Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Answers are Out There

“We’ve got to pray, just to make it today!” It’s funny how those lyrics have been going over in my head since the beginning of the annual Summertime Prayer Revival at Cornerstone. MC Hammer’s hit song from the late 80’s – which I guess he believed, for he has since gotten saved and is now a preacher of the gospel – reverberates through my mind, testifying to a truth seemingly forgotten by some in post-modern Christianity. It is a truth. It is a fact. We must pray! With an emphasis on the “must.”

Prayer is the conduit that connects the natural to the supernatural, the earthly to the ethereal. It is a hotline to the divine. It is in prayer that we connect to heaven. It is in prayer that we come to understand God’s purposes. It is in prayer that we take hold of God’s promises.

Though the Summer Prayer Week has just begun, we have seen several answers to prayers that have been requested. Doors have been opened for new homes, new schools, and new opportunities. People have been believing and following the promise that Jesus gave us in Matthew 7:7-8, when He said, “Knock, and the door will be opened.”

In that passage in Matthew 7, Jesus said that we must do three things: ask, seek, and knock. His promise was if we will ask, we will receive; if we seek, we will find; if we knock, the door will be opened to us. In fact, the focus of this year’s Prayer Revival is those 3 Keys to getting results from God.

1) ASK
We need to realize that all for the asking is ours. In John 16:24, Jesus said; “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” He also said; “it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). God wants us to depend upon Him as our provider and supplier. We simply have to ask. My father always taught me “prayers cannot be answered, unless they are prayed.”

2) SEEK
I like Jehoshaphat’s attitude as recorded in 2 Chronicles 18:4; "First seek the counsel of the Lord." Those are wisdom words for anyone to follow. It is imperative that we continue seeking God. We must keep on searching. Discoveries are not made by people easing back in their Lazyboy chairs with a remote in one hand and an iced tea in the other, but by those who persistently seek to find answers. The answers are out there – they just have to be sought for.

3) KNOCK
We cannot just sit around and wait for doors to open, but actively and aggressively knock on those doors until they swing wide open. When Paul stepped-out by faith and went to do a work for the Lord in the city of Troas, he said; “God had opened a door for me” (2 Corinthians 2:12). New opportunities, better options, and greater things await us, but must be seized.

The Lord’s promise is that as long as we keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking, we will keep receiving from Him!

So keep communicating with Heaven. Keep reaching out to Jesus. Keep asking, seeking, and knocking. Keep believing in what you know is true – God is still God – and He is a BIG God!

Let your faith in Him soar!

“Believe Bigger!”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a great week of prayer! I'm so thankful that we set aside this week every year to take time out to pray for one another's needs. God is so good! All the prayers that were answered helped me and increased my faith! Thank you for allowing the GAP Ministry to do this every year! Love you -Karlene