I read the following article this week from Healing Leaf.
Although it is quite blunt and ‘to the point’, I think it is something worth, not only reading, but deeply reflecting on in your own life of faith.
God is no genie, that we make wishes to and wait a few days for him to magically answer.
God is not our shrink, that we can just offload on at the end of a day, and feel secure in the fact that he hears and answers prayers…
Whose prayers does he answer? What prayers does he answer?
Let’s make sure we are always those with hearts that are actually in line with God’s word, and not our own opinions (Is 55:8-9).
Let’s be people who can handle the truth, and who can handle it correctly, testifying only truth to others (2 Tim 2:15).
Let’s be born again, from the seed of the word (Lk 8:11, 1Pet 1:23).
Let’s be those sealed by God’s word ( Tim 2:19) … God’s Kingdom and Priests (Rev 7, Rev 14:1-5, Ex 19:5-6)
Taken from : Healing Leaf
“Our way or the Highway”
I find it so incredibly sad that our own thoughts, expectations, and beliefs usually get in the way of the truth.
Take Jesus’ first coming for example.
For 4000 years God gave his people prophecy after prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. But when the time came, God’s chosen people rejected the one God himself had sent.
Jesus was not what the people were expecting. He was not the high ranking official or king that they were hoping for. He was not the authority figure they had imagined, or they ruler they wanted. And the captivity Jesus came to set the people free from was not the rule of the Roman Empire, but rather from being help captive by Satan’s lies and the rule of the Pharisees.
Jesus was not the Messiah the Jews were expecting, however, that doesn’t change the fact that he was the Messiah.
Even though every event, action, and figure was recorded in the prophecies; even though God had given these prophecies to his people so they would be able to recognize the way in which he works, God’s people still rejected the way, truth and life. They chose to hold onto their misguided thoughts, expectations, and beliefs, instead of seeking understanding and accepting the truth.
God has given us his word so that we can know him, his plans and purposes, and the way he works. After seeing what happened at the time of the first coming, why do so many Christians still insist that God works according to their thoughts, expectations, and beliefs?
When are we going to realize that our way of doing things is not the way God does things, and our way of thinking is not the way God’s thinks (Isaiah 55:8-9). When are we, as Christians, going to humble ourselves and realize that God is fulfilling his word today, even though it might not be the way we expected, thought, or hoped it would be. When are we going to stop saying to God, “Our way of the highway!”
“But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men . . . I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Shinchonji Unmasked 