When God Can't Answer

Although God is all powerful, He will not break His word. 

Therefore, God will not break His word even to answer your prayers. 

When you pray, ask yourself, is this promised in scripture with conditions? 

Are there conditions in that promise that I'm not keeping? 

Ask God please give me the insight to understand what changes that I need to make to qualify for this request? 

(I John 5:14)

M. H. Dennis

The Fight of Faith

In James 4:7B he said, "Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you." 

In this passage, we are commanded to get our minds off the temptation and resist the source of the temptation, which is the Devil. 

Why are we commanded to resist the Devil if it is God who is supposed to be the one doing it for us? 

If we don't resist the Devil, does this command imply that God will step in and do it for us? 

No! If you won't resist the Devil, then you are own your own. 

God will allow whatever you allow. 

God never blesses disobedience. 

If you do resist him, then God will come to your aid. (Phil. 2:13)

M. H. Dennis

Faith Blocker

When we don't hear God, it's because our minds are upon other things.

Focusing upon our problems is called worry.

It interferes with our ability to hear God.

Worry is having faith in our problems.

Faith in something besides God blocks our ability to hear Him.

Faith in God begins by believing something that at the time doesn't appear to be true to be true because of your confidence in Him, and what He has promised. (Luke 8:50,52)

M. H. Dennis 

My Faith Fix

Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith (Hebrews 12:2); however, it is my responsibility to increase it. 

It is not Christ's responsibility to increase my faith (Luke 17:6), but it is mine. I cause it to increase by use. (Luke 17:6-10). 

I exercise my faith as I refuse to surrender to my circumstances.  

I must stand firm trusting what God says about my situation. 

I must never give my faith a day off until my faith has finished accomplishing its task.

M. H. Dennis

Prayer that get God's Attention

Jesus taught us to pray "Our Father in Heaven".  

In others words, we approach God recognizing His responsibility to take care of us, His love for us, and we are acknowledging an intimate relationship that we have with Him. 

"Your name be honored as holy".  

As God's children,  we acknowledge that our behavior reflects upon God's reputation, and that should remain foremost in our prayers. Our petition should start and end with our desire to live a life that reflects well on Him. 

"Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread."  

I think that most of us focus on getting our needs met in prayer; however, our focus should be God's complete control over our lives. 

Notice how Jesus de-emphasized asking for our needs in Matthew 6:8b. 

" your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him" ; however, Jesus puts God's rule primary in our lives even in prayer.  

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus taught "... Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you".  

Since God is all knowing and has our best at heart, why should we use our prayers as a tool to bend God's will to ours and not the other way around.  Since God knows everything, He truly knows what is best.  

Why would we insist on God giving us what appears best even if it might harm us in the end?  

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." 

Another focus in prayer is confession of sin and forgiving others. Forgiveness is a prerequisite to receive anything from God, including His forgiveness of us. 

"And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one".  

Here it is again. Our focus in prayer is our desire to live a godly life while acknowledging our tendency toward selfishness and an enemy who attempts to use it to destroy us.  

"For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever."  Here Jesus summarizes the prayer again which is to do God's will, with God's help, for God's reputation.  

(Matthew 6:9a to 6:13 HCSB)

   

What to do when you don't understand

First, doubt enters in because we fail to understand that God is working our circumstances together for our favor.  Then, fear enters in because we abandon our faith in God's ability to save us.  Finally, we experience God's Discipline... Our blessings are put off for another day.   

1. Doubt- The battle of Gideon- Judges 6:13- "If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us?

2. Fear  - "Fear is the abandonment of our faith in God's abilities".

Numbers 13:28- "However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there"

3. God's Discipline - Israel wandered in the desert for 40 more years.

We miss experiencing God's presence and miracles.

We miss God's blessing...Israel did not enter the land.

(by Earl Seals, President of N2 Publising)

What to do when it doesn't make sense

Here's how we get side tracked from obeying God.  


1. We trust in ourselves (abilities, resources, talents, or ideas)

Numbers 13:17 - Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, "Go up into the Negev and go up into the hill country and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are strong or weak, few or many, poor or bad."


• 2. We focus on the logical- God says that My ways are not your ways. Here are some wrong questions that we try to reason around God's will. 

  What would be wrong with      everything being planned out?"




• Wouldn't God want us to be happy?


• Wouldn't God want us to be safe?


• Wouldn't God want us to be secure?


• Wouldn't God want us to be successful?

3. We listen to the wrong people. Numbers 13:31 - Then the men who had gone up with him said, "we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are".

4.  We forget what the Lord has done in the past. Numbers 14:11 "...and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? Joel 2:21 Fear not, O land: Be glad and rejoice, For the Lord has done marvelous things!...

5.  We forget who God is. Rev. 4:11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Luke 1:37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."

Numbers 13 (by Earl Seals, N2 Publishing)