new to me, when I seek the Lord's guidance and blessing, I do pour out my heart and try my best lay the difficulty and stress I'm in before God. As I do that, I feel that I can ask Him for clear guidance. I can even ask for signs so that I won't mistake what I see or interpret. You know, we are allowed (and maybe even encouraged) to do that. Remember the fleece story?
In the Bible, we are given many examples of this path of success. Abraham's servant Eliezer could be one of the first. Remember him praying after his long, arduous journey of faith and service? When he finally arrived at the well of Padan Aram? Well, he got there all right. If I had been in his sandals, I would have wondered, "Okay. I'm here. Now what?"
Not Eliezer. He knew what do. Do you remember the characteristics of his prayer? Eliezer (a Syrian, not a Hebrew):
- prayed passionately to God for Abraham and Isaac;
- he was specific;
- he was expectant; and,
- he covered everything that his mission encompassed.
Was he answered?
Wasn't he ever!
Could the secret to success in knowing God's will for our life lay in the prayer(s) that we make with Him?
A good part of it does, I believe, because that's the heart-to-heart communication, the worship, the confession, the thanksgiving, and the supplication.
There are six paths of conviction and confirmation that we can see in the Eliezer prayer and God's response to it. We can and should apply them in our journeys, as well as he did.
First, faith, and what faith means to an individual. Refer back to James 1:5-8, above. This exhortation is reinforced in 5:16, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much," and then James goes on to highlight Elijah's prayers for drought and then rain, giving us other examples of God's answer to genuine, believing prayer.
Eliezer had it. Elijah had it. Others had it. It is a faith so genuine that it expresses itself in believing prayer.
Oh, do we need that! We need to seek it, cultivate it, and nurture it in our lives. I don't know that could come without an active relationship with Jesus. He started us on the journey. We need to stand up and do our part.
Second, the prayer itself. I suggest that we look over and learn the characteristics of Eliezer's prayer, making our prayers just as passionate. We should model our prayer after the four characteristics of his. (They're listed, up there.)
Third, we need to be alert and receptive to circumstances that confirm or deny our requests. In Elizier's case, God gave every sign for which he had asked. Have you ever experienced God's answer in such a manner? In such immediacy? Wow! God can do that!
Fourth, we need to confirm that the circumstances or the sign(s) are indeed in keeping with God's principles, with His purposes, with His will.
If they are congruent with the principles we learn from God, then fifth, we should sense an inward peace in our hearts about the answer; then, give God the glory for any success we may have achieved. That should come all by itself. If it's missing, we're in trouble and need to go back.
Remember, it is His gift to you for His glory, not for your glory. His. (That's fair warning not to claim the glory for yourself. I found that out the hard way—only once.)
Finally, I'd like to add a sixth point. Act upon the results swiftly and diligently, as did Eliezer. Don't waver. Don't dally. Don't second guess yourself. Don't be that "wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind". (James 1:7)
Instead, act on your faith, standing firmly and trustingly upon it. Over time and invariably, you will find that the decision God helped you to reach was the proper one. Remember that God gives liberally to all who ask Him, especially, it would seem, if we ask for wisdom (James 1:5). Solomon did that.
So, trust, as we are told in Proverbs 3:5-6.
Not convinced? Check Isaiah 48:17-18:
"Thus says, the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel.
'I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.
'Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been
like a river,
And your righteousness like the
waves of the sea.'"
Thank You, Lord.
IBG / JF
