Tag: Prayer

High Anxiety

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I’m not sure what I could add to what Paul has already shared….

Do not be anxious about ANYTHING!  We just need to pray with thanksgiving because – as we learned from John: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15) Knowing that we have what we asked of Him in prayer and petition should give us reason to include thanksgiving with our prayer.  And in this we experience the peace of God.  It enters our hearts and minds because of our confidence … our faith in Christ Jesus!

So let this be your meditation today.  Do not be anxious.  Cast all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you. (Cf. 1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22)

So Now You Know….

Have a Blessed Day!

God Hears Us

1 John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

This passage has always intrigued me. For additional context, the passage is included in a list of “affirmations” that the Apostle John is sharing with his readers.  He is trying to build trust in God and His promises.  For example, Verse 13 reads: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  Likewise in our passage, he encourages believers to pray (approach God) – asking according to HIS will.  John assures we can be confident that God hears us.

First of all, it should be amazing to us that God … the Creator of all that is seen and unseen – the entire universe … actually listens to our prayers.  Why would such a Being care about His creatures to even do so?  King David pondered the same question:

Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

Yet, David goes on to assert something quite incredible – God created us to have dominion over His works:

Psalm 8:5-6 (NIV)

You have made them (human beings) a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:

It is clear from the whole of Scripture that God ordained for human beings to be an integral part of His creative order … for man to have dominion over the earth and everything in it … that man should rule (exercise our ordained authority) over creation with the same love and compassion for it as God Himself.  In other words, our unity and fellowship with God would be such that we as created beings would be “an extension” of God in His creation.  So it follows that God would desire us to communicate with Him and fellowship with Him in this relationship that He designed for us.  In the beginning, it was perfect communion … unity with God … until the first human beings allowed sin to desecrate and corrupt them.  Pride?  Exertion of self-will over the will of God? Disobedience?  Through all the above, we fell from the glory and honor God had bestowed upon us through the deceptive power and darkness of sin….  As Paul explained, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” (Cf. Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21) And as Paul affirmed, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Cf. Romans 3:23)

As we have previously noted in our studies, human beings MUST have a Savior.  We cannot save our selves.  We cannot redeem ourselves from our sin because we are incapable to offer a Holy God a perfect sacrifice to atone for our transgressions.  God did the only thing that could be done to reconcile and restore our fellowship with Him.  He offered a perfect Lamb … His Son, Jesus!  God did so because of His great love for us … not because we merited or deserved His kindness or mercy.  Paul makes this quite clear:

Ephesians 2:4-10 (NKJV)

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Father God would not allow His beloved creation … human beings … to continue in separation from Him.  No, His great love with which He loved us would not allow us to remain dead in our sin.  God sent His Son to redeem us … to restore us to true life and to accomplish the good works which God had already prepared for us to do.  He replaced a crown of thorns with a crown of glory and honor! “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ Jesus. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20) I believe this is why the Apostle John insists we can know that we have eternal life.  This is why John confirms that God hears our prayers.  And if God hears us … we know that we have what we asked of Him!

Jesus made an astonishing declaration right before He raised Lazarus from the dead:

John 11:38-42 (NIV)

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” He said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus knew that God heard Him … and knew that He would receive what He had asked in prayer.  What a confirmation to us that God hears prayer … and a demonstration to us about the power of prayer!  Yet, the reality we often experience is that we do not receive what we asked of God.  What is the difference?  Does God have selective hearing?  Why is John so confident that God hears our prayers and that we can know that we have what we asked of Him? We pray, and yet, loved ones die of cancer; couples remain childless; children leave the Church; chronic illness continues unabated….  Why does God not answer our prayers the way we want Him to … the way we think He should?

John said God hears us when we ask anything according to His will … not our will.  And that is the challenge for us!  That is the conundrum of prayer and the mystery of faith.  How do we ever truly know the will of God in a specific circumstance or situation?  To be honest, I’m not sure. In Isaiah 55:8-10 we read, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  So we have to understand that issue.  In Deuteronomy 29:29 we read, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

So maybe we should consider that in order to pray and ask according to the will of God the Father, we need to grow in the knowledge of His “revealed” will.  And we can do so through the study of His Word and the life of His Son, Christ Jesus.  Those are things we CAN do if we will take the time to do them….  To me, it follows, that increased wisdom will translate into prayers that resonate the will of God.  And ­when He hear us … we need to “receive” and embrace HIS answer to our prayers.  His answer will be in accordance with His will.  And I believe that we can fully trust that His will is always for our good.  His great love redeemed us.  His great love is for us! (Cf. Romans 8:31) And we have to consider that we may not always see how God works and orchestrates in another person’s life to “work” His will for their good.  In other words, God IS answering the prayers offered up in faith; but He is doing so in His way and on His timetable according to His own purpose and grace. (Cf. Romans 8:28; Philippians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9-10) I just think we have to realize, and ultimately trust, that God does hear us and does answer us according to His will.  We just need to be attuned to how His will is being revealed….

