Many of us pray but a lot of us also doubt. If you ask me, doubting in prayer is just as bad if not worse than living in doubt. What? Yes! We come to the King of kings aware of His incomparable power and might, yet we doubt if we will receive and be heard. That's insane! Are we sure we are talking to the God of all creation, the One who makes all things possible from the liberation of Hebrews from Egypt to Jerusalem's triumph over Assyria to the complete salvation of us who have sinned?
When we pray, we must not doubt.
Recently, God taught me how to overcome being double-minded. And here's the lesson that came into full circle on a July morning.
Before I realized what this year was actually going to be like, I had many plans that were put into a halt - plans to travel, meet people I love, go to a secluded place to relax, and eventually work with a renewed energy.
But as it had turned out, God had far better plans than me roaming around tourist spots and working until the wee hours of the morning.
Hunger for the Truth
Given the instability of all the institutions we have so carefully built all these years that as we now know are just one virus, government jurisdiction, poor hand-washing, and calamity away from crashing down, I became hungry to know God's Word and study the scriptures.
In a world where people believe so many different things and impose their own autonomous culture as what is right despite consistent failures to achieve peace, justice, and long-lasting happiness, I became deeply concerned to revisit the truth.
God mysteriously worked in my heart and opened my heart and mind to be curious - in a way that I have never been before. So I opened up my virtual Bible.
Like a child, I was excited. I was surprised to read something I thought I was familiar with. And I discovered all over again how solid of a foundation the Bible truly is - contrary to everything else that we anchor our faith on.
Far from being religious, studying the Word of God is a grave need. It is the only stable thing that can give us a truly fulfilling and abundant life for how else are we going to make decisions?
If we base our decisions on emotions, feelings, traditions and circumstances, we will never find permanent peace and satisfaction because all these are relative and vary person to person. It is through the Word of God how we can navigate life with a solid foundation no matter the variables. Anyone who thinks otherwise should definitely give reading the scriptures a try.
Reality Check
Sadly, we often disregard the scriptures for a couple of reasons. Sometimes, the reason is we are busy. Some of us are so busy that we feel like our time is better spent for something else such as the ordinary things of life.
But with the many hours of time we dedicate to Netflix, social media, or work tittle-tattle, we miss out on finding out God's message for us and His promises that are actually one decision away.
Other times, Bible-reading can seem too challenging of a read and so we miss out on the message, and focus on our interpretation without looking at the facts and context involved in the Bible. We are so willing to justify our wrong thoughts and actions as something "everyone does so it's okay" that we quickly blame God for things we do not even fully try to understand.
Sometimes we have a tendency to pick a few stories and cherrypick Bible verses without understanding the whole picture. There are also times that we give reading the Bible a go and realize how it speaks so well about our hearts and who we are when no one is looking that it makes us afraid and uncomfortable to give up what we have been so used to such as passing judgement on others in thought and in words, succumbing to secret addictions and habits, sexual immorality, or earning our way to what we will later on find out to be a vacuum of emptiness because it is not dedicated to God and, therefore, does not have a long-lasting satisfaction and fulfillment to offer.
One of the scriptures that God has highlighted to me over and over again during the times when I would take the time to talk to Him in prayer this quarantine is James 1:6-8 (ESV). It says,
"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
God said this Himself!
All these years, I thought prayer was simply asking God for what I want or thanking Him whenever I am able. But prayer is so much more. Prayer is a need and not an accessory to life. I wrote more about this in this post.
When we pray and align our interests and wishes with God's Will, we also have to believe. The attitude and motives of a person in prayer do matter. Faith matters. Prayer is not to change the mind of God but to find God in the process of communing with Him through prayer, and actually sincerely surrendering to His sovereignty. I think it is one of the many amazing times when we will get to witness the incomparable and pure power with which God answers prayers.
Many of us think we believe when we pray. But believing can be a pitfall when we believe in the wrong thing. Proverbs 14:12 (NIV) says,
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death."
Just because we think something is right does not make it true and correct. So how do we take a step back and find what is right and true? This has been explained long ago by scrolls unearthed by archeologists and even checked for date of creation by Blaise Pascal - the Bible. In it it is written in Romans 10:17,
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
Praying entails knowing the will of God. How we can expect to receive what we have asked in prayer when we do not know God's will? If we do not give God's Word the time of day, how are we to know His will?
