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Questions About Life and God
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By Marilyn Adamson
Have you ever known someone who really trusts God?
When I was an atheist, I had a good friend who prayed often. She would tell me every week about something she was trusting God to take care of.
And every week I would see God do something unusual to answer her prayer. Do you know how difficult it is for an atheist to observe this week after week? After a while, "coincidence" begins to sound like a very weak argument.
So why would God answer my friend's prayers?
The biggest reason is that she had a relationship with God. She wanted to follow God. And she actually listened to what he said. In her mind, God had the right to direct her in life, and she welcomed him doing just that!
When she prayed for things, it was a natural part of her relationship with God. She felt very comfortable coming to God with her needs, her concerns, and whatever issues were current in her life. Furthermore, she was convinced, from what she read in the Bible, that God wanted her to rely on him like that.
The Bible says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."1 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…"2
It may be because they don't have a relationship with God. They may know that God exists, and they might even worship God from time to time. But those who never seem to have their prayers answered probably don't have a relationship with him.
Further, they have never received from God complete forgiveness for their sin. What does that have to do with it you ask? Here is an explanation. "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."3
Maybe you’ve felt that separation from God?
When a person wants to ask God for something, what often happens? They begin with, "God, I really need your help with this problem…" And then there's a pause, followed by a restart… "I realize that I'm not a perfect person, that I actually have no right to ask you for this…" There's an awareness of personal sin and failure. And the person knows that God is aware of it too. There's a feeling of, "Who am I kidding?"
What they may not know is how they can receive God's forgiveness for all their sin. They might not know that they can come into a relationship with God so that God will hear them. This is the foundation for God answering your prayer.
You must first begin a relationship with God. Here's why.
Suppose Joe is walking down a city street and recognizes a president of a business coming the other way. Joe’s never met this president, but Joe decides to politely ask this president to co-sign a car loan for him.
Though the president might be a great guy, there is no way he’s going to add his name to that car loan. But if the president’s daughter asks her dad to co-sign a car loan for her, it would be no problem. Relationship matters.
For each person who has chosen to become a child of God, God knows them and hears their prayers.
Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me … my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."4
The question becomes then, do you really know God and does he know you? Do you have a relationship with him that warrants God answering your prayers?
If not, keep reading and you’ll see how simple it is to start a relationship with God.
Jesus seems to be wildly generous in his offer: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."5 Jesus is telling us what’s required.
To "remain" in him and have his words remain in them means relying on him, listening to what he says. They can ask him whatever they want.
Here is another qualifier: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him."6 God answers our prayers according to his will.
Where we trip up is assuming we know God's will, because a certain thing makes sense to us! We assume that there is only one right "answer" to a specific prayer, assuming certainly THAT would be God's will.
However, we are mere mortals, with limited knowledge and ignorant of the future. We have only partial information about a situation and the implications. God doesn’t have these limits. Further, his love for us is unending.
Pages and pages could be filled about God's intentions toward us. Here are just a few examples:
"…the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for [trust] him!"7 Did you catch that?
“He rises to show you compassion” like someone rising out of his chair to come to your help.
"As for God, his way is perfect … He is a shield for all who take refuge in him."8 "The Lord delights in those who fear [reverence] him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."9
Certainly people get sick, even die; financial problems are real, and all sorts of very difficult situations can come up. What then?
God tells us to give our concerns to him. Even when a situation looks dismal, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."10
The circumstances may look out of control, but they aren't. When the whole world seems to be falling apart, God can keep us together. "The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer … let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."11
God may provide solutions, resolutions to the problem WAY beyond what you imagined possible. Probably any Christian could list examples like this in their own lives.
But when the circumstances have not yet improved, God can still give us his peace in the midst of it, simply because we’ve learned that God can be trusted.
Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."12
God asks us to trust his character and his love for us. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."13 "Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us."14
There are two prayers that God will always hear and always answer. And they are connected to each other. They are:
It doesn’t matter what wrong you have done in this life. There are no limits to what God is willing to forgive.
The Bible is clear: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”15
Jesus fully paid for your wrongs by dying on the cross for those sins. He was whipped and tortured. His body was literally nailed to a cross of wood, and then the cross erected where Jesus hung until death.
He was buried and then three days later, Jesus physically rose from the dead, just as he said he would, proving his deity.
Why did he go through all of that? He did this out of love. He paid for the sins of the entire world.
He offers everyone complete and permanent forgiveness. All you need to do is to believe in Jesus and begin a relationship with him.
He doesn’t just want to forgive you. He wants you to know him now, in this life, rely on him, be guided by him, and experience his love for you.
Jesus said, “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”16
Jesus also wants to give you eternal life. By starting a relationship with him now, it is a relationship that lasts eternally. He will never leave you.
Do you want God to forgive you? Do you want a true relationship with God that lasts forever? Then here is your opportunity to believe in him and receive him into your life.
Again, he said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”17
Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock [the door of your heart]. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him…”18
You can ask Jesus into your life right now. You can use your own words, or here is a suggested prayer:
“Jesus, you know everything about my life. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Forgive me for my sins right now and come into my life. I want to know you and learn to follow you. Thank you for giving me an eternal relationship with you. Amen.”
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Footnotes: (1) 1 John 5:14 (2) 1 Peter 3:12 (3) Isaiah 59:1,2 (4) John 10:14,27-28 (5) John 15:7 (6) 1 John 5:14,15 (7) Isaiah 30:18 (8) Psalms 18:30 (9) Psalms 147:11 (10) 1 Peter 5:7 (11) Philippians 4:5-7 (12) John 14:27 (13) Jeremiah 31:3 (rsv) (14) Psalms 62:8 (15) John 3:16,17 (16) John 10:10 (17) John 3:16 (18) Revelation 3:20
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