Today is the conclusion of the discussion on Jesus' instruction in Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
I received another rhema verse just
before we moved to England. In order to stay in England, I had to re-qualify as
a pharmacist, which would cost a lot of money that we did not have. I felt that
the Lord had initiated this desire to move to England. Although I had other
rhema words from God, indicating He wanted us to go, I did not yet have the
faith. What would we do when we get there? Where would we get the money to live
on and to pay for my re-qualification? I e-mailed Ina, my wife’s best friend
and sister in Christ. Ina had been living in England for the past three years.
“Just come,” she said.
How do I “just come?” I thought.
During my Bible reading the next day,
the Lord had the answer. It popped out of the Bible right at me, creating in me
tremendous faith. “Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean
thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. But
you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard,” (Isaiah 52:11,12).
Although God originally meant this as
a message to Israel, that day He spoke it to me. It was time to go in faith. It
was my ministry to encourage the vessels or servants of the
Lord, therefore He was talking to me.
The best way to know that a portion
of scripture is a revelation from God is that it creates faith in you.
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard
through the word of Christ,” (Romans 10:17). When you know it was the Lord who
spoke to you in person (comes from hearing) from His written Word (and the
message is heard through the word of Christ), faith is the result.
After receiving this confirmation
from God, we just went. God promised He would go ahead of us and be our rear
guard, and boy, did He do it! Miracle after miracle opened doors for us. He
kept doing them although I am the least to deserve it. I am talking about tens of
miracles in the initial span of one year and still continuing during all the years we've been there. We have since returned to South Africa
Every time I got despondent in that foreign country and encountered persecution, I was tempted to panic or
doubt, but the memory of this revelation gave me faith to continue. I recall
it fondly as my First Love’s personal words to me. It makes me feel worthwhile,
like somebody who is cared for. When this harsh world tries to crush me, I have
these love letters in my heart, words spoken lovingly by the Almighty directly
to me. Then I feel safe.
Even when I messed up and didn't please the Lord by being disobedient and unfaithful, He was still faithful and kept His side of the covenant.
One more thing about asking: God does
not always give the first time we ask. He often wants us to prove our faith by
asking repeatedly, by pleading (Philippians 4:6). Jesus told the parable about
the widow and the unrighteous judge (Luke 18:1-8), showing us not to give up
easily when asking God. God wants to see determination and faith. He wants to
see that we know what we want.
Furthermore, He needs to get the
timing right. He knows us by heart, knows our future, and knows when the right
time is to answer a prayer. If He answers too early, that which we ask for
might be wasted or we might not be ready for it. Sometimes He first needs to
accomplish something through our current circumstances before He can answer the
prayer and bring relief. Sometimes His answer is plain “no.” We do not always hear
this, then we think our prayer has not been answered.
The passage about asking also applies
to asking people, but unlike God, people, in general, are not so gracious.
Credibility plays a major role among people. What you sow is what you’ll reap.
We ought to give in order to receive. That is why Jesus ended this passage
with, “‘So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for
this sums up the Law and the Prophets,’” (Matthew 7:12). One cannot be rude and selfish all one’s
life and expect to receive from people all the time. In the beginning, people
might give out of politeness. In the end, it might bounce back on you.
Give
God your love and receive your desires. Give yourself to people and receive
what you have given.
While you're on the blog, why don't you have a look at more of this kind of articles in our archive to your right, or on your mobile device, tap 'home' at the bottom and then the arrows next to the 'home' button to search for more articles?
For children and adults who are prepared to learn in a childlike way. For more information go to https://childlifeskills.blogspot.com/2019/08/cool-videos.html
No comments:
Post a Comment