You can ask me all day long about the prayers God answered in my life (especially during this quarantine) and we would not have enough time!
One of the most recent prayers God answered that really struck me is this story and I hope you enjoy reading about it and like me... praise God too.
Story of Discipleship
After much direction from the Lord which He also made known through my discipler, my ate Donah, I started to disciple young girls who are seeking to know God through the Bible-based Christian church I attend. The group grew rather quickly and one day I received an alert for a young girl from Bulacan named Amelyn who wished to study God's Word and become part of a small group (discipleship group). Unfortunately, she does not have a complete Bible. She was of different faith at the time when we got in touch. And I found out she only had the New Testament. She had big questions such as "Did anyone create God?," "Why did God have to send Jesus on earth?," and "What does it mean to be saved by Jesus?"
To understand God's full message, I knew that both old testament and new testament are needed. So I asked Amelyn if she can borrow a Bible... sadly, to no avail. Wi-Fi was not an option for her so I would call her weekly as I do with other girls from far-flung places instead of using the ever-convenient Zoom or Messenger apps.
Amelyn and I talked about God a lot and, to get the ball rolling on her Bible-reading as she really wanted to know who God is, I took the time to screenshot each page of the chapters from the Old Testament (there were so many!) and discussed those with her during our regular calls.
During our calls that often tested my patience (as I am a digital nut haha), we talked about God and the teachings of the Bible that are all relevant in all aspects of life - knowing who we are prior to placing our faith on the One True God, honoring your parents, managing your resources, treating other people with respect, picking the right company, dealing with lack of direction, and many more. We ended up talking for hours!
God knew what was in my heart and He knew I wanted to send a Bible to Amelyn whom I realized had a great hunger to know God deeply but did not have the resources. She struggled with what most people commonly have such as data that would help her load Sunday preachings uploaded on Youtube - access was a clear challenge.
My mom and I then prepared an extra Bible for shipping that was one of ours, but I still exercised my faith and raised this concern to God and asked Him to provide what He wants Amelyn to have and I also asked for direction as I disciple Amelyn.
One day, I saw a Christian library contest. I joined and shared the story of how Amelyn and I have been studying the Word of God through phone calls and multiple screenshots.
God Answers
Days passed and I woke up on the weekend before my birthday. I found out that I won the contest. I won a Bible that's a translation which is good for beginners!
But, as what I know quite well at this point, God does not just provide. You see, He does so much more!
When we are a part of God's family, He moves people into action to provide for our needs just like what happened when the persecutor of Christians Saul of Tarsus was met by God's follower Ananias so it would be made clear to Saul what Jesus wanted Saul to do in service of God whom Saul persecuted.
So going back to that July morning, I was thrilled to know I won the contest despite the number of entries. After chatting for a bit, the library owner messaged me and told me that (s)he is from Bulacan and will personally deliver the Bible to Amelyn. So we did not have to wait for long until Amelyn could study the Bible in comfort. The Bible came and now we spend time weekly knowing more about God's heart for us while we live here on Earth and wait for Him to come.
Recently, she has made the decision to accept Jesus and only Him as His Lord and Savior - amazing!
She is still learning day by day, comparing the things she was taught to be right before but countered the Word of God, and the best part is God lets me learn from Amelyn as well.
It is my prayer that we all become like Amelyns who do not let the ordinary things of the world and other pleasures of our so-short-of-a-life on Earth distract us from knowing God. May we become Amelyns who accept God's Word and ask questions before they become strongholds of doubt so we may never put a distance between ourselves and our Creator. And may we have a humble heart like Amelyn to receive a gift when it is given so we do not miss out on knowing the greatest love there is - one that has overcome this world.
What about you? How did God answer your prayer recently? Sometimes all the effort we need to do from our end is quite little. It can be as simple as opening our hearts to knowing the truth and aligning what we want with what God wants. You and I have a free will - let's use it right and in the service of a Holy God who has no darkness in Him.
1 John 1:5 (World English Bible): This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
At a loss what you can talk to God about? Why not ask Him to reveal Himself to you, and prepare to receive the answer soon? Exercise your will and faith!
That's all for now! I sincerely implore you guys to read the Word of God - best use of our time! Looking forward to sharing more answered prayers and musings soon.
Here's an online Bible.
Cheers,
Grace
Note: To protect the privacy of my sister in Christ, I have changed her name and hometown in the post above.
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