Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Be Careful How You Approach God In Prayer


 
What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? —Matthew 7:9
 
The illustration of prayer that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our relationship is to Him (see Matthew 5:45). […] Do you have to say to the Lord, “I have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings”? You cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of a “good child.” […] We refuse to look at the evidence that clearly indicates where we are wrong. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been living as God’s child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12). I am a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship with God. […] There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then Jesus says, regarding His children, “Everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8). CHAMBERS
 
(James 4:2-4) “… You do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  So often we live our lives the way we want, patronizing God on Sunday morning, demanding that He prove Himself to us by bailing us out of jams and satisfying our lust for the things of this world. Sound harsh? It is the cold truth.  How dare we think that we can barge into the presence of God and demand that He do what we want.  We don’t get to make the rules of our relationship nor do we get to decide what is best for us. 
 
We need to wake up! When we come into the presence of the Creator God we must remember that it is only because of Jesus that we can.  It is only because of God’s grace and mercy that we are His children and can ask even for a crumb of bread.  How dare we approach a holy God with unclean hearts and dirty hands.  (Psalm 24:1-4) “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.”  Think about it the next time you look about and cry out, make certain your heart is right first.  CHARLEY

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