30. WHEN GOD DOESN’T ANSWER PRAYER. Sometimes when we pray, and our expectations haven’t been met or, the situation hasn’t changed, or perhaps even worsened, we are confused, bewildered and can’t understand this God who says “Ask and you shall receive.” and “Whatever you ask in My name it will be given to you.” or “Your Heavenly Father knows what you want even before you ask for it.” All these are in Scripture for us to read, understand and use. But, taken out of context they are only giving you half the scripture, It is important that when you read or hear such Scripture, You get the whole verse, in fact I believe to get the full impact and significance of what is being said one needs to read at least a couple of verses on either side of the verse you are concerned with. I read somewhere and I quote “ A Text taken out of Context is a Pretext” so let me explain further. All the above Scriptures are true, and sometimes God does answer us immediately; but, usually He wants us to understand His principles and the way He works. they all have provisos ie. “If you do this I will do that” And God’s provisos are dependent on our Trust, love and commitment to and for Him. He is not a money-machine or a Santa Clause, He gives when it’s good for you and when it’s going to further His Kingdom. That’s why many people bargain with God, “I’ll go to church more, I’ll Tithe more, or have that, “ I’ll be good daddy” attitude.” No, God doesn’t work that way. The truth is;--The more we love, trust and are committed to Him, the more we will understand His ways. This doesn’t happen overnight, but like any healthy relationship it will take time, first there is acquaintance, then trust, which takes a bit longer, then love and last of all commitment. And each of these are dependent on knowledge .As you get to know an acquaintance, you learn how far you can trust love and commit to them. Jesus is longing for our commitment, but we are holding back at different stages, some of us on the love, some on the trust, and some on the commitment stage. We say we love God, and truly believe we do, but, when it comes to the trust and commitment bit we become a little reluctant, why? I think it is because of the invisibility of God, we don’t want to trust or commit to someone or something we can’t hear, see or touch. Yet, that is exactly what Faith is all about. (in John 20 v29) Jesus said to Thomas “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” It’s about not using our natural senses but our spiritual senses, God is teaching us to live on a higher faith level or a (sixth sense). We are not quite there yet. Why? I will explain it this way...When a friend comes to your door, you open it and say “Come on in and make yourself at home,” but that’s not what you mean. What you do mean is... You’re welcome in the lounge, Dining room, Bathroom and maybe the kitchen, but don’t go into any of my other rooms draws or cupboards, you don’t want them to see your mess. What Jesus wants is to get into all the rooms, draws and cupboards of your heart so that He can clean it up. Only when we permit Him to do that will we be in a position to commit to Him. He doesn’t want to be a guest in Your heart, He wants an intermit relationship with you and me. He wants us to understand that His love for us is higher than the sky, deeper than the deepest ocean and longer and wider than the equator which goes right round the whole earth, and certainly beyond our mess. So our mess is no problem to Him. In fact the problem is ours, because we know deep down what God wants, but, we don’t want to part with our mess, now understand this, He’s not asking you to give up your mess, he’s asking you to give it to Him and allow Him to deal with it. Because we are all different He deals with each of us differently, I know a lady who was a big-time gambler, The horses, Bingo, Lotto, Whatever. She was spending hundreds of housekeeping dollars. on her addiction and dishonesty, her husband worked hard, but there still wasn’t enough to meet the family budget, She knew she had a problem and tried hard to drop it, but to no avail, she even went to counselling for months with no success, but when she gave her problem to the Lord, she found she gradually didn’t get the urge or feel like gambling as much, and eventually left off gambling all together. Usually, He wont take all your mess away at once, but as you trust Him more and more, and that trust turns to a deep love you will see Him work in your life and one day you truly will be able to say to The Lord “Make yourself at home” and mean it, because what has happened on the inside is now apparent on the outside. Because every room, draw and cupboard in your heart will be