Wisdom and Direction

You may know of someone, or even you yourself, who prays to God when in need wisdom or direction in life. Should I take this job or not? How should I handle this situation at school? Should I go on this trip or not? How can I reach my unsaved uncle for Christ? There are so many decisions and obstacles that pop up in life. And when we don’t know what to do, or even aren’t completely convinced in our thinking, we go to the Lord in prayer. It is certainly a good practice. James encourages us to do this, but it does come with a warning. In James 1 verse 5-8 it says:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

So as you can see, faith must accompany our prayers. If you don’t believe that God will do what you’re asking for, why would you pray anyway? The bible teaches us that God knows what is best for us. It tells us that we are his children, and as good parents know what is best for their child, how much more does God know what is best for us? It says that human parents, when asked by their child for a fish wouldn’t give them a snake, or when a child asks for bread, we wouldn’t give them a stone. And if we are evil flawed humans, how much more will our father in heaven give us good things? So, I encourage you, when praying to God, have faith. James warns us that if we don’t, we shouldn’t think we’ll receive anything from the Lord. He says we’re double-minded and unstable if we pray and then doubt. Remember, that God knows what is best and has our best interest at heart. He wants us to pray, but he also wants us to have faith.

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When we pray for wisdom, we must have faith and not doubt. I’d actually go as far as to say that anytime we pray, we must have faith. God hears prayers, and God answers prayers. There is no situation you’re going through that is too difficult for Him. And he is wise enough to give you wisdom that trumps the best advice you can get from anyone on earth. Though, often times he does use people as an answer to prayer. In my life, when I typically receive an answer from the Lord, it doesn’t come by hearing his voice audibly speaking to me. When I hear from God, particularly with something that is urgent or very important, I get at least 3 confirmations on a direction to take in a very short period of time. It could be that God will use people, circumstance, media, the bible or anything to open my eyes to his answer, but it is usually quite clear. And these “coincidences” typically occur close together in a short period of time. At least, that is what I’ve found in my own life. So again, I encourage you, pray with faith. When you think about it, if we pray without faith, why do it at all?

On Your Faith

Have you ever felt weak in your personal faith and began to rely on someone else’s faith to make a difference in what you’re going through? An example might be if you’re away from God and life tosses you a curve ball, so you ask for someone who you think is more righteous than you to pray for you. Or when praying over someone in a group, you inwardly rely on the faith of the others praying to reach God because your faith is too weak? Well Acts 19:13-16 says this:

"Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, 'In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.' Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day, the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?' Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding."

Could it be that these seven sons of Sceva and this Jewish chief priest didn’t feel strong enough in their faith, so they tried to borrow some of Paul’s faith by saying “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out”? I believe that it is dangerous to rely only on someone else’s faith in spiritual matters. When Jesus healed, often times he would say “your faith has made you well”. We need to build up our own faith in God. How do we do this you ask? Well the bible tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We need to get into the bible, believe what it says and build a relationship with God. Just think about it this way, let’s say you need some help with something. Is it better to drop a name of someone you know to get what you need, or is it better to go to a close friend and ask them directly. I think that this example in Acts was as if the priests were relying on Paul’s faith to cast out demons. If they had enough faith on their own, they could’ve gone directly to the source, Jesus himself, and inquired of him as if inquiring of a close friend. Anyway, I hope that makes sense. Bottom line is that we really have to build up our own faith, through cultivating a relationship with God directly so that when we talk to him, it is our own faith at work.

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It’s okay to ask others to pray for you, or to join their faith with yours, but we really need to have faith of our own. There were those in the bible, when they found their faith faltering, asked Jesus to help them with their unbelief, or their lack of faith. If we know God personally, we can petition him through Christ directly. He tells us that he likes it when we bring all types of prayers and petitions to him. And that all we need is the faith of a mustard seed to see him move mightily on our behalf. I hope that encourages you to get familiar with the scriptures. Find out how God works, who He is, and who you are in him. And yes, there is definitely something to be said about our obedience to Him. The bible tells us that the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.

Turn and Live

In the book of Ezekiel, God explains that the sins of the father will no longer be visited on the son, and vise-versa; the sins of the son (or child), will not be counted against the parents. While doing so, God further explains that a wicked person who turns from their sins will live, and likewise a righteous person who turns to a life of wickedness will not. In Ezekiel 18:21-23 it says: 

“But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all of my decrees and does what is just and right he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"

The scripture goes on to say that a righteous man who turns to wickedness will die. God is calling the Israelites - and as an extension, us, - to turn from wickedness to righteousness. It helps to understand that God is patient. He says that “none of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him”. This should give us hope. If you are new to the faith, remember that your past does not define who you are in God. It is what you do now that matters. I believe that our God is a God of the present. He really cares about what you’re doing now. Are you turning from wickedness so that you will live, or turning to wickedness which leads to death? I hope and pray that it is the former.

