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My Two Cents
by Rev Chuck Behrens
December, 2016
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Past Articles |
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When we were little, did we
work ahead on our homework? No! On our chores? Silly question. On our
Christmas lists? Oh yeah! For some strange reason we were able to do some
serious advance planning when it came to what we wanted for Christmas. Our
parents could expect our carefully prepared Christ-mas list by
Thanksgiving at the latest. Our wishes would be listed in priority order,
with what they called "the big one" circled and starred in big print at
the top. We didn't want them to miss it. One year, it was this spaceship
that was the toy of the year, the toy that parents fight over to get the
last one in the toy store. You know? Well, our parents and maybe even our
grandparents would work extra hard to make sure that everything on our
list, specially the NUMBER ONE BIG THING was secured—way before the big
day…they would hide it and oh yes, we would try to find that hidden
Treasure Cove. We would over and over again remind them of our special
list during the Endless Month of December, maybe nagged would be a more
accurate verb. We’d keep on asking, and that was fine. Of course, they had
granted our request as soon as we asked the first time. They just waited
till the appropriate time to give it to us. . .oh what a GLORIOUS DAY!
Mark 11:23-24 kind of reframes how we A S K, how we PRAY. Jesus says, "I
tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go throw yourself
into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he
says will happen, it will be done for him.' Therefore I tell you, whatever
you ask for in prayer, be-lieve that you have received it, and it will be
yours."
Now, that's an interesting little twist in those verbs. "Believe that you
have received it, and it will be yours." You've got past tense; you've got
future tense, which is it? That toy spaceship in the closet that Christmas
helped me understand what God is saying to us about powerful praying. My
parents granted their son's request right after he first asked. It might
be that God may have done that with something you've been asking Him for.
It's done, it's just not delivered. In fact, He wants you to keep trusting
Him for it, keep reaching out to your Father with childlike faith, and
continue to commit that thing to Him.
But He wants you to come to Him in faith, acting as if it will happen or,
from the standpoint of heaven, as if it has already happened if it is the
will of God. "Believing you have received it, and it will be yours."
If you're normal, you want your answer right now! My parent’s son wanted
that gift right then, but they couldn't give him the gift they already had
for Him before the right time. If they had given it to Him too soon, it
would have ruined it. Often, the time that you want your answer is in the
perfect ways of God, too soon. Just because you have to wait for it
doesn't mean it isn't coming.
So you can be sure that God is working on what you've asked Him for. He
went right to work on it when you began committing it to Him. Will you
pray with that kind of confidence, that kind of boldness? And be patient
waiting for His perfect time to deliver it within the boundaries of His
perfect will for your life. He responds to faith. The Bible says, "Without
faith, it is impossible to please Him." First John 5:14-15, "This is the
confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according
to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we
ask - we know that we have what we asked of Him."
If your Father wants you to have it, it may not be in your hands, but it's
already in the TREASURE COVE; He loves to answer the children that He
loves so much. Just the right day, that gift will be yours, TALK ABOUT A
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
See you in Church,
Rev. Chuck
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