God Always Answers Prayers

By Dr. Robert Schuller

 

When the idea is not right God says, “No”.

No – when the idea is not the best.

No – when the idea is absolutely wrong.

No – when though it may help you, it could create problems for someone else.

 

When the time is not right, God says, “Slow”.

What a catastrophe it would be if God answered every prayer at the snap of your fingers. Do you know what would happen? God would become your servant, not your master. Suddenly, God would be working for you instead of you working for God.

 

Remember: God’s delays are not God’s denials. God’s timing is perfect. Patience is what we need in prayer.

 

When you are not right, God says, “Grow”.

The selfish person has to grow in unselfishness.

The cautious person must grow courage.

The timid person must grow in confidence.

The dominating person must grow in sensitivity.

The critical person must grow in tolerance.

The negative person must grow in positive attitudes.

The pleasure-seeking person must grow in compassion for suffering people.

 

When everything is all right, God says, “Go”.

Then miracles happen:

A hopeless alcoholic is set free!

A drug addict finds release!

A doubter becomes as a child in his belief.

Diseased tissue responds to treatment, and healing begins.

The door to your dream suddenly swings open and there stands God saying, “Go!”

The Uncertain Leader

Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away. Uncertainty is not an indication of poor leadership; it underscores the need for leadership. It is the environment in which good leadership is most easily identified. (Read more…)

Faith is Trust

By Bishop Ted Bacani Jr. (Kerygma Magazine)

Faith is belief. Faith has a truth content, which we come to know by accepting God’s word for what it is. But faith is not only believing. It is alto trusting and having confidence in Him.

Those who were praised for their faith in the Bible put their trust in God and in Jesus Christ. Jesus praised the centurion, whose servant He healed from a distance. He told the woman with a haemorrhage that her faith had saved her.

We trust a person if we perceive these two qualities in him: he can, and he cares. He is capable of helping us and he cares enough for us to help us.

God is all-powerful. He can do all things. More importantly, God is love and cares for us more than anybody does. Jesus showed Himself powerful over the forces of nature, over sickness, over the devil, over sin, and over death itself. What He saw the Father doing, Jesus also did. Hence, God and Jesus are supremely worthy of our trust and confidence.

Trusting God and Jesus means that we put ourselves into their hands, confident that in doing so we shall attain our true happiness. Hence, trusting God also means that we obey what He wills for us because He wants and does only what is good for us.

Trusting God does not mean no trials will befall us. Bad things happen to good people, experience shows us. But trusting God does mean that, no matter what evils befall us, God will not leave us alone and, with the trial, will also give us a way out so that we may prevail.

We cannot live our ordinary human lives without exercising trust. We trust the taxi driver who brings us to our destination. We trust the cook who prepares our food. We trust the doctors who operate on us and prescribe medicine for us.

But we need to trust God even more. We entrust our whole selves and lives (and not only a particular need) to God, and we have absolute confidence that God will not fail us if we follow His will. We may not always be able to figure out His ways but we are confident that He will arrange things for our benefit. Hence, the person of faith can endure trials, and even death, with a serene confidence in the God of love who is also all-powerful.

In modern times two saints have emphasized this absolute trust and confidence in God: St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, and St. Faustina Kowalska. St. Therese taught us her little way of humility and confident love. Jesus taught us through St. Faustina to say, “Jesus, I trust in You.”

Those who trust in God become recipients and channels of His power. If it is true that nothing is impossible to God, it is also true that “everything is possible to Him who has faith” (Mark 9:23). Many people have experienced the power of a trusting faith, either of their own or of others who pray for them.

Our trust is best shown not when all goes well with us, but when we cannot understand what is happening to us when God seems to be indifferent to us.

Trust in God should not beget recklessness, which would amount to putting God to the test. However, trust in God and His Son should help dispel our fear and embolden us when our faith is put to the test. The Apostles, threatened with punishment, refused to stop preaching the name of Christ, boldly saying, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Trust should not reduce the believer to passivity and resignation to adverse forces in life. Because he trusts that God is with him, and that his God cares for him and is all-powerful, the believer dares “to dream the impossible dream” and hopes “to beat the unbeatable foe.”