open to Him and His Holy Spirit. Jesus wants to dwell with you 24/7 not just on Sundays at church or when He is invited. And, do you know what!! When you have that sort of relationship with Him and ask Him for something no matter what it is, your prayer will line up with His will as you say “Your Will Be Done.” Because you know in your heart of hearts that whatever is His Will is the very best answer for all concerned, even if it doesn’t line-up with what you originally prayed for. You will submit to it, not because you have received or not received your request, but because of the complete love, trust and commitment you now have in Christ. Now as your love, trust and submission becomes more evident, so will the power of God work in your life, Perhaps not in great dramatic ways but slowly, you will notice and hear God speaking to you about family and friends giving you words of insight, encouragement and understanding. You will not be so preoccupied with this world and all the theatrics going on all around you, but will be open to the Spirit of God and what He is telling you to say and do for particular people, He must be free to enter every room of your life, to Live with you, as you discuss your daily routine while living with Him paying attention to the words of wisdom He imparts to you, if you’re not sure ask again, sometimes that’s a bit hard but go with it. Having Spiritual intimacy with God is for you not just about you. God will give you as much of His power as you can handle without pride taking over, I believe that’s why God dishes it out very slowly. And only to people who can handle it. Power belongs to God, If you want His Power, He will give it to you, but only if He can come and dwell (LIVE) with you. You and I are the Temple of God. If we expect God Almighty the Creator of the Universe to come and live with us, we must keep our Temple Pure and Holy. This is not easy, convenient or comfortable. It needs not only an everyday clean up, but several times a day, starting when you wake each morning, I used to set my alarm for every hour or two, just to say a short prayer of Praise or thanksgiving to our God. To acknowledge Him and His presence, but now I don’t need to because I find myself speaking to Him all the time, His response is always clear, confident and caring. I don’t know if any of you have been to Niagara Falls. They separate North America from Canada, absolutely beautiful, Going from the American side to the Canadian border, one is able to get an apartment in the nearby high-rise motels where you can see “The Falls” way in the distance, this wets your appetite for the next day when you are going to cross the border. The next day you do cross the border where there’s a large fenced park, now you can hear the Thundering Falls in the distance and even feel the odd bit of spray sting your face, your excitement is growing, as you are admitted into another area where there’s a pool and you are given a raincoat and umbrella and taken on a launch closer to the monster Falls. There you get to experience the thunder, the roar, the pouring spray like rain and the complete soaking of “Niagara Falls.” It’s an experience and opportunity you wouldn’t want to miss. I have told you this story to try to explain the adventure you can have When committing to Christ, The journey, the anticipation and the Glorious experience of a knowing, trusting and loving commitment to Jesus. Yes, it takes time, all good relationships do, but, there’s none more rewarding than having the very presence of Almighty God so close and personal. No, it does not all come at once or happen overnight, but, like the experience of going to Niagara Falls, it comes in stages, slowly you will pass through experience after experience as you learn to recognise, listen and trust the leading of God’s Holy Spirit, and to communicate with Him in His own language of love, trust and Commitment. And the best part of all is..As you regularly renew your commitment to Christ, this wonderful Relationship and experience will never fade or come to an end. As His Grace and presence become stronger and stronger in your life. It will stay, and in fact, improve during the rest of your stay here on earth and go with you into eternity. And when you get to Heaven God wont be a stranger you are meeting for the first time, No, Your relationship is already established. Thank you for reading my thoughts on this subject. I have lived in this world a long, long time. I have no great attributes or credentials. My only boast is.. The God of all Creation Knows me by name because I am fully committed to Him and His Word. Come and join us. You will never regret it. God bless us All in Jesus Name. Phaline.