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I hope the portion of scripture from Ezekiel gives you hope, and not despair. It is nice to know that God’s forgiveness is absolute. His grace is abundant. So if we turn from our evil ways and obey him, we will live. But it is equally important to know that God is a jealous God. He wants our entire selves. And once we claim to be children of God, it means our death if we turn to a life of wickedness. So, I encourage you to keep the faith my brothers and sisters. And know that God cares about your relationship with him right now, more than what you’ve done in the past.

Fallout of Sin

It is my belief that no believer wants to willingly sin. But when we do, we often think about how it has affected our relationship with God. We are ashamed of our actions and feel dirty inside. We, of course, pray for forgiveness and move on with our lives by trying to live according to God’s will. But what we often don’t take into account is the fallout that can, and often does occur, because of our sin. A good example of earthly fallout due to sinful behavior can be seen in 2 Samuel 12:11-12. This is when King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, which resulted in her getting pregnant. If that wasn’t enough, he made sure that her husband was killed in battle to cover up his sin. But God was not happy. Through the prophet Nathan, God says:

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give the to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”

God also mentions that the sword will never depart from David’s house because of this sin – meaning that there will always be warring factions with his reign. And to top it off, the son that David and Bathsheba had together died as a result of the hand of the Lord. You see, though we may not know it, our sins may have greater consequences than we think. Yes, we grieve the Spirit when we sin, and our relationship with God is broken until we repent. But even beyond that, there are often consequences that we have to live with on earth; consequences like divorce, unwanted pregnancy, loss of a relationship, sickness, and a whole host of other things. I can’t say that there is always an earthly consequence, that we will always see the consequences or even that we’ll draw the connection between our sin and those consequence, but more often than not, I would argue that there is some earthly consequence that goes beyond our shame and guilt.

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There is more at stake when we sin than we may realize. You may think that your sin only affects you, or that it doesn’t really hurt anyone, but quite often there is some earthly fallout that goes along with the spiritual fallout. And that fallout can directly or indirectly effect someone’s life, negatively influence your behavior, or even change the course of your life. So, I challenge you to keep that in mind when you are tempted. Personally, I think it is bad enough to disappoint our God, but when there are even more consequences that may follow, that makes staying away from sin that much more desirable.

Idols of the Heart

Anytime I hear someone comparing things like watching too much TV or even something more sinister like drug addiction to the worship of idols, I take issue. Have you ever heard someone say things like “anything that you put ahead of your relationship with God is considered an idol”? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anything should come before our relationship with God, but comparing it to idol worship, in my opinion has always been an inaccurate comparison. The bible teaches us that idol worship was the most grievous offense that any human could commit against our Lord. Israelites worshiped statues of stone and wood as if they were literally gods themselves. It angered God to the point of him wiping out thousands of his chosen people. It angered him like no other sin could. Yet, we say that anything we put ahead of our relationship with God is equal to that? I disagree, and I’ve held strong to that belief all of my adult life and still do. Usually, idol worship is an outward expression, but there is a portion of scripture that teaches us that worshiping idols in one’s heart is just as bad as bowing down to a physical idol. It comes from Ezekiel 14:3-5 which says:

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the Lord will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have deserted me for their idols.’”

Now some might argue that “idols in the hearts” could means anything that we put ahead of our relationship with God, but the bible is clear about what an “idol” is. My bible concordance states an idol is “anything that is worshiped instead of the true God.” It goes on to say that “In Bible times, idols were often statues of false gods made of wood, stone or metal.” And that “Idolatry is the worship of these idols.” With that in mind I believe that Ezekiel is saying that the Israelites were secretly worshipping idols in their hearts even though they didn’t physically worship an actual statue. I say all of that to express how this scripture reinforces the idea that God looks at our hearts. And even though the Israelites committed the worse sin they could commit in their hearts, God treated it as if they were physically worshiping a statue. We can’t hide anything from him. The Israelites were worshiping idols in their hearts and God could see it. Likewise, I believe that God can see the sin in our hearts even if it hasn’t manifest into physical acts of sin, and he hates them just as much.

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God knows what we think, feel and do. He knows where our allegiance is even if we don’t say it. The Israelites couldn’t hide sin from God even though it was not an outward expression of sin, and we can’t either. So, I encourage you to remember that though we can hide things from people, we can’t hide anything from God. Therefore, we need to do everything we can to make sure our hearts are pure before him.