Anchor Scriptures: Isaiah 43: 1 - 22; 2 Corinthians 4: 6 - 18
Scripture References: 2 Cor. 1: 3 - 12, James 4: 1- 3
Introduction Many of the population that go to church today who could be said are professing Christians do so for myriad of reasons.
There are two phrases easily juxtaposed by most of us: "seeking God" and "asking from God." These two phrases carry different spiritual meanings. To seek God simply means to want to know Him and thus become like His Son, Jesus Christ. Asking from God on the other hand however denotes our usual nature to demand things that are pleasing to us and that will make living easier for us.
Most of our congregation today go to church to "ask from God" not for "seeking God." Asking in itself is not wrong depending on what is asked, how it is asked, when it is asked and the mind (motive) with which it is asked.
It is our sincere prayer and believe that God will open our eyes today, to a particular area of our asking that often make our asking wrong and thus orchestrating unanswered prayer, thus making God look like a wicked God. He is not!
May our hearts of understanding be enlightened in His Word today in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.
Message It is a natural human instinct to want to avoid pains. Therefore, praying to avoid them in itself may not really be sinful, but if you and I are going to be sincere with ourselves, we would agree that most of these prayers go unanswered. Thus, the pains and or afflictions we prayed and even fasted to avert still befell us. The question is: what happened that God did not answer the prayers and therefore prevent the calamity according to His unfailing promises? Or was it because of our sins?
Honestly brethren, most times, our sins have got nothing to do with what we are passing through, if we are truly children of God, Most High. But, often than not, the reason we don't get answers is because we ask for what God never promised us in His Word. Psalm 138:2 says, ". . . for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." We often put ourselves, not God of course, in difficult situations, when we ask Him to do what He never promised. His Words are His covenants, and He has promised not to break His covenant (Psalms 89:34)
Our anchor Scripture today, Isaiah 43 stipulates what God will do in certain situations. This Scripture in particular makes it clear that we will pass through difficult times, but God will be "just in time" to rescue us and ameliorate the situation. God can, but He WILL NOT prevent the "bad" situation from coming to us. You may wonder why; it is because the bad situations are meant to serve a purpose in His plans for our lives.
Let me say here that those bad situations are like vehicles conveying us to our desired destinations and God's planned destinations for us. Praying and fasting to avoid life problems, yet hoping to reach our life goals is like a woman desiring to become a mother but doesn't want to get pregnant nor experience the travails of childbirth. It is just like asking for the impossible.
Most often when Pastors and prophets preach, they often portray God as a magician. But no, God works miracles, not magics. And the beautiful thing about miracles is that they go through processes; they don't just happen. For example, when next you are encouraged by the story of how Joseph became a Prime Minister in Egypt, please, remember that he was first hated by his own blood brothers, he later spent several hours in a dungeon, then he was sold a slave and later ended up in prison (Genesis 37:18-28, 38: 1-20). When next you are "gingered" by the Prophet of fire, Elihah himself, remember that he has spent many days in the presence of God, then lived in a brook, from there, he went to Zarepath, a very hot place. After passing through all these, he was able to get to mount Carmel where he made fire fall from heaven. When next the story of Hannah, Ruth, Esther, David, etc are told to entice you, remember that they all went through certain tests before their glory was made manifest. Interestingly, none of them prayed to avoid their tests. They endured them all.
In our second anchor Scripture, 2 Cor. 4, we read the afflictions of Apostle Paul which he went through in the course of his apostolic works. At the end, he was sure of the crown.
Brethren, our prayers to avoid tribulations and persecutions is one of the reasons that many of us tarry more in problems. The truth is, "there can be no crown without a cross." We incapacitate God much by asking wrongly when we ask him to take away our problems; we are ask him to do what He didn't promise. What we need do is ask for the grace to withstand the troubles and to stand to the end (Mat. 24:13). In "The Lord's Prayer", what we are to pray against is the occurrence of evil. Problems and afflictions are not evils, they are but normal occurrences which are meant to propel our faiths. Thus, we ask wrongly when we pray against problems not to come our ways.
Conclusion As we round off today's message, we read in the book of Genesis how father Abraham prayed severally for a heir, and we know until when God answered him. The book of Habakkuk 2:3 summarizes it as:Â "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."
Troubles, problems, persecutions and tribulations cannot and will never seize. What we could do is to ask for the grace and the power of God to withstand and subdue them. People who run away from Zarepath don't make it to Carmel; that is why many brethren do backslide. Take instructions!
Let's stop making a liar out of God by asking Him to do contrary to His own Word. Every patriarch of our faith had one story or the other to tell; ours can't be different.
Till we meet again, keep keeping on in Him!