29. GOD GIVEN GOALS. John 3 v6.

We all have been given Goals in life and the appropriate giftings to achieve them, Our God is the giver of both. In the above scripture Jesus said “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. (John 3. 6.) When you have a desire that is born of the flesh, don’t expect God to fulfil it. Its okay to admire and learn from gifted, successful people, as long as you don’t try to duplicate them. It’s all right to emulate their good character and qualities even seek their input, but you need to go to God the architect of each of our lives and ask Him to show you His blueprint for your life. Even though David’s desire was to build The Temple, God told him his son Solomon, would ultimately build it. David’s job was to raise the money and materials for the project. If you’re a make-it-happen sort of person, that will go against your grain. But if you let Him, God’s Spirit will lead you as He did Paul (see Acts 16.6) when he (Paul0 attempted to go to Asia, Bithynia, and Troas. God spoke to him in a vision telling him “No, I want you to go to Macedonia Instead. God will come to your help if you keep in communication with Him. This happened for me...When My Husband John was thirty nine years old he was diagnosed with a serious Heart condition, We had a growing family of seven. John had been successfully running his own Brick laying business in Christchurch for several years. We prayed a great deal about his condition, and eventually in October 1988 the Lord led us down here to Waimate, where John could have a quieter life. After a few years of lifestyle farming, his health worsened and in 2016 The Lord took him home. That left me stuck out here, with no licence, (The result of very poor eyesight a problem which I have had since berth) and no bus or taxi service. Although friends and family were and still are very good to me, I didn’t feel much use to God or anyone else. So I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to do with the rest of my life. At the age of seventy something I started writing, sat, quietly and studied, I gained a couple of diplomas through correspondence and here I am writing for God, I will never be a great author or anything like that, but I can occupy my remaining years by passing on the knowledge and experience I have, and hopefully fill the goal God has put in front of me. I didn’t ever dream God would use me in this way, but Like Abraham I looked at what I had. I came from a Christian Home, had A Good Christian Education, I have travelled a bit, married a Christian and brought up seven children. I have always been interested in learning Scripture and writing stories. I gained two diplomas, and have written a couple of books. So it wasn’t too difficult to see where God was leading me. And so it will be with anyone who wants to see where God is leading them, see what gifts and talents you have, God gave them to you to use in the furtherance of His Kingdom. Let Him set your goals and You will be heading in the right direction. Book shops are full of volumes telling you, you can be anything you want to be, and while there’s some truth in that, it’s not the whole truth. The Truth is;-- God has gifted, talented and enabled each of us to accomplish different achievements for the benefit of His Kingdom. If you want to be a pianist or Oprah Singer but hate all the practise it entails to be one, forget it, you wont succeed, but if you are quite happy to dig up dirt all day and search for archaeological remains, take it to God and ask Him if that’s what you should be doing. God will only empower you to be what He has gifted enabled and equipped you to be. God told Jeremiah “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah replied “Alas Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me “Do not say I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.” (Jeremiah 1;5-9). That was the Scripture I received from the Lord, when He first asked me to follow Him, I told Him I was almost blind and for that reason found learning very difficult, within a week I was given a special magnifying glass and also a large print bible. I found that God doesn’t ask us to do anything without equipping us and giving us the grace to do it, so that His will can be accomplished.. It’s hard work yes!, and can only be achieved by His Will, Grace and Input. Also He chooses the most unlikely and ill equipped people to do such work. Why? So neither Jeremiah nor I or anybody else can claim the Glory which belongs to Him alone. When God equips you with one talent, He doesn’t give you a five-talent assignment and vice versa see (Matthew 25;14-15) and here’s the good news the one talent person and the five talent person will stand before Him and hear the same commendation “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25.21.) All He wants is our cooperation, He’ll do the rest. When you recognise and embrace God’s plan for your life you will tap into the power you will need to fulfil it. Keep trusting in God, Yes, You will make mistakes, but don’t let that derail you, or gravitate you to false humility which will handicap you spiritually, mentally and emotionally. In ” (Prov.18;21)”As surely as the tongue can bring death or life” You must learn to speak God’s word over the vision He has given you. It’s a mistake to think you can play God’s role or that He will play yours. But once you understand your personal assignment and tap into His power, you can start believing for success, regardless of what obstacles may stand