UNEXPECTED
RESULTS.
"Always
be joyful. Always keep on praying. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, always be thankful,
for this is GOD's will for you who belong to CHRIST JESUS." 1
Thessalonians 5:16-18 [emphasis supplied].
These
are hard words for us to understand. Always be joyful...always be thankful...no matter what happens. Those are
GOD's words, not mine. But what are we
going to do about them?
In
spite of the fact that we claim to believe there is a GOD up there in heaven
somewhere; a GOD who is our Abba, our Father; a GOD who loves us so much He
even allowed His only begotten Son to die for us; a GOD who has provided us
with all we need to fight our spiritual battles; we often find that He does
not
respond to our prayers in the exact way we want Him too, He doesn't give us
what we ask for.
As
Christians we know there are no completely unanswered prayers. GOD always answers, our problem is we see only from a
human beings' perspective; so that when we pray for physical healing and the
person dies we get upset, and cry out to GOD, "Why?" Or, when we
petition for financial prosperity and the recipient gets fired, we feel as if
somehow we've, or GOD, let them down and we again cry out "Why, GOD, are
you doing this?" Or, we pray for a Christian spouse for one of our
children, and they seem to fall in love with a non-believer; etc. What is going
on?
GOD wouldn't be a loving Father if He gave
us everything we wanted. Just as Christian parents on this earth know what is
best for their children - even when the children don't agree - our GOD knows
the end from the beginning, He says in His Word: " For my
thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth,
and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater: So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it.
"
Isaiah 55:8-11, and
so He allows what He knows is best!
His
plans for us are not what we would work out. But His plans are the best plans.
But are we willing to trust Him, no matter what? Take a look at GOD's plan for
Job. It was a good plan according to GOD, but it tested Job's faith to the
utmost and staggered his understanding. You remember the account, if not, open
your Bible to the Book of Job [it's in the Old Testament between Esther and the
Psalms]: Job's adult children were all killed, plus he lost all his cattle, his
crops...even his physical health was affected. What was Job's response: "Though He slay me, yet will I
...TRUST Him!..." Job 13:15 [Amplified Bible].
"As
for GOD, His way is perfect..." Psalm 18:30. It is our viewpoint that makes all the difference. GOD's Word tells us
that Christians, particularly Prayer Warriors, must have and can have the
viewpoint of CHRIST. "Let
this mind be in you, which is also in CHRIST JESUS." Philippians 2:5. And
"...be
renewed in your mental attitude, and that you put on the new nature that is
created in GOD's likeness..." Ephesians 4:23,24 [New
This
is, unfortunately, the problem with many professed Christians, they are
'fairweather' Christians. In other words, when their prayers and intercessions
are answered positively, they are singing the praises of GOD; BUT when there is
a negative response or something doesn't happen when they believe it should,
then a fist is raised toward heaven and a demand is made, "Why have You
[meaning GOD] allowed this?"; or they'll give up what 'faith' they had in
GOD. Also, there are times when even we, as Christians and Prayer
Warriors, somehow have the idea that this should exempt us from having trials
and tests in our lives.
Yet
GOD's Word says that "ALL things work together for
good..." It all
goes back to Whom we KNOW! In
Luke 2:22-32, we read of of a man named Simeon. He was someone who knew his
GOD. Yet Simeon had never seen or heard of a miracle. For four hundred years
GOD had been silent. No signs. No wonders. No new assurances delivered by a
prophet. All Simeon had was the written Word of GOD. But that was enough for
him...he chose to believe!
Why
can't our faith and character grow without the suffering of family members,
friends, acquaintances, etc... Because it is only in the purifying that we are
challenged to believe, trust, and rely on GOD's Word, in spite of what we
are feeling. Remember, FAITH
means a deliberate determination to believe something we can't see or feel
the evidence of.
As
Merlin Carothers puts it in 'POWER IN PRAISE' "So if GOD TELLS US
he's working everything out for our good, and we see everything go wrong, our
faith grows when we stand on God's Word and thank Him for everything that is
happening."
The question that remains for us is: Will we trust GOD no matter what
- even though it may mean a beloved child or spouse gets a terminal disease, or
is injured in an accident, and dies; even if folks we're battling in prayer for
turn their backs on GOD; even if we or someone we're praying for loses their
job and gets in a financial bind, etc...WILL WE STICK WITH OUR GOD BECAUSE WE
KNOW HIM and He is trustworthy? Prayer Warriors cannot be fairweather
Christians. It is all or nothing!