To trust is not to submit to fatalistic resignation with a “Bahala na!” but it is rather to be confident that, together, he and God can beat all the problems in life, or at least assure him of ultimate victory. For one who trusts, “there is never any failure, there can only be delayed success.”

Trust energizes the believer to do good and overcome evil.

The Risk Test

By John C. Maxwell

Last time I wrote about the difference between good timing and procrastination, and included some tests you could apply to find out whether you were putting off decisions that needed to be made.

Just like there are two sides to every coin, there are two extremes when it comes to taking action. Procrastinators are at one extreme: putting off actions or decisions when they really should be making a move. At the other end of the spectrum is the impatient person: one who rushes to make a decision or to take action, even when it is unwise.

Because I tend to land somewhere closer to the impatient end of the spectrum, I have devoted a lot of thought to the importance of good timing.

To evaluate a goal or decision, I like to apply the Risk Test, in which I ask,

Is This Decision Reasonable of Reckless?

Reasonable	Reckless
Built on Strategy	Built on Hope
Has Some Margin for Error	Has No Margin for Error
Is an Extension of What You Do Well	Has Little Connection to What You Do Well
Challenges You	Overwhelms You

 

Let’s take a look at these differences:

Built on Strategy vs. Hope

Have you spent the necessary amount of time planning and preparing for this decision? Or are you acting on passion or impatience, with only the hope that everything will work out?

Reasonable Margin of Error

Does everything have to work our perfectly for this decision to succeed? What will happen if (when) you encounter problems? Do you have a strategy in place for handling complications? Is there enough margin for you to survive if everything goes wrong?

Based on What You Do Well

When you take action, will you be working from your strengths? Or does the goal require effort in areas where you are naturally weak?

Challenges rather than Overwhelms

All of us want to achieve something bigger than ourselves. So a goal should feel challenging. But if it seems overwhelming or even impossible, then at the very least, you should spend more time in the planning stage to break it down into manageable steps.

Availability: The Key to Spiritual Victory

By Dick Eastman

All spiritual victory begins with personal availability. Answers to prayer, for example, necessitate the act of prayer, and the act of prayer is availability. The same is true with giving. Giving always begins with availability.

A classic lesson on this subject is discovered in Joshua, chapter 3. Israel has wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and is now about to claim its land of promise. In a few days, the incredible miracle of the parting of the waters of the Jordan will take place. Interestingly, the Red Sea’s miraculous parting began their journey, and now the Jordan’s parting will end it. But first, some final, important steps were necessary. The people have to experience a five fold spirit of availability.

First: A Spirit of Preparation. Instead of rushing into their land of promise upon their arrival, there was a need to pause for spiritual preparation. The Bible says, “Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites.. .went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over” (Joshua 3:1). No matter how many years we may have prayed for revival, just before it comes we can expect a fresh spirit of preparation.

Second: A Spirit of Mobilization. Prior to claiming their country of promise, the leadership had to call their people to action. It was a final mobilization before the invasion. The Bible says, “After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people” (verses 2-3). Mobilization always happens before an awakening takes place.

Third:  A Spirit of Participation. The Scripture further commands: “When you see the ark of the covenant and the priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it” (verse 3). Simply stated, when God starts moving, step out! Remember, the ark was God’s dwelling place. When His presence “moved,” Israel was to follow.

Fourth: A Spirit of Realization. Next, a command is issued to respect the “moving” of God. Concerning the moving of the ark, Joshua said: “Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it” (verse 4). Israel was to respect God’s presence. Reverence toward God’s Spirit is vital in revival.

Fifth: A Spirit of Sanctification. This, surely, is the key to what God is about to do for Israel. Joshua commands: “Consecrate (sanctify) yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (verse 5). To sanctify is to set apart. No great awakening has ever come about until there was first a great setting apart. Sanctification is at the heart of revival.

There was, however, a final act of powerful significance in this lesson of victory. The very last step in the miracle process was a stepping out in faith toward the promise. The Bible says, “And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord-the Lord of all the earth-set foot in the Jordan, the water flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap” (verse 13). Beloved, all of God’s promises will remain unfulfilled, until we step out in Him! It takes that last act-moving in faith-to achieve the final victory!