in your way. When you know you’re in the Will of God, doing what He told you to do, You can stand confidently on the following Scriptures. (Zechariah 4;6) (Joshua 23;10) (Psalm138;-3). And you will know you are not alone, God is with You. (Isaiah 43;4.) “I will give men for you and people for your life.” God will always send people to help you with your assignment. Personally speaking I am eternally grateful to God for all the friends He has given me over the years that have helped me, not only with my Handicap (lack of sight) but also with what I believe is my God-given assignment. Without such friends and family, many of the things I have done would not have been possible. I am forever grateful to them for answering God’s call and to my God for sending them my way. We need to ask God to send people who belong in our life. In Exodus 17, we read, as long as Moses kept his hands raised Israel’s armies prevailed in battle, but when he grew tired the battle went the other way. So Aaron and Hur stood by Moses and held up his hands until victory over the Amalekites had been achieved. You need people who will hold up your hands and strengthen you. Paul took an entire chapter of the New Testament to acknowledge and thank all those who had made it possible for him to succeed in his calling. Some of us are stubborn and self-centred; and hold the philosophy ‘it’s my way or the highway’ with that attitude you will burn through people, don’t do it! When God sends gifted people into your life, acknowledge, respect, train, motivate and reward them, by doing that, you will fulfil, your goal and create a win/win situation for everybody. Discern who belongs in your life and who doesn’t. One of the toughest parts of reaching your goal is discovering that some of the people closest to you don’t share it or want to be part of it. You can spend years trying to convince them. You may even be able to buy their short-term loyalty, but eventually they’ll leave you, often breaking your heart in the process. (In 2 Timothy1-15.) Paul writes..”All those in Asia have turned away from me” One can almost hear the heartache and disappointment in his words. When God gives you a great goal you may experience the same thing. Somebody once said “In prosperity our friends know us; In adversity we know our friends” How true!! Here are some scriptural references you may like to look up (Job 19.19) (Psalm 38.v11.) (Proverbs 25.19) The truth is people who don’t respect your goal will detract from it, and if you insist on holding on to them, they will end up hurting you. In (Matthew 10.14) Jesus tells us “If you are not welcomed in a place, shake the dust of that place off your feet.” In order to reach your God given goal, sometimes you have to do that. God told the Prophet Habakkuk “Write down the vision and make it plane...So that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and not delay” Note the word delay, God can give a vision overnight. But usually it wont be fulfilled overnight. You’ll face disappointments, discouragements and delays. Because your vision always costs more than you estimated and takes longer than you planed, it can become blurred by your circumstances and emotions. That’s why it’s so important to write it down and keep it in front of you! Why did God tell Abraham that his children would be as numerous as the stars in Heaven? Because stars are something you can physically look at and count. (Proverbs 29.18 ) tells us “Where there is no vision the people perish “ the word “perish” suggests something that’s slowly decaying. And that’s what happens when you don’t keep your God-Given vision in front of you. With a clear-cut written goal, You’ll always know where you are at, and remember what God has called you to do. Thank you for reading my thoughts on “God’s Goals For Your Life” by following the principles I’ve mentioned, and allowing God to go ahead of you, you will succeed. Pray Often, Keep Faithful, and “Fear Not”...Then He will go ahead of you, and be your Rear Guard as well. … God Bless and keep us all in the palm of His hand. Phaline. -----------------------

28 FORGIVENESS.

Forgiveness is one of the most necessary attributes a Christian has to cultivate, also one of the most difficult to achieve, because as Christians, we are required to forgive. When Peter asked Jesus How many times he should forgive his brother he was being quite magnanimous in saying “Seven times!” but Jesus said “No, seventy times seven”, that means as many times as he asks to be forgiven. There is no limit to forgiveness. That’s hard eh! but, look at it this way, if we want to be forgiven several times, (and often for the same sin) we too have to forgive others. “Forgive me my sin as I forgive others their sins” That means in the same way, so, if we hold back our forgiveness so will God hold back His forgiveness to us. In another scripture Jesus says” Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven” So yours and my forgiveness is dependent on us forgiving others. If we don’t want it to be held against us we have to loose others here on earth. So we have to think very carefully when we hold a grudge it could very easily come back to bight us. . Here is a story I heard today, I’d like to pass it on to you.