six impossible things

The other day a book caught my eye in the kids' section of the library. It is called Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast by Jane Yolen. It was the title that captured my attention. I am interested in impossible things.

The phrase sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure why. I brought the book home.

Then, for my birthday, a friend and I went to see the new version of Alice in Wonderland. The theme of the movie was believing the impossible. Alice had been taught to "believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

That's where that phrase came from. Jane Yolen, in writing a collection of fractured type stories, chose to double the number of impossibilities believed each morning.

This really stuck with me. Usually when I see a theme or idea repeated, I pay attention. God usually is trying to tell me something.

See, I have an entire section of my mental prayer list that is labeled "Impossible." I pray for those things now and then, but it often seems futile.

You know, the situations: physical problems, economic problems, emotional problems. Things that look too big, too constant to ever change.

And people--the people who never change. People so deeply rooted in sinful lifestyles or broken behavior patterns that you've never seen any growth in them.

I know that speaks poorly of my faith. I know that "nothing is impossible for him who believes." And that nothing is too difficult for God. But this is one of those cases of believing something with my head, but not so much with my heart.

Time to get it into my heart.

So I've decided to start believing the impossible. I try to think of at least six each morning. And as I say, "Lord, I believe that you can change_____'s heart." I also say, "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief."

Are you believing the impossible? Maybe you always have. Or maybe you're like me and have a little section of prayer requests that are labeled "Impossible."

solid ground

Does the current global financial crisis have you feeling a little shaky?  Does it seem that the ground beneath your feet is shifting?  Do you feel unstable?  Anxious?  Are you afraid of going under?

Where are your feet planted?  As the old hymn says, "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."  If you feel your feet giving way, perhaps somewhere along the line your foundation has shifted.  Maybe subtly your security has changed from Christ alone, to the things of this world?  I realize that these are uncertain times and I am certainly not condemning anyone.  You may stand firm in your faith and still feel anxious.  I am just encouraging you to search your heart on the matter.  Go to the Father and talk to Him about it.

Today in church as we were singing a song about freedom, it occurred to me that this may be what all of this is about.  Maybe God is breaking some chains.  Maybe He is setting us free from some bondage.

Remember the kings in the Old Testament?  An evil king would come along and set up high places, alters, and asherah poles.  And he would put phallic symbols and male prostitutes in the Temple of God.  Then a godly king would come on the scene. He would destroy the asharah poles, tear down the high places and cleanse the Temple.  

It occurred to me, that perhaps that is what is happening now.  First, let me say that money is not evil and it is not sinful to be wealthy.  But, "The love of money is the root of all evil."  And " you cannot serve God and money."

I think, generally speaking, our world worships money.  I think, specifically speaking, I love money more than I want to.  I think God's people may have divided loyalties and that is called being double minded.  David prayed for God to give him and undivided heart.  That is my prayer, too.  And if I have been serving money, or loving it in a sinful way, I want God to purge that from me.

If he is cleansing us, if He is tearing down the high places, then we should be rejoicing!  He is doing a mighty thing!  We should not tremble or fear.  We should plant our feet firmly on The Rock and watch and see that the Lord is good!

Psalm 46: 1-3

     God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble. 
    Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
         And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; 
    Though its waters roar and foam,
         Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. 

Jesus' name

The Bible says that what ever we ask for in Jesus' name we will receive.  So we all tend to end our prayers with "in Jesus' name we pray" or something like that.  We ask for a new car and then add the magic words and expect God to give us a new car because after all, we prayed it in Jesus' name.

I don't think that's quite what He meant.  I see it as asking for the same thing Jesus would ask for.   We are here, before the throne of God because of what Christ did for us.  Only by His work and in His name can we come.  You know how people will say, "tell them I sent you" to get you an "in" someplace.  That's what Jesus did.  We are before the Father because of Him and representing Him.

