We finished Part 1 with the statement we have been set free from all that legalistic religious double speak that says you have to be good enough for God to bless you or answer your prayers. Don’t fall back into that way of thinking. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Freedom from your past. Freedom from sin. Freedom from destruction.
Keep declaring (putting a demand on what is due) regardless of what the religious crowd says to you. They will tell you to make sure your record of sin is clear and then you have to beg God to forgive you. Then when you ask Him, He might answer.
I want to tell you that He already has answered. Everything was answered at the cross. Everything was provided at the cross. Everything was judged at the cross. It’s all FINISHED and it is ours. We simply use our faith now to step into the provision Christ has given us and provided for us by declaring and receiving, not by begging. Amen. That’s good preaching right there.
Look what 2 Peter 1:3,4 says.
3 By [His divine power], God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received [all] of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
4 And because of [His] glory and excellence, [He has given us great and precious promises.] These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
Just look at the bracketed portions. It’s His divine power, not our worthless efforts. We have received ALL of this, not some of this. And we received it by coming to know Him, not knowing the rules of religion or the institutionalized church. It’s knowing Him. That’s relationship.
It’s because of His glory and excellence, not because of our performance or goodness, that He HAS (past tense) given us GREAT AND PRECIOUS promises. All the promises of God are Yeah and Amen. That means they are ours. Go get ’em. Paul said it this way.
Romans 12:12 – Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.
Philippians 4:6 – Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.
1 Timothy 2:8 – I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
If we keep asking (putting a demand on what is due), seeking, and knocking, the breakthrough will come. If we will do this without wrath (or anger or disdain) and without doubting (questioning the promises of God without performance attached) the manifestation of our prayers will come. How many times do we have to pray about an issue? Until it breaks.
We seem to forget that prayer is not designed to convince God to change your circumstances. It’s designed to prepare you to be involved in God’s completed activity. Faith is seeing the finished work of Christ and resting there. If my prayers are wrapped up in that which I already possess, there’s no joy from the answer, because it’s not supernatural.
Let me close this with a quote from Graham Cooke. “The whole point of a trial is to give you something, not to take anything away from you. It is to advance you. It is to add something to you. That is why you should be joyful because God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power.”
So the question we should be asking ourselves with each trial that comes our way is “God, what is it you are trying to show me in this situation that I could never understand at any other time”. Also, since He is trying to get something to us rather than take anything from us, we should let our expectations and hopes rise and with unguarded anticipation, look forward to the blessing that is on the way.
Earlier in my relationship with the Lord, I would be very troubled by problems and negative situations that would come my way. So, I asked God way back then why these things were occurring and what it all meant. He said in simple terms “Your problems are nothing more than a shadow of the forth-coming answer”. That stuck with me and it’s seen in Graham’s statement above.
Grace and Peace.
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