Doubt and Pride (Luke 7:1-10)

When we approach God in prayer, we could come with one of two attitudes.  We either believe that God is the hope for our cause and that because of our devotion to him, we should expect our prayer to be answered or we are unsure of his response because we see ourselves as unworthy.

Both extremes are incorrect.  Many times because we feel unworthy, our faith is diminished hindering God from responding and answering our prayers.  Have you ever met someone who felt that they had sinned too much and could not be saved?  However, there are other occasions when people feel that because they have abstained from sinful actions and live a separated life for God that they are more likely to be heard.  In all truth, there is not one person who ever lived righteously enough to deserve an answer to prayer.

When we start thinking that we deserve something from God, we move from humble created being to proud mimic of Lucifer.  The ugliness of pride can creep into our lives without us even knowing it and when it does, it is subtle and usually undetected.  The heart is still deceitful above all things.

Have you ever been bothered because God did not answer a prayer.  If you have, it was because of pride.  Will God answer prayer? Yes!  Will it ever be based on our worthiness?  No! but remember, there are two things that hinder faith: doubt and pride.

Mercy and Truth (Proverbs 3:3)

Mercy and truth are like the sunset.  Sunsets are beautiful experiences, but unless they are captured in thought, on canvas or on film, they will be lost.  Mercy and truth are presented to us by God.  We gain it from his word, but unless we taken measures to preserve them, they too will be lost.

God tells us to bind mercy and truth about our necks and write them upon the table of our hearts. (Prov. 3:3). If we live life with mercy and truth, it us because we failed to secure it.  We may have enjoyed its pleasure for a season, but like the sunset, it was gone.

Mercy and Truth (Proverbs 3:3)

Mercy and truth are like the sunset.  Sunsets are beautiful experiences, but unless they are captured in thought, on canvas or on film, they will be lost.  Mercy and truth are presented to us by God.  We gain it from his word, but unless we taken measures to preserve them, they too will be lost.

God tells us to bind mercy and truth about our necks and write them upon the table of our hearts. (Prov. 3:3). If we live life with mercy and truth, it us because we failed to secure it.  We may have enjoyed its pleasure for a season, but like the sunset, it was gone.

Truth and Hard Hearts (Mark 3:5)

It is not unbelief that angers The Lord, but a hard heart.  A person hardens their heart by resisting truth that is brought to it.  The person recognizes the truth and resists it so that it will not change them.  People who harden their hearts keep themselves from receiving the workings of God and his grace in their hearts.  They aren't confused and they aren't struggling to accept or understand truth.  They create a fortress of their heart and will not allow God or his truth to enter.

You Are Where You Are

You may not be where you want to be.  You may be looking for conditions or circumstance in your life to change.  Before you react or respond, you may need to ask yourself a few questions. What if the circumstances in my life are ordained by God?  What if he has a plan to use me and my circumstances as a way of demonstrating his grace so that others may come to Christ or some saved may be challenged to trust him? 

Instead of praying or looking for your circumstances to change, you may need to accept where you are and ask The Lord to help you to be content with it.  God has never promised you a great or easy life, but he has declared that he will provide the grace that you need to live his plan and that you can find contentment in it.

Consider the following passages.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  (II Corinthians 12:9)

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. (Philippians 4:6)

Knowing More of Him (Revelation 21:4)

As you go through a trial, remember that it is God's desire for you to live life without sorrow.  There will come a day when all of your sorrow will be gone, but until that time, he will provide to you a comforter instead of a deliverer.

God wants you to experience each facet of his greatness.  Deliverer, Judge, Ruler and King are aspects of him that we greatly desire to see and experience.  However, God wants you to know him as comforter, burden bearer, and guide.  You can only know the latter by experiencing difficulties in your life.  If you want to know him, you must follow him to where he leads.  Because it is only in those places that you can more fully learn of him.

Rejected Again and Again (Isaiah 53:3)

You fat pig!  You can't sit here.  I hate you!  We don't want your kind around here.  Have you ever heard words like these before?  If you have, you know how deeply they hurt.  These words are words of rejection and being rejected is a very difficult thing to handle.  Each of us has faced it and our first occurrence took place way back in our early childhoods.  Since then, we have staggered from rejection to rejection.  Oh, we may pick ourselves up, but each rejection adds to the last and we never seem to completely recover.  We simply harden ourselves and move forward.  However, that is only true for some of us.  For the rest of us, is there any hope?  Is there anyone who will not reject us?  The answer is yes.

I have seen it many times.  Those who have been rejected tend to have a heart towards others who have also been rejected.  This is not always true: there are some who have become hardened people and only project their hurt on others, but they are not the majority.

I have a friend who has been rejected many times and even by friends and family.  Every time I need acceptance and support he is there.  He is able to help me, because he knows what it is like to be rejected and he understands the struggles I face each time I am rejected.  He knows the sorrow that I feel, because he also has felt it.  His compassion and strength become my stability.  He is a very true friend.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: (Isaiah 53:3)

Have you been rejected?  If so, speak with my friend.  He wants to embrace you in his caring arms and provide the comfort and support you need to overcome your hurts.  You don't need to measure up to gain his support, you simply need to reach out.