If someone goes to Blockbuster and says, "I'm here on behalf of Kay Day and I want the worst porno horror flick you *&**&^))), *&^%$(* have in this *&%%$#$ store and I want it &&^^%$^&** now!"  Then I'd say they've represented me falsely.  You could say they've taken my name in vain.  Which leads me off track a bit, but that's what I personally think the command against taking the LORD's name in vain is referring to.  I think the Crusaders and Inquisitioners were guilty of this sin.  I think any time we falsely represent Christ we are guilty of this sin.

Ok, back on the prayer track...  So if asking in Jesus name means asking for the thing we think He would ask for, how do we know what He would ask for? 

The Bible also says that whatever we pray for according to His will He will give us, so I think the two things are basically the same.  

The way we know is first of all to be familiar with Jesus.  Know His heart and learn what things He did pray for while on earth.

Know the Word of God.  We know that we can pray for unity of all believers because Jesus prayed for that.  We know that we can pray for marriages to be restored because God says He hates divorce and the Word says that men should love their wives and women should respect and submit to their husbands.

We can pray for people to be saved because the Bible says "it is His will that none should perish but that all should have eternal life."

We can pray for things He's promised and know that He will answer.

Does that make sense?

When it comes to things like healing - we have examples both ways in the Bible.  God sometimes heals and sometimes doesn't (David's infant son and Paul' thorn, for example).  So when I hear of someone who needs healing I always pray for them to be healed unless God directs me otherwise.

This is the other way we can know how to pray according to His will.  Be tuned in to the Holy Spirit.  I personally believe that all prayer is initiated by God.  He first reveals to us what He wants us to pray for - what He has already determined to do, then we pray for that and then He accomplishes it.  

Why bother, some may ask.  If God is just going to do what He wants, why bother?  Because it's all about relationship.  It's all about God including us in His work.  He doesn't need us --- He's God for goodness sake.  But He blesses us with letting us have a part in what He is doing.  And He wants the connection that pray provides.  He speaks to us, we speak to Him, He answers, we thank Him, He blesses us, He speaks to us again, etc.

Once a friend of mine learned that her son-in-law was diagnosed with a type of ALS.  I knew this man and his wife and I was very sorry to hear that.  I prayed for them and I wanted more than anything for him to be healed.  But every time I started to pray for his healing I felt a strong restraining, I guess I could call it, of the Holy Spirit, and I felt strongly led to pray instead for their strength and comfort and surrender instead.  So I did.  And God answered those prayers.

The same friend herself had cancer and I prayed for her healing and God answered that prayer.  Right now I am praying for a blog friend to be healed of cancer, but it's looking as if God is going to heal her by taking her home instead.  My faith will not be dashed.  I trust Him to do what is right.  Sometimes I feel that the Holy Spirit is directing me to pray a certain way, but it doesn't come to pass that way.  That's ok.  I am obedient in what I know and I trust God with what I don't know.

I'm sorry this post is so long... I'll try to keep tomorrow's post brief!

Love you all and I hope none of you are being flooded today!

offended

When I was ten years old, my grandma had to go to the hospital to have surgery for brain cancer.  I prayed that she would be well and I believed she would be.  That's what prayer is for, right?  

She never came home from the hospital.  The swelling from the surgery killed her and they were unable to remove all of the cancer anyway.

That was my first experience with death, other than a pet.  And my first experience with God answering my prayers differently than I had expected.

I continued to pray throughout my life.  But I wonder why?  I had a very strong belief that God answered prayer, but a very strong doubt that He would answer mine.

When I was pushing forty, I went to a Bible Study called Believing God by Beth Moore.  It changed my view of God and faith and prayer in so many ways.   I would have to do a whole post about that to do it justice.  

But there was one section on not being offended by God.  

Remember when John the Baptist was in prison and he was soon to be beheaded?  

There is a wonderful book called The Prisoner in the Third Cell that talks about all this.  I recommend the book.  

