Praying with confidence

Many a times I pray to God but I too wonder if God actually hears us. A recent devotion was about prayer and I found the 2 verses about praying after thinking about it. Do I really have enough faith that God would provide for my needs in life? after evaluating myself... I think not. I think it is normal for anyone to start doubting God when things are not going smooth. However, this is where faith in God sets in. Do you have enough faith to trust in the facts stated about God? Let's take a look at the 2 verses:

1) From Matthew 7: 7-12:
"⁷"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
⁹"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

It talks about how God is our provider for our needs in life. It could yet also be a "want" in life. God's nature is evident here as Jesus describes God's character in comparison to something we clearly know, that a parent gives the best to his child. God wants us to believe and know He wants to give us the same goodness and even more abundantly because He loves us. So clearly, as the verse went, all we needed to do is ask God for what we want.

2) From James 4: 1-3
¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Here, obviously, are 2 scenarios regarding why we do not receive what we want from God. Firstly, It is plain obvious that we cannot receive what we did not ask for. We can do a lot of things to 'try' to get what we want. We can plot to get something plan. But heyy oh no. I did not really pray to ask God for it. I forgot the first and foremost thing to do was to simply open my gold-laiden mouth to ask God humbly.

And also, when we ask, sometimes we do not receive. First, check our attitude. Are we the 'God' of our lives telling (or ordering) what God to do in our lives? God is supposed to be the LORD of our lives: meaning we are His servant and not the other way round. Sometimes we ask for things that satisfy our selfish indulgence. Those are really selfish dreams that can remain as asking for the impossible. God really hears all our prayers. But He of course the maker of us knows our hearts even better.

In conclusion, I'm really reminded of how God really wants the best for us. But He respects our decisions in life too and won't really interfere unless we ask him to, for something we ask for. Then again, what we ask for must be something with the correct mindset. God is not a genie. He is not going to grant every wish we ask for but only those He knows are true needs and righteous requests/intercession on our part. =)

I'm also reminded to pray with confidence that our prayers WILL be answered.

**Thanksgiving**
I thank all of those who contributed to my mission trip to Japan both in Prayer and Financial needs. We have raised in full the amount as a team. Praise the Lord, who is our provider! Keep praying and trust God to work for us and through us!

I have been a little busy to update my blog because of team meetings and etc.. be off from 28th May till 25th June. Till we meet again! :D

More about time

Oh my gosh.. I have suddenly realised I have lost touch to blogging a bit. Haven't posted in almost a whole month! =D This June will be a time of rediscovering myself as I embark on a mission trip to Nagoya, Japan.

Lots of things going through my mind right now. Indeed, many a times I make bad decisions, only to bear the consequences later. Yet, I guess the one thing I would never regret is to trust in God. Not that God isn't there in the bad times. God is there anytime.

This truth is something we have a hard time convincing ourselves when things go 'bad" but hey, God IS there with us. I'm very happy to see that in an online game I'm playing, I actually meet christians and the virtual reality world is just like the real one, except the game characters are limited into a virtual frame, ours in a reality time.

I also know a few of the people who escape from the real world into a world of virtual reality. Some with terminal illnesses who live one day at a time, some with injuries so bad that they can't leave the house. Even in a virtual reality world, the person playing that character very much needs care and concern like in reality. Some of these people nearing the "end" usually display stark contrast in behaviour. One is pessimistic just sitting in game all lost hope, one wants to get all out of life there is, even if he can't get it out of the real world, the virtual reality world is good.

The only thing about games is most game have a "Save game" button, where you make mistakes, you can delete a character, start all over. "Load" button to load where you last left off the game. Yet, in real life we do not have that option. When we do make mistakes or lose our lives its somewhat like "gameover". But did anyone tell you that if you think in real life you feel all condemned, worthless, nothing to live for purposefully, all out of hope that you can't turn things around, Jesus is your "reset" button?

I just know someone from that virtual world who died due to heart problems in real life and he is only 17.. may he rest in peace.. for those living on, every death around us reminds us our stay here is temporal, and only in God can we find eternal.