ANSWERED PRAYERS

As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.  Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision.

-  Daniel 9:23

Can you imagine hearing these words directly from heaven?  “As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given….. for you are highly esteemed.”  After all Daniel had been through, the angel’s comforting words must have been extremely welcome!

This was not the first time God heard Daniel prayed when things were going well for him, not just when he was having problems.  He prayed because he enjoyed talking with God.  Daniel’s faithfulness and his love for God earned him high regard in heaven.  God quickly sent an angel to minister to Daniel as soon as he began to pray.

Sometimes we neglect to pray for long periods of time.  When everything is going our way, we forget to thank God.  We get busy and don’t really see the need to spend time talking with Him.  Then a problem pops up and we need help – now!  We pray fervently and want God’s answer immediately.  We feel frustrated if our prayer isn’t answered promptly!  We need to follow Daniel’s example.  God responded to Daniel’s need even before Daniel finished his prayer.  Their relationship was that close.  The best part for Daniel wasn’t even the speediness of God’s answer but the security Daniel had in knowing he was highly esteemed by God.

How would we characterize our relationship with God?  Do we pray because we enjoy talking with God, or do we just pray when we need something?  Let us strive to be like Daniel, and enjoy spending time with God in prayer no matter what our situation is.

GUARD YOUR MOUTH

He who guards his lips guards his soul, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. – Proverbs 13:3

A Japanese proverb says, “The silent man is the best to listen to.”  George Barnard Shaw, the Irish playwright, once said, “I believe in the discipline of silence and could talk for hours about it.”  Shaw was also a critic.  He wryly observed, “She had lost the art of conversation, but not,  unfortunately the power of speech.”

Our generation can’t tolerate silence.  We’d rather fill the air with foolishness than endure an awkward silence.  Far too often, we speak first and think later.  Sometimes we assume that the only words worth listening to are the ones coming out of our own mouths.  Rather than really listening to our friends, we use their words as springboards from which to launch our own opinions.  Even our best intentions can be sabotaged if we speak up too quickly.  For example, a friend shares a problem, and we blurt out bad advice without even thinking about the implications.  Rarely do we regret taking the time to think before speaking, but how often do we long to take back something we said on the spur of the moment?

Careless words, tossed out without thinking, have more power than we might think.  They have the power to hurt others or to embarrass them.  Our foolish words are equally capable of hurting and embarrassing us!  They are like feathers of a pillow shaken into the wind: it’s impossible to retrieve all the feathers once the wind carries them away.  It is just as impossible to recover every hurtful word once it has left our mouth.

You do have protection from regretting what you say.  It’s called silence.  When you are tempted to speak without thinking or to say something unkind, it’s better to say nothing at all.  Silence is never as awkward as rashly spoken words.

GOD Has Forsaken Me

“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13

When we come up against injustice and difficulties, we tend to think, “God has forsaken me.” 

The problem is that when we think of God as our ever-loving Father, we tend to think that means God should give us everything we wish for – especially physical comforts – and that God shouldn’t require anything of us.  But we should stop and think before asking, “Has God abandoned me?” It isn’t God who’s abandoned us but we who’ve abandoned and forgotten God.

Rather than saying, “The Lord has abandoned me!”, maybe it’s time to turn back to God and experience His restoration and fellowship.  When we live within God’s will and love, it’s possible to celebrate life again.”   

LET IT SHOW…….

When you care enough to openly rebuke someone, you show that you really love the person you are addressing.  That person, and perhaps others as well, will actually see that love.  It is not hidden.  Remember this when training your children.  Think of it with regard to your spouse.  Do not forget it when you interact with friends and acquaintances.  "Love must be sincere," Paul writes in Romans 12:9.  When it is it cannot be hidden.  Better is open rebuke than hidden love (Proverbs 27:5)

HOW VALUABLE ARE WE?

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” – Luke 19:10

Much of what Jesus said when He taught the multitude was about how valuable individuals are, including those considered to be worthless in the eyes of the society.  Luke, the Greek physician from Syria, records three of these talks in his Gospel.

There were 100 sheep; one was lost.  There were 10 coins, one was lost.  There were two sons, one was lost.  Even the elements which Jesus used in these stories varied in value.  A sheep is of little value compared to a silver coin, and a silver coin is of little value compared to the life of a son.  Yet in each case there was rejoicing when that which was lost was found.

When we struggle with the feelings of inadequacies, feeling we are never good enough to warrant and receive God’s love is pictured in these three stories.   Yet what we don’t understand is that God is far more interested in our coming to the Father than we finding the Father.  When we were lost – without hope, and without direction, Jesus came seeking and searching.  Long ago, Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  But Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10).

There is help for our failures and hope for our despair.  Let us take time to read these three accounts found in Luke 15, and see ourselves in that which was lost. Our lives can forever be different.  Believe it.