Anyway, he's in prison and he's heard all these stories of the wonderful things that Jesus is doing.  Jesus, his cousin.  Jesus, the Lamb of God.  While still in the womb, John had recognized who Jesus was.  He spent his entire life preparing the way of the Lord.  Making the path straight.  Clearing the way.  He was a spiritual bushwhacker for Jesus (that sounds like an old fashioned sermon).  Now here HE was in jail.  So he asked his followers, "Is Jesus really the Messiah?"  Was he thinking "if He were really the Messiah, I wouldn't be here"?  "How can he be who I thought he was and let me stay locked up here?"  His followers went back to Jesus and asked the question for John.  Jesus gave them an answer for him.  They were to tell him of all the miracles they had seen Jesus perform and of the lives that had been changed and then they were to say to him, "Blessed is he who is not offended by me."

I had spent thirty years offended that God had said no to my prayer.  Thirty years holding it against Him, basically.  What an eye-opener.

The thing that God had been teaching me, that came to a clear point at this time, was that if I put my faith in my request then I will be disappointed.  

If I pray for something with complete confidence that God is going to give that thing, I may be disappointed.  Because I don't always know the right thing to pray for.  My faith is in the one who answers, not in the one making the request.  My faith says "I am going to ask for this thing, but I trust God to answer the best way and I will accept His answer with thanksgiving."  I have complete faith that God CAN heal brain cancer.  He CAN do anything.  And sometimes, because it is the best thing, He does do the miraculous.  Other times, because it is the best thing, He does not.

I'm going to post more on prayer tomorrow.  

trying of my faith

Almost eight years ago I got a phone call that my dad's sister and her husband had been in a terrible accident. Their van had burst into flames and exploded. They were able to get out before the explosion, but both were severly burned over large percentage of their bodies and both went to heaven within six months.

They were Christians. They were on their way to help out at a church camp in the mountains.

I knew all the answers. I had heard them all my life. But suddenly, none of the answers made any sense.

God, I'd been told, is all powerful. Able to do anything. I'd also been told that He is Love. He is good.

So, now, those things just didn't fit. I took it to the Lord in my frustration. I poured it out to Him. He can take it. "If you are all powerful, you could have prevented that. Because you are good and would never allow something like this to happen."

"Or else you are all powerful and could have stopped it, but chose not to because You are not Love; You are not good. But I see no way that You can be both in control and good."

There are some who would say that it was the devil, or just the consequences of living on this earth that caused that accident to happen. But is God not more powerful than the devil and the consequences of this earth? Because if He's not, then He's not really God and not worthy of my worship. All powerful means all powerful. So while this line of thinking factored into my struggle, it went along with the line that God wasn't really as powerful as I had believed.

He was so good to me during this time. So patient as He helped me through this. I remember one of those occasions where I was at the bookstore and a book just seemed to be glowing -- standing out from the rest. It was called When God Weeps by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steven Estes. It was so beneficial in helping me begin to understand.

Other little pieces here and there gave me answers and understanding. And the end result of what God taught me is that we can't understand here on earth. If we are looking for things to make sense, then we will be frustrated always. What I have come to rely on is that it all makes sense in the spiritual realm, where God is. And just so that it makes sense to Him. That's good enough for me.

Real faith is believing that God is good and that He is in control of every single event in a believer's life. And He can somehow be both even though we can't grasp it at all. Because He is God. He is so much bigger than us that we can't understand.

Another part of faith is believeing that God has a good purpose for everything He does, whether we are able to see that purpose or not. We have to believe Him.

I have come to not define bad and good the way I used to. Just because something looks bad to me doesn't mean it is in God's realm. He defines things differently, I think. Perhaps when I take my child to have a painful procedure done they think it's bad. But in my greater wisdom, I know that it's good. Whether they ever see that or not.

I now choose to say God allows difficult things in our lives, rather than using the word "bad". Because if He allows it, it cannot be bad. And He has to allow it. If you've read the book of Job, you know that satan wanted to harm Job, but he had to have permission from God first. And he had to keep within the boundaries God established. The enemy cannot touch us without God's permission. And God will not allow it without a reason.
Was it "bad" when God allowed Daniel into the lions den?
Was it "bad" when God flooded the earth?
Was it "bad" when God allowed Lazarus to die?

Was it "bad" when God allowed Jesus to be crucified?