Answered Prayers

It's been close to a month since my last post.  A lot has been happening lately, and I'll soon get back on track.

I'm currently reading Heaven Is For Real and something struck me today about God answering prayers.  It's something I've thought about for a while, so bear with me as I write it down.

During the holiday season of 2019, it was a dark time for my family with my wife's rapidly failing health.  As Thanksgiving came upon us, I prayed to God to let us get through the holidays at least.  I knew she was going to pass.  I just didn't know when.

However, I did tell God that if it was His will to take her before or during the holidays, I would do my best not to let it tarnish future holidays.

Not only did we make it through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in 2019, I also rang in the New Year with her.  She passed on January 16, 2020.

As the months dragged on following her passing, I wondered if I would ever find love again.  So I turned to God in prayer.  I asked God if it was His will for me to remain single for the remainder of my life, I would accept it.  I wouldn't be very happy with the decision, but would accept it and would claim the life as He saw fit.

However, if He did see that I would find another female companion, I had a few asks.  I will keep the asks to myself and the Lord Himself, save for one.  She had to be a Christian.  And not just a so-so Christian.  One who knew God and we could have spiritual and Biblical conversations about.

Well, I will let you know that God has once again answered my prayers.  She lives around three hours from me, had lost her husband in March 2021 to pancreatic cancer, and . . . not only is she a Christian, her father is also a part-time pastor.

Halleluiah!

Praise the Lord!

As an added note of irony, she also shares the same first name as my late wife.

Yes, Jesus is smiling down on us for sure.

Comparing man to maggots

In Job, chapter 25, which is extremely short at 6 verses, Bildad told Job that God is indeed powerful and no one is able to count the number of his army of angels.  He then questioned how a mortal man can be innocent, pure, when even the moon and stars cannot hold any glory without God.  He ends by stating that, to God, people are nothing more than maggots and worms.

Job rebukes this in chapter 26.  He asks how he has helped the powerless and weak, where has he received the words of wisdom that he speaks of?  God is everywhere, from across the sky to every cloud and rain.  God created the earth and Heaven, separating them.

The Lord made the heavens and earth powerful and beautiful, all from a mere whisper.  His power is great.  And who is Bildad to question that power?

Quote Scripture, not Plato or Confucius or Abraham Lincoln

A quick one today.

Have you ever noticed how many people quote others in history like President Lincoln, Plato, Confucius, or Henry Ford or countless others, and treat them like gospel?

But very few seem to quote the actual Gospel?

Start a movement today to quote God's Word instead of someone else's.  Not that others' words aren't meaningful, but the True Word should hold more weight in our daily lives than others.

Amen.

Unknown sins

A few weeks ago, during our usual Sunday service, our pastor read something that I had heard hundreds and hundreds of times before, but for whatever reason it struck me that day.

It was during what is called the "brief order of confession."  In it was a line that talks about our sins, known and unknown.

I furrowed my brow and asked myself, "What is an unknown sin?"

At first, I thought it was something we're doing, knowing deep in our heart and soul that it is wrong, but we're justifying on doing it anyway.  No, this couldn't be it.

Then it struck me.  It is something we're supposed to do and didn't.  I then thought about my college years in InterVarsity.  The leaders of the chapter at Bemidji State University were probably unaware of how poorly they were treating me. I'm positive that they weren't actively plotting against me, ignoring me, when all I wanted to do was learn more about Christianity.

That would be an example of an unknown sin.

And I forgive them for it.  If God ever offers a chance for me to forgive them in person, I pray that He does and I will.  Those leaders may be clueless as to what I would be talking about, but that doesn't matter to me.  I forgive them with all my heart, soul, and being, so help me God.

I have thought of times when I, myself, have not done something that God was pointing me to do.  Those are too numerous, I'm sure, and as long as God forgives me, I also forgive myself.  I can't change the past.

I can only do what is right in the future, guided by the Hand of God.

Don't judge Christ by other Christians

I will try not to get political here, but if there is one thing I've noticed during the last 4-5 years, there are a fair amount of "Christians" who are just plain a--holes.

These people are on social media, in my own church, and to listen to their hypocrisy absolutely hurts my heart.  I work very hard at being nice to them--sometimes I fail, sorry to say--despite their inability to not see the err in their thinking.

I'm currently reading a Christian book about not being a jerk when it comes to politics.  While I agree with some of what the author says, I can't help but see a biased angle in their thinking.

Back in college, I was a member of the InterVasrsity Christian Fellowship.  I was a Lutheran all my life, and to experience Christianity from a non-denominational view was interesting.  There are a few friends I still have from those days.  However, those involved on the leadership team were not always the best . . . Christians.  My first year was pleasant, but by the second year they completely ignored me.  I would attend Thursday night fellowship times and no one, save for my few friends, would even acknowledge me.  I asked my few friends about it and they noticed it too.

Now, if I was on the fence about Christianity or didn't believe, I could see someone's faith be completely shattered because of their actions and wouldn't want anything to do with these a--hole Christians ever again.  But my faith was much stronger than this.  I don't know why.  It just was.  It took me several years to actually forgive them--if God would give me the opportunity to meet them face to face, so I could verbally forgive them, I'd love the chance.

Christ is perfect.  His love is perfect.  Don't judge Our Lord Jesus by the actions of human Christians.  Read His teachings and let His love fill your heart.

Prayer doesn't have to be complicated

Prayer doesn't have to be complicated.  It can be as simple as "Thank you, God."

At the end of every episode of Duck Dynasty, there is a prayer.  Each one is simple and lasts no more than ten or twenty seconds.

As with everything else that's good, it's important to create a habit of prayer.  When I wake up in the morning, I thank the Lord.  Whenever one of my kids drives off, either to work or school or to be with their friends, I thank the Lord and ask Him to watch over them.  Whenever I walk out of the gym each night after a good workout, I thank God for granting me the opportunity to do so.

Don't complicate prayer.

For that matter, don't complicate daily habits of reading the Bible either.  Read it at whatever pace God wants you to do.

God is your security

Starting in the 23rd chapter, from the book of Job, Job responded by saying that his complaint about his treatment from God is bitter, but he tried not to make it very loud.  He desperately wanted to find God and ask Him what he had done to deserve such horrible treatment.

God knew where he was going and that he always stayed on God's path, treasuring God's Word more than food.

Then, in the 24th chapter, Job ranted about how the wicked never seemed to be brought to the Lord's judgment and that the poor and needy could never get a break.  By the end of the chapter though, he did admit that although the rich seemed to rise high, they never had any assurance in life.  God is the only path to security.  Not physical riches.