Waiting


How long, O Lord? Psalm 13:1

As a child it was so hard to wait for Christmas or birthdays to come. Perhaps even harder to wait for school holidays to free us from our daily routine. As adults we wait for other things – healing from sickness, the salvation of a loved one, an end to loneliness, release from a difficult situation.

Have you cried with the psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” Have you felt that God does not hear your prayers? Have you been tempted to feel abandoned, neglected or betrayed by God? Have you struggled with depression and thoughts of abandoning your request – putting it on the shelf and marking it “Request Denied”?

David probably had those feelings many times in his struggles and battles, yet his wonderful trust in God shines through in the moment of despair. In verse 5 and 6 he says, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.” How could he say that when it seems that he didn’t yet have the answer? I believe it was because He knew God’s character. He meditated on the stories of God’s faithfulness to His people through the generations. He also reminded himself of his own experiences where God had rescued him before – perhaps giving him strength to fight the lion and the bear, giving him awesome victories over Goliath and enemy armies.

David knew and trusted in God’s unfailing love that is why he could sing a song of praise in his time of waiting. Paul and Silas could sing a song of praise to God while they sat beaten and bloodied in prison chains because they trusted in their faithful, all powerful God.

Praise strengthens our faith and reminds us of God’s goodness and greatness. Can you sing a song of praise today as you remind yourself to trust in God’s unfailing love? If you will do it you will reap the reward of rising joy, and the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to trust in your unfailing love. Remind me of the times you have answered my prayers and strengthen me to wait for your time of release. In Jesus’ name.
Amen

Faithfulness


…..Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on the earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed close relationship with Him. Genesis 6:9

Can you imagine what it would be like to be the only believer in the world? Imagine the pressure to conform, imagine the ridicule, the looks, the whispers. Think of the discouragement and doubt that would cross your mind. Then God tells you to build a boat and there’s no water for miles!

That, it seems, was Noah’s life, yet he consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed fellowship with Him. Wow! No wonder God wanted to deliver him out of the destruction that was coming upon the earth.

God is a relational God – He created us for His pleasure and wants to be in close relationship with us. When He finds a person who also wants that with Him, He is so pleased and delighted to reveal Himself to them and use them to accomplish His purposes in the earth.

It will be costly though. For Noah it meant many years of building this boat and daily ridicule as he no doubt tried to warn people of God’s plans. But it was worth it, just to be able to fellowship with God and receive His instructions and no doubt encouragement for the task. Noah’s faithfulness also brought deliverance to his family. Their relationship with Noah brought them under God’s protection.

We can be thankful today that we do not stand as the only believer on this earth, but perhaps you sometimes feel very alone in your faith walk. Maybe your husband, children or friends do not believe. Let Noah’s example of consistent faithfulness encourage you. God delights in you and wants to fellowship with you. Make time for Him to speak with you, encourage you and let Him use you to be a blessing to others, especially your family. In 1 Corinthians 7:14 we read that the unbelieving husband is made holy or sanctified by the believing wife. A holiness is brought to the marriage by the believer.

Faithfulness is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It is available to us and we should want to see it happen in our lives to bring pleasure and glory to God. God loves to see His faithfulness showing up in the lives of his people.

Prayer: Lord God, please help me to be consistent in my faith walk so that I can enjoy close fellowship with you and bring your blessings to my family. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Disappointment

Read Genesis 4:3-7
“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked him. “Why do you look so dejected?” Vs. 6

Disappointment comes to us in many ways. We begin to learn about it from a very early age. We all know how a two year old responds to the disappointment of not getting his own way – he throws a tantrum. He makes his anger very clear. Hopefully as we grow up our response to disappointment becomes more mature and we learn to look for lessons that we can learn so we use disappointment as an aid to growth. However, sometimes we do hold onto our anger and cover it so well that sometimes it is even hidden from ourselves.

In these verses we see God giving Cain a helping hand, as it were, to learn a lesson from his disappointment. Cain was disappointed because God had not accepted his offering of produce but he had accepted his brother Abel’s sacrifice of a lamb from his flock. There is nothing in the preceding chapters of Genesis to tell us that a blood sacrifice was what was required but later it is made quite clear (Exodus 30:10), so we can probably assume that Cain and Abel were aware of God’s requirements. Vegetables just would not do, but God gives Cain the opportunity to put things right. He warns him in verse 7 that if he doesn’t do what is right sin is waiting to pounce.