--- “My name is Trevor, but people call me Trev, I am now forty four years old. When I was a child, night after night I was beaten by my father when he came home from the pub in a drunken rage. So, the first chance I got I ran away from home, I was fourteen. In time the physical scars faded, but the emotional ones still haunted me, leaving me with a hatred for my father which led me into fits of depression stuck in the pain of the past which cost me valuable relationships. Even the people who loved me, despaired and grow weary that I’d ever get better despite their efforts to help me. Then a friend told me about Jesus, she was kind enough to spend time with me, it took several months. but Jesus slowly changed my life and now I’m free.” That was Trev’s story, Do you know someone like that? or are you that someone? Do you want to move towards healing and find joy? You can. Trevor remembers when he agreed to pray for his dad and forgave him. That was when the healing started and now he is spiritually and emotionally healed, he has kept on forgiving and praying for his father and those old memories no longer hold him prisoner. Jesus said “pray for those who spitefully use you (Luke 6.28)” The word “Spiteful” means you did nothing to cause or deserve it, That your offender hurt you for reasons you may never understand. That’s why Jesus prayed on the cross,”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”(Luke 23. 34.) That Scripture doesn’t let the offender off the hook, No, they will have to live with the guilt of what they have done, and unless they turn to God for forgiveness they’ll never have peace, but you will. When you decide to forgive someone and pray for them. You can then take back your power and reclaim your life. Sometimes, we think we have forgiven someone, but we still harbour hard feelings towards them; this is natural, but not Christian, (few things in Human nature are) here are some indications that one has some work to do in this area. We become resentful every time we think of them, We avoid them, We often rehearse the incident mentally, We take every opportunity to remind them of what they did to us. What we are doing is justifying an unforgiving attitude. (Berrying the axe and marking the spot) It is well for us to remember,… There are two things God will not share, (1) His Glory (Isaiah 42.8.) and (2) His right to settle the score. (Romans12.19-21) Paul writes Never take revenge. The Scriptures say “I will take revenge, I will pay them back”says The Lord, Instead, If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” One of the main problems with unforgiven sin is, it causes resentment which chains you to the offender, but you’re the one who ends up as a hostage not only to sin, but to that person. Dwelling on something your parents, Spouse teacher or coach did to you, or, how someone else took credit for the work you had done or, you believe someone said something about you which may or may not be true, all these things pile up and make you, not them, become a very bitter person, who goes around miserable, while the person who hurt you doesn’t even know you are upset. Don’t give anyone that kind of control over your life, Drop it, forgive, hand it over to God, Trust Him to work it out. Then move on. Sometimes truly forgiving a person is an extremely difficult thing to do, it requires a humble spirit, a tender heart and a profound love for God. All these things will keep God on His throne while one goes through what can be a very traumatic experience, Especially when it involves family relationships. Such offences cut deep into our emotions and sometimes last for generations one may even find they need professional help. Find a good Christian professional, they can and will help not only mentally but Spiritually and emotionally as well. When it comes to God’s forgiveness, Knowing is better than feeling. The Bible says, “The greater the offence, the greater the need to forgive the offender in order to get on with your life. Here’s how God’s forgiveness works; consciousness of sin leads to conviction of sin, and conviction of sin leads to confession of sin, confession of sin leads to cleansing of sin, and cleansing of sin leads to confidence before God (see 1 John 3 21-22). You say “but I don’t feel worthy of God’s forgiveness.” You will never be worthy of it! Because His forgiveness is not based on your worthiness, but on Christ’s worthiness! Furthermore, God is not like your parents, teachers or football coach; He doesn’t insist you squirm and be missable for a few days so that you will ‘learn your lesson’ before He forgives you. That would mean playing a part in earning His forgiveness NO! It’s by God’s Grace, and His Grace alone That We are forgiven (see Ephesians 2 8-9.)! Grace means “undeserved favour”. So when God forgives you, honour Him by forgiving yourself and moving forward. Two Commandments Jesus gave, Love God and love your neighbour, If we always try to keep these two commandments in mind we will find that the most loving thing we can do for someone is to try and think the best of them, give them the benefit of the doubt, find a reason or even an excuse why they said or did something that may have upset us. We all have off days and get a bit grouchy at times due to anything from bad weather to our hormones and a million things between. Remember, don’t react, keep the door (mouth) shut and smile. God will help you if you take the first step towards peace forgiveness and reconciliation. Thank you for reading this word on Forgiveness and be grateful that while we were still sinners, Jesus came, died and forgave us our sins to justify us before Almighty God His Father, thus providing us with the only way to get to Heaven. Thank You Lord Jesus. Amen. Phaline. ----------------------------------------