Last week on day 1 of the study, we had 9 questions that made us think. Then if that wasn't tough enough, and in our face enough, we were faced with the reality of there are times we are reluctant to go to God with things in our life or desires/longings. Now come on don't leave me hanging here - I don't want to be the only one in the world feeling this way....
James 1:16-17 tells us "Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. 17 Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above..." (HCSB) If we have something in our hearts that we are longing for or desiring, and we are reluctant to go before God and ask for it, then rest assured it is not from God, because God's word does not lie. If God put the desire in our hearts, He wants us to continue to come before Him and ask Him for direction, wisdom, leading, confirmation, and the grace to move forward.
If you are reluctant to go before God and ask Him for the desire/longing, then go and asking Him to remove these from you and put a hedge of protection around you so that Satan will get behind you!
I love you all! Can't wait to see what this week's study will bring.
Some of the discussion on this can get pretty intense too. Definitley believe the, "If you are reluctant to go before God and ask Him for the desire/longing, then go and asking Him to remove these from you and put a hedge of protection around you so that Satan will get behind you!"
ReplyDeleteWhy? Why are we reluctant to go to God? Is it because we don't trust Him? Is it because we have before and were disappointed when God didn't answer our prayers the way we wanted? These are REAL hurts. Many times we want to pray to God like He was a Santa Clause. Give me my want list, then I will love you God, mentality. Where we have to have the self check is the part of if God put the desire in our hearts. What is the attitude behind the desire? Did God really put the desire in your heart? or Where did the desire come from?
Do we beleive God? Do we beleive God is Who He says He is? Do we beleive God will Do what He says He will Do? How deep is our love for Him? Head knowledge or heart knowledge? Do we only love Him when things are going great? Do we trust Him - despite our circumetances?
We serve a loving God, a living God - that is what makes us different from other religions - serving a living God. He wants us to be in relationship with Him, and that means us being honest with Him, vulnerable, to the point of crying out to Him.
I have trouble with that - crying. Boy the barriers we build, the safety nets we put in place when we do not want to get hurt. Not that I have no feelings, but many times the tears will not come. I've had to literally pray for tears. So I can let down my guard enough to know that He can handle all my pain, I do not have to be the tough one, with a callous you cannot hurt me heart. We have to allow Him to carry us through the tough times when we cannot hardly stand up, much less walk.
So reluctant to go before God with the longings of heart? Then maybe we have to ask some tough questions so that He can grow us.
Lori