“If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.”
Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” hit home in unique ways. He can take a passage of Scripture and bring home, home where it hurts…or…home where it moves us.
How many times do we view hardship as a growth process? Paul and the Apostles seem to look forward to hard times…over the course of their ministries they came to conclusion. It’s the kind of lesson that can be only learned by suffering. So here we are two thousands years later and we are still the same frail human beings we have always been. How many of us hit hard time and the first thing we do is look for ‘options’. We pray only after we have exhausted all other means and you no where else to go…turn to God.
The problem is when we finally turn to him we are only “worrying our prayers”…we still keep all of our “options open”. In other words we don’t trust God to come through. I mean he is invisible. He doesn’t always answer prayers the way you would think…he gives us every reason not to trust or believe in him right? But do you see the failure in this line of thought?
Many of us struggle in hard times because we do not have a ‘daily’ relationship…we have never fully lived Christ. Oh on Sunday morning we might get as close as we can get for the week. But for most once the key touches the ignition switch of our car in the church parking lot the relationship ends until next Sunday morning.
Trust God means trusting God…it takes time to build…a lifetime for some. But it means we have to trust God with our lives, families, and our money…with everything. We have forgotten how to trust God in our nations…the giving of our time and money are at all times lows, and the same time we deeply desire a walk with God. So many people are without hope…without forgiveness….
So are you serious about your relationship….are you willing to start living the gospel, to start trusting in God. It’s starts with the small things…spending time with God in the morning…praying and reading your bible. It starts by taking your concerns to God and knowing he is listening and wants to help you. It’s all about trusting….In God we trust!
Start small and work up…you will not be disappointed.
-ps
