Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 90

Answered Prayers continued...

If I trust God, I must do so completely, and not halfheartedly. One of the worst things we can do as believers, whenever it comes to trusting God, is to do so with timidity, uncertainty, or only partially.

The difference between trusting God partially and trusting Him completely is like the difference between dipping your foot in a lake to test the temperature of the water, and cannonballing into it. When you just dip your foot and the temperature doesn’t seem right, you can always pull it back, but when you jump in, you’re committed, and there’s no turning back. Yes, the water might be cold at first, but you’re already in, and all you can do is breathe in, breathe out, and wait for your body temperature to acclimate to the colder water.

When we trust God fully, even if at first His will for our lives seems a bit difficult to bear, we’ve already made the commitment, we’ve already free-fallen into His arms, and there is no turning back from it.

Colossians 4:12, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

Not to take anything away from Epaphras – for I am certain he was a good brother and an interesting man – but what I am more preoccupied with is the content of his prayers, as outlined by Paul.

Epaphras’s prayers for the brethren consisted of fervently petitioning God that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Stand perfect and complete in all the will of God!

Be steadfast in all the will of God, be tethered in it, because His will does not change with the seasons, it does not vary as the wills of men are wont to do, and when you stand in all the will of God, you are certain of permanence and stability.

Men, who assumed that God’s will would somehow change if they waited Him out long enough, eventually came to the understanding that His will is as steadfast as God Himself.

God had already made His will known to Balaam the son of Zippor, He had already told him not to curse the people for they were blessed, yet rather than end the conversation there, Balaam entreated the messengers of the king to spend the night, that he might know what more the Lord would say to him.

Numbers 22:19, “Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”

God had already said what He had to say, but Balaam figured he could whittle God’s resolve down if he came before Him often enough, asking for the same thing when God had already given His answer.

We know the story of Balaam, and what transpired as the back and forth between he and God continued. We know what became of the prophet of God…we know that a donkey rebuked him as he went to curse the people God told him not to curse, all because he couldn’t take no for an answer from God.

The will of God is not a mystery to anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of the Scriptures. If you are a believer, if you are a Christian, and still claim that you are ignorant of the will of God, I would submit that it is a willful ignorance you are entertaining and not one caused by lack of instruction or clarity in the word of God.

We know God wills that we be sanctified. We know God wills that we walk the narrow path of faith. We know God wills that we pursue righteousness. We know God wills that we be thankful in all things. We know all these things because they are in His word. They are clearly outlined within the pages of Scripture, and when we stand before Him on that day of days pleading ignorance of His will, will not suffice as an acceptable justification.

Granted there are some things we just don’t understand, there is what some refer to as the secret or mysterious will of God, but by and large, we are able to know His will for us as individuals, and have enough guidelines in place wherein we will never wonder what His will is.

Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

There are moments, circumstances, and events in every individual’s life which we do not understand, which are beyond our ability to reason out. I have gone through such moments, as I am certain you have, wherein the only thing you can do is look up, and ask aloud ‘Lord why? Why did You allow this to happen?’

We ask it instinctively, although chances are we will never receive an answer to the ever illusive why, because the secret things belong to the Lord, and even if He explained it we wouldn’t quite understand it, because the human mind cannot grasp the complexity that is the fullness of the plan, the mind, and the will of God.

John 13:7, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.’”

Sometimes such an answer must suffice, such an answer must be enough, wherein God softly speaks and says, ‘what I am doing you do not understand now, but the time will come when you will.’

From Abraham, to Joseph, to Job, to Mary the mother of Jesus and many others in between, there are countless examples of individuals who learned what it was to trust God implicitly, and surrender their will to the will of God even though they did not fully understand that which God was asking of them. All they knew was that God was good, and because God was good obedience to His will would inevitably have a good outcome for them on a personal level.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.