A right response to God is always key to our peace and joy. But to get angry and stay angry is dangerous. It opens the door for Satan to attack us and destroy us – probably hurting others along the way. Ephesians 4:26 says, Be angry, but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. (paraphrase).

Anger is often the natural response to disappointment but God warned Cain to get over it and respond correctly so that sin would not have an opportunity to attack and destroy him. We know from reading further that, sadly, Cain did not choose to heed God’s warning, but allowed the anger to control him, with the result that he murdered his own brother. This awful sin brought with it awful consequences which brought misery to Cain and his loss of fellowship with God (vs 16).

Have you struggled with disappointment? Perhaps disappointment with a relative or friend, or even disappointment with God for allowing something to happen to you. Are you still angry? Can you bring that anger to God today and ask Him to use the disappointment to teach you a valuable life lesson, or cause you to grow in the fruit of the Spirit – perhaps love, patience or joy (James 1:2-4). God shows us the right was to handle disappointment but we have to choose whether to follow His way.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, would you help me to handle my disappointments in the right way. Would you help me to use them as opportunities to grow. Please show me any area in my life where I may be giving sin an opportunity to destroy or rob me of your best, and help me to respond correctly. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Prayer

My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Psalm 22:1-2

To those who seem to be getting no answers from God these verses are a great comfort. They were written by David who God described as “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22). They were also words spoken by Jesus from the cross – “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46). Jesus knew what it was like to be cut off from God as he took upon himself my sin and yours. He experienced the horror of separation from God. All of us experience times when we feel like this – it is part of growing up spiritually.

David was obviously experiencing a very difficult time in his life, but in the midst of it, his wonderful faith shows through. He says “Every night you hear my voice…”. He didn’t begin to think that God wasn’t hearing him, but he was complaining that his prayers were not yet answered.

God has perfect timing, He is always working in our lives to grow us into His likeness – so that the fruit of His Spirit is produced in us. As we wait for our prayers to be answered, faith and patience develop in us, that is if we stay in faith and not allow doubt and unbelief to rob us of our hope. Faith and patience are the two main keys to getting our prayers answered. We need to allow God to work in His time. He always has a good reason for delaying the answers to our prayers, we just need to trust Him as a child trusts its father.

Read the rest of the psalm and follow it’s progression. Verses 24-26 refer to answered prayer and rejoicing. David did not know when he was writing this psalm that it was actually prophetic and would refer to Jesus cry of agony on the cross. This reminds me of Hebrews 4:15 which says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He understands all that we go through.

Prayer: Dear Lord forgive me for the times I am impatient and unbelieving when my prayers remain unanswered. Teach me how to trust you more and rest in the knowledge that you always want the very best for me. Remind me that sometimes you are using me in ways I don’t realise. Amen.

Fruitfulness

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples John 15:5-8


Jesus continues to speak final words of instruction and wisdom to his disciples. Here he is telling them very clearly that without him they can do nothing. “BUT”, he says, “if you stay joined to me (abiding), and if my words remain in you, you may request anything you like and it will be granted! My disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to the Father.”

HeJesus uses the illustration of a vine and branches. The vine being Jesus himself – the part that is the life source of the branches (us). He says that the only way we can produce fruit that will glorify the Father is by staying in vital union in him. That is what it means to abide. We know that a branch cannot live and bear leaves and fruit without being joined into the tree or the vine. It is the same for us. In order to live a fruit-filled life we need to stay in close union with Christ, the true vine.

When we are in close relationship with him we can ask amazing things, make surprising requests – why? Because he is inspiring our prayers so that his desires become entwined with ours and we are asking for the things that he wants, then we can know that he will grant the answer and in doing so he will be glorified.

Will you abide in him this year? To do so you need to spend time communicating with him in prayer, hearing from him through reading his word and obeying what he shows you. That is abiding. The result will be a love-filled life overflowing with joy (John 15:10-14). Who doesn’t want a life like that!

Prayer: Wonderful Lord please help me to abide in you this year in a way that will bring forth fruit from me which will glorify your name and leave me with joy that is overflowing. Amen.