One last thought or observation on this subject.  And I share this as a challenge to all of us who pray fervently for something in our lives.  Hebrews 5:7 reads, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.  Notice that the Scripture here said Jesus was heard because of His reverent submission.  I believe there is a lesson for us here.  Being heard was predicated upon reverent submission.  If a person does not fear God … if a person does not believe Him … if a person does not submit themselves to the authority of the Creator over their life … I’m not inclined to think that their prayer is going to be heard.  God knows those who truly believe Him and reverence Him.  He knows those who love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37) You cannot fool God and think that He will hear or answer your prayers.

My point is that the key aspect of prayer is ultimately our relationship with God.  Ultimately, His will is for each of us to be in perfect fellowship with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.  And that requires reverent submission! That requires humility … forsaking human pride and confessing our sins … and seeking reconciliation through Christ.  It reminds me of an often-quoted passage and I will end here:

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 

If we want our prayers to be heard, we most certainly must ask according to His will.  And His will is for us is accomplished only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ:

            Recognition of our sinful nature;

            Repentance for our transgressions;

            Redemption from the power of sin;

            Reconciliation to the Father;

            Relationship with the Father;

            Reverence for the Father

So Now You Know….

Have a Blessed Day!

Verse of the Day – 02/09/19

2 Thessalonians 1:3

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.

This verse is a nice reminder to be thankful for our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Paul indicated to the Thessalonian Church that his offering of gratitude to God for fellow believers was the right thing to do in light of their faith; its perseverance; its ever-increasing growth and maturity; and its abounding love for others.  Paul said he boasted to other bodies of believers about their perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials they were enduring.  Wow!  What kind of testimony do you think Paul would give to Second Chance Church?  Other churches in our community?  What kind of prayer would he offer for the Church today?  Well, I’m glad you asked because I think Paul would offer the same prayer for us that he did for the Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (NIV)

11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s examine his prayer a little more:

1. With this in mind ….

What is Paul referring to with this phrase? In Verses 5-10, Paul discusses the challenges and suffering the Thessalonian church was experiencing from non-believers and the culture around them. Sound familiar?  Yet, he offered them hope that justice would be accomplished when Jesus returns and explains how that will occur.  Perhaps, we should take note….

2. We constantly pray for you….

What a great comfort to know that another person is praying for you.  Even better, like Paul, tell other people you are praying for them … and often.  And let them know what you are praying for them … and asking God to do in them and for them….

3. That our God may make you worthy of His calling…

This is an interesting petition.  Notice the implication of what Paul is saying here.  You and I do not make ourselves worthy of the call God places upon us; rather HE makes us worthy. The questions here become: “How does God make us worthy of His calling?” and “Why is it important for us to pray for worthiness?”  My thoughts are that worthiness  is something we cannot accomplish within ourselves; however, we can respond to His call upon our lives by living a life worthy of the calling we have received.  You see this phrase and similar petitions in other epistles of Paul.

4. That by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 

Again, note that it is the power of God that brings fruition our desire for goodness; to our desire for holiness; to our service and ministry for others prompted by our faith.  So this verse corroborates that our salvation is by grace through faith … and not of works.  Our desire for goodness and serving others is fulfilled by the power of God working in us.  His Spirit will equip us for being effetive and productive … living lives worthy of our calling (Cf. 2 Peter 1:8)

5. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him,

Notice that the purpose of his prayer is for the name of the Lord Jesus to be glorified in His disciples and followers … AND each of us to be glorified in Him!

I thought this opportunity to examine a powerful prayer was too important for us to miss.  And I hope that you will consider how your prayers for fellow believers will not only encourage them – but will strengthen your own faith as you petition the Lord and observe His grace and power unfold in the lives of His people according to your prayers.  So I have reprinted some additional prayers of Paul for other churches below.  Note the similarities and content of his prayers.  I hope these examples will “reset your mindset” regarding prayer and inspire you and I to pray more intentionally and powerfully.  For you know these prayers will be answered because the Lord Jesus will be glorified through the fruit we bear as we live lives worthy of the calling we have received.  Amen!.

Ephesians 1:15-19 (NIV)

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, 19 and His incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 4:1 

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Colossians 1:3-12 (NIV)

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and      increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

1 Thessalonians 1:2-5 (NIV)

2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and  your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you,5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. 

1 Thessalonians 2:11-13 (NIV)

11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into His kingdom and glory. 13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually    is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 

Philippians 1:3-11 (NIV)

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

So Now You Know….

Have a Blessed Day!

Verse of the Day – 02/03/19

Psalm 59:16 (NIV)

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

This is a beautiful excerpt from Psalm 59.  David wrote this Psalm when King Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.  If you read the entire Psalm, you will see the context is a plea for deliverance from his enemies.  It is a petition for God to deal with his enemies and to bring consequences for their evil intent.  But at the end of his prayer, David sings praise and thanksgiving to God for His power, love, and protection.  Look at Verses 16-17:

16 But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

17 You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.

Though I find little eloquence in this Psalm (much of the tone is harsh to me), I do find a zealous message of reliance upon God … a sense of dependence upon God … and a profession of faith and trust in His vindication.  My observation is that David sees God in control of the situations he faces, and he trusts God to protect him.  David praises God because He is reliable and faithful to meet his needs.  So while the passage does not have great theological weight, it does convey two important aspects of how to exercise our faith: Prayer and Praise!

