Believing God for Answered Prayer: Having Faith Like Elijah
Does prayer really accomplish anything? How do I have faith my prayers will be answered? Those are good questions that aren’t without an answer. James 5:16 tells us that the “prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” and then demonstrates the awesome power released through prayer using the story of Elijah, an Old Testament prophet.
Pray with Boldness: Knowing Your Righteousness in Christ
Many people don’t pray because they believe that they are not worthy to approach the Father in prayer. They think the Father will not receive their prayers and that He will turn them away because of their past mistakes and indiscretions. They’ve heard about what Jesus did for them on the cross, but they fail to appreciate the significance of His work on the cross. They fail to understand their righteousness in Christ. To be righteous means to meet God’s standard; to be right with God. No one can be righteous by their own efforts, no matter how hard they try: no one except for Jesus. God made Jesus who had never sinned to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2nd Corinthians 5:21). Through His work on the cross, Jesus offers us the gift of His righteousness. All we must do is accept the gift by believing. Understanding Your Righteousness Will Deliver You from Fear, Condemnation, Guilt, and Shame There is no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment, a consequence that children of God will never face because they are FORGIVEN (1st John 4:18). You must truly grasp deep in your hearts that you owe nothing for your sin, that your debts are forgiven. “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The penalty for our past, present, and future sins is not held against us since Christ paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. Once you grasp this, you will be delivered from fear and condemnation and be able to confidently approach the Father in prayer. God doesn’t look at us through the lens of what we did but through the lens of what Jesus did on the cross. If you keep thinking about your past failures, you’ll begin to see yourself as a failure and the guilt and shame of your past will prevent you from confidently approaching God in prayer. One of Satan’s greatest weapons he uses against us is our past. Past sins that we have repented from are FORGIVEN. When you understand what Jesus did for you on the cross, you will not approach the Father in prayer with fear, condemnation, guilt, or shame. Instead, you will approach Him with boldness. When you understand that you are a child of God, you will have the confidence that whatever you face, God will move on your behalf. When you know that you are the righteousness of God, you will no longer feel distant or separated from God. When you know you are righteous in Christ, you will enjoy peace, quietness, confidence, and assurance forever. So what is stopping you today? Fear, condemnation, guilt, and shame cannot stand against the truth of God’s Word. Speak the truth of God’s Word to those lies and boldly approach God in prayer knowing that you will receive mercy and find grace in your time of need.
The Beatitudes: Being Happy, Hungry, and Thirsty
Finding true happiness. Many search for it. Many don’t find it. The good news is that Jesus gave us the spiritual roadmap to happiness in the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes describe spiritual qualities that operate within the Kingdom of Heaven, where we find true happiness. The Kingdom of Heaven is not just a future promise, but it is a promise for today and is found in the hearts of those who submit to the rule of Jesus, His followers. As we follow Jesus’ spiritual roadmap to happiness, we will need to make a few stops. First, we must stop at poor in spirit and then go to mourning over sin. Then we backtrack to meekness, the state Jesus calls the citizens of His Kingdom to visit so that God can use them to accomplish His plans and purposes here on earth. Then we move on to stop number four, where our hunger and thirst can be satisfied. Jesus said in Beatitude number 4, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6 But how can we be blessed and satisfied if we are hungry and thirsty? Hunger and Thirst Hunger and thirst are the two physical needs of man that, if not satisfied, will lead to certain death. Jesus was no stranger to hunger. He spent 40 nights in the desert with no food and water and understood the overwhelming desire and craving for that which can physically satisfy and sustain. Jesus wants us to have the same overwhelming desire and craving for God because only God can spiritually satisfy and sustain us. However, instead of hungering and thirsting after God, people hunger and thirst after all the wrong things: money, possessions, power, and pleasure. They passionately pursue these things with the belief that when they gain them, they will be satisfied. But when they finally get everything they thought they wanted, they realize that these things cannot satisfy them and will not sustain them, so they begin their fruitless pursuit of all the wrong things again. Money & Possessions Many of Jesus’ teachings were warnings against the pursuit of money and possessions. He said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroy them, and thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Matthew 6:19-21 He also said, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” (Matthew 6:24). He also said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Luke 12:15 And finally, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul.” Matthew 16:26 Power Even the disciples hungered and thirsted after wrong things. In Luke 22:24-27, the disciples “began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.” They desired power. Jesus quickly set them straight about what was important in the Kingdom. He said, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” Pleasure Jesus in the “Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed” refers to the pleasures of this life as thorns that can choke out the Word of God, hindering the believer from growing to full maturity and producing fruit. Luke 8:4-15 The disciple John says in 1st John 2:15-16, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but are from this world.” The One Right Thing Instead of hungering and thirsting after all the wrong things and ending up unsatisfied, Jesus calls His followers to hunger and thirst after the one right thing: the righteousness of God. Righteousness in Greek means the state of being in right relationship with God, justified, the act of doing what is in agreement with God’s standards. Jesus invites us to partake of his righteousness by thirsting and hungering after Him. He says that anyone who drinks the water He offers “will never be thirsty again.” That His water “becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” John 4:13-15 He says that He is “the bread of life” and whoever comes to Him “will never be hungry again.” John 6:35 We are made right through Jesus, who never sinned. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we would be made right with God through Christ.” This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (Romans 3:21-26) Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross covers our sin so that God sees us as He sees Christ: perfect and unblemished. Once we are justified, the Holy Spirit begins to work in us to make us look more like Christ, and the more we look like Christ, the more we hunger and thirst after the one right thing! Spiritual Diet Do you hunger and thirst after God? Do you want to hunger and thirst after Him more? If you fill yourself up with too much junk