Pandemic Chronicles #12 - God Can...and I'm good with that

I am taking a class through Dallas Theological Seminary on the Book of James.  It is free and so it is highly recommended.  There's one video lecture a week along with Review Questions.  It is fantastic!

This week as we dived into the first chapter of James, I had a takeaway that really shifted my mindset.  I'm more in the charismatic camp of Christianity: I believe in supernatural healing, I believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, I believe in the spiritual gifts for the modern church, and I love running around the building. (LOL)  

One place I do not agree so much with charismatics is this business of declaring and decreeing things and thinking we can move God that way. I believe God hears our prayers but I believe that he is sovereign and answers the way he wants whether we agree with it or not.

When we lack wisdom we should ask our God who wants to help us.  

5 If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. 

However, when we ask that doesn't mean he's going to give us the answer we want to hear.  We can declare and decree all we want to but if we are sincerely asking God for wisdom then we need to ask without doubting that he will answer us according to HIS will. 

HIS will and not our will which is why I think so many people get disappointed and disillusioned.  It contributes to being doubleminded. 

6 But he must ask [f or wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind. 

If we're doubting because his answer isn't what we hoped for, then that's when we become doubleminded, unstable, and restless in all our ways.    

7 For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].

But even if he does not....

The teacher made such a good point.  When we ask God for wisdom, then we need to go into it with the mindset that he CAN give us the answer we want but that doesn't mean that he WILL.  We need to have an attitude like the 3 Hebrew Boys in the Book of Daniel.

Daniel 3:16

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to answer you on this point. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up!” 

We are doubleminded if we're only going along with the program as long as God is answering the way we want.

When we read on further in James, how are we baited and led into temptation?  By our own desires. 

14 But each one is tempted when he is dragged away, enticed and baited [to commit sin] by his own [worldly] desire (lust, passion). 

What do you mean if I can?

Mark 9:23-24

23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

I love this response from Jesus.  What do you mean if I can?  He can if he is willing.  It is possible if we believe it is possible but that doesn't mean that it will happen.  It's a possibility because he is God and he can.

When we pray we need to go into it with the mindset that God can if he is willing.  

We should not go into prayer with the mindset that if I want it real bad and shout it loud enough in prayer that he will do it.  We need to pray for wisdom that what we desire is in God's will.

Coming to Terms with God's wisdom

I have recently gotten off the Marriage bandwagon.  It doesn't mean that I've given up hope on marriage but I'm done with endlessly praying about it, talking about it, and trying to make events conform to my own narrative.

I've decided that God's wisdom is best in this situation and I believe that is possible and it can happen if it is according to God's will.  Me trying to force it into being or thinking because I am yelling and screaming declarations is a fruitless and frustrating endeavor.

God's wisdom is best in this situation.

I don't want to get led astray by my own desires and fears about being too old so I end up marrying outside of God's perfect will.  That is how we end up baited and led astray.

Things have not turned out like I thought they would and so I have to say that God's wisdom and his ways are so much better than mine.

I believe he can and even if he does not, then I'm still taking up my cross and following Him.  I'm not quitting because I didn't get my way.

God is on the Move.....He is doing some amazing things in this hour.  I don't want to get passed by because I am too busy sulking or still yelling trying to make fetch happen.

May my desires never be greater than the one who gives those desires and may they all be a part of his perfect and pleasing will.