So when you come under duress or under attack … when you face physical, emotional, or spiritual battles … find a quiet place to get still before God and ask Him to deliver you.  Share with God your concerns … your feelings … your hurts … your needs. Then humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care (anxieties) upon Him, for He cares for you. (Cf. 1 Peter 5:6-7) And then remember to praise Him.  Praise Him because He is your fortress … your place of refuge. Praise Him because He is your strength.  You can rely upon Him to bring you through the situation you face!  For Jesus Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So you can boldly say: “The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Cf. Hebrews 13:5-6) Oh my friend, you CAN trust Him!  God has your back … and He loves you far beyond all you can imagine or conceive….

I am thankful that David was transparent and shared his own personal experiences for us. His writings enable us to draw upon the inspiration God imparted to him.  I hope each of us will endeavor to seek God with the same boldness that David did.  You might just be surprised at what honest prayer and joyful praise might do for your life…. Maybe we just need to realize it could be a great time to reset our mindset!  I pray we will … and that we will submit to what God has desired to do in us and for us all since the foundation of the earth … enjoy oneness with Him.

So Now You Know….

Have a Blessed Day!

Verse of the Day – 01/22/19

Matthew 7:7-8

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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

This passage is probably quite familiar to you.  Jesus is speaking; or rather, teaching His “Sermon on the Mount” and imparting various spiritual lessons to those gathered and following Him.  The “Sermon on the Mount” actually begins in Matthew Chapter 5 and concludes in Chapter 7.  If you have the opportunity this week, I would encourage to take some time to read it again.  As usual, I want to reprint the passage in its surrounding context:

Matthew 7:7-11 (NIV)
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 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!

The passage is focused on our prayer time and quiet time before God.  The key principle is that we “ask” God for our needs, and that He is a loving and faithful Father and will give “good gifts to those who ask Him.”  Even the order of the action words in Verse 7 form an acronym of the word “ASK” as shown:

            A         Ask

            S          Seek

            K         Knock

I think Jesus is encouraging us to take “action” when in prayer. In prayer we are asking God for His help; seeking wisdom for our questions and concerns; and knocking on the doors of possibilities for answers to be provided.  But part of the deal is that we must believe God will answer prayer and do so in a manner that is “good” for us.  That might not always be what we think God should do or how He should answer our prayers…. The Apostles, as other inspired writers of Scripture, urge us to ask and seek God in prayer for our needs.  Note some of the insight surrounding prayer that James affords to us:

James 1:5-7 (NIV)
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James 4:1-3 (NIV)
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Paul was not afraid to seek God and to ask Him for “good things”. Here are some examples of powerful prayers that serve as models for us:

 Ephesians 1:16-19 (NIV)
16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, 19 and His incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 3:15-21 (NIV)
16 I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Colossians 1:9-12 (NIV)
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.

And, of course, John encourages us to trust in the character of the Father and the Son to answer our prayers:

1 John 3:21-23 (NIV)
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him. 23 And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He (Jesus) commanded us.

1 John 5:13-15 (NIV)
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

What are some of your take-aways from these passages?  Mine are that we should ask in faith; ask according to His revealed will; and have confidence before God that we will receive IF we keep His commands and do what pleases Him.  God is generous and good as we know, but what we ask and how we ask and the intimacy of our personal relationship with God appear to affect answers and outcomes to our prayers.  I believe we need to examine ourselves in these areas more if we have come to the conclusion that “God does not hear me”.  Perhaps, the problem is not God at all….

For some final comments, I wanted to connect this Verse of the Day with our pursuit of holiness and living a consecrated life before God.  More specifically, our lesson on temptation from 1 Corinthians 10:13 comes to mind: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” My thought is this: Do we boldly ASK God for help when we are enticed by our hearts to indulge in sinful behavior or conduct?  Do we diligently SEEK His power to resist and flee? Do we KNOCK on the door of “escape” He promised in His Word to afford us?  The Apostle James wrote about this conflict within us:

James 1:12-15 (NIV)
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

To interrupt this process of temptation => sin => death, we need to ASK God for His power.  As Peter wrote: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)   We need to SEEK the way out of temptation.  As James concluded: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) And we need to KNOCK on the door of heaven for a place refuge.  As Jesus declared: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:7-10)

So now you know … that Jesus instructed us to simply ASK.  If we will keep His commands; do what pleases Him; and ask according to His will – He will hear us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.  Let’s start asking for the conviction to consecrate our lives to God.  Let’s start praying for holiness to be the fervent and persistent passion of our hearts.  Let’s start resisting the devil who lies and deceives and urges us to act on the temptations we have in our hearts.  Let’s start submitting ourselves God wholly and completely … knowing that our gracious Father knows how to give good gifts (the anointing of the Holy Spirit) to those who ask Him.  Amen!

So Now You Know…

Have a Blessed Day!