Talking With God

Wednesday night we started a new Purpose series or learning to be closer to God by learning to love Jesus more and to be more Christ like. It is a nine week series and my husband, son and his fiance and I are going and I am really looking forward to renewing and strengthening my relationship with God.

One of the things I was reading in my daily Bible readings got me to thinking that if we don't ever talk to God how can we have a relationship with Him. Communication in friendships, family, and marriage is so important to staying close so why wouldn't it be the same with God. Praying is just that talking to God you don't have to be fancy with words but just talk like you would to a friend and then the key is to take time to listen too. When Jesus was asked how to pray He gave them the Lord's Prayer and if you are in a tough time and really don't know what to say or how to start just say the Lords Prayer. Matt.6:9-13 "9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." (KJV)

Talking and Listening to God also includes Praising him. God loves to hear our praises and thanks. When we pray then we should 1.talk, 2.listen, and 3.praise and worship Him. God wants us to talk to Him, nothing is to big or to small or to unimportant to talk to Him about. He wants to know how you feel, what your concerns are, what your fears are and everything that is important to you. God loves us and He is our heavenly father and loves to hear from us.

When we pray to God about a need we then need to make sure we thank Him when we pray also for what He gives us. We should not forget to say thanks for what God does for us. When you do something for someone else isn't it nice when they tell you thank you or isn't that one of the things we teach are children when they are very young to tell some one please and thank you? The same is true when we ask God and He answers or does something for us to thank Him. In Luke 17 Jesus heals ten lepers when they ask Him and only one comes back to give glory and thanks to God.
Luke 17:11-17 11"Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a]met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."(NIV)" Jesus asks where are the other 9. The other 9 were healed also but they never said thank you and Jesus questions were they not healed too or maybe He is thinking where is their thank you. The lesson is that we should not take God for granted. He tells us to ask but then after we ask we should say thank you and give Him the glory and praise He is due. We have had several answers to prayer recently some things were small but one big issue we had and we had been praying about turned out good and when the lady told us it was taken care of we thanked God and we told her she was an answer to our prayers. She was taken back at first and then she said thank you that is really nice to know. So we were blessed by our answered prayer and her being the messenger and us taking time to thank God first and then her passed a blessing on to her.

When I pray I always say your will God not mine and thank you for what you are going to say or do for me. I then thank God again when the prayer is answered whether it is in the way I want or not. I think God answers our prayers with either yes, no,or wait awhile. That's why we need to listen to His answers and understand that He has the best interest for us at hand.
One last thing when my husband was off from work due to a surgery he had and we had no money coming in and they said that his short term disability wouldn't start right away I prayed for help. When he called they said it could be 6 to 8 weeks before he would get his first disability check and I said oh great. Bills were due and we do love to eat like everyone else and I needed medicine but I prayed again. It probably wasn't 10 minutes later I got a call from my parents saying if we needed money for anything just to let them know until we got our first check and then not 5 minutes later our Son got the mail and there was the first disability check. We laughed and I said thank you Lord and this little voice said you asked and I told you I would take care of it. So we also should pray expecting answers and listen when God talks and believe He is going to do what He says.
The most important thing I want to get across is this; talk and listen to God and your relationship and closeness will grow with Him. In 1 Thes.5:16-18
"16Rejoice evermore. 17Pray without ceasing. 18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."(KJV) we are told to rejoice and pray without stopping and to give thanks and we should all try to follow this because God asks it of us. I am going to try to talk to God more and even more importantly to listen to him more also and to always thank Him. I don't want to have just an acquaintance with God where we talk occasionally but I want a relationship with him where we talk daily several times a day. I hope all of you will try to do this also.

The beauty of God's hands

Ps.19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."(KJV)

Have you ever just sat and watched a sunset or sunrise? The beauty of it, like in the two pictures above that we took of a sunset in the summer of 2007, is breath taking. How many times did you watch a deer or bird or sit by a stream and think about God's creation. King David said it well in the Psalms verse above. We so often take God's handi-work for granted. We rush through our lives never slowing down to take time to appreciate nature around us and all that God has made. When I sit in my wheelchair out in the trees along a stream on one of our favorite trails I don't think about why I am in a wheelchair but I think and meditate on God's wonderful creations. It is peaceful and beautiful there and I could sit for a long time praising God and feeling close to God. Take time to see what God has made. Make time to watch a sunset or sunrise and then praise God for all He has made and done. We as Christians need to slow down and appreciate God. God loves to hear our praises and our worshiping. Think about and Thank God for His wonderful works.
Ps. 8:1 "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens."(NIV)

God has good in store for us.

I was told the other day that they don't know how I can think that being sick and my life being changed by my physical limitations is not upsetting. I told them that it is all in God's plan for my life and he has good in store for me.
Jer. 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."(NIV) God loves us and because he loves us He watches out for us and takes care of us. He has a perfect plan for us and as it says in this verse: He has a plan to prosper us and not harm us and that His plan for us gives us hope and a future Praise God! We don't have to understand it all just have faith that God is in control and it is a perfect plan. He uses each of us in different ways and though I may not be the same as before the illness I am still his child and I am still loved by God and I know His plan for me leads to hope and my future is bright. Now faith is what gives us that hope because we have faith in God's love for us and faith that He wants the best for us. We all as Christians have hope and our futures are good no matter what is going on here on earth because our hope is in Christ and our eternal home with Him. Because of God's love and grace we can persevere through anything that comes our way even illness. He makes us strong and we just have to know that God has us in his loving arms helping us through his plan for us. Trust in him and then happiness is right there for you. Rom 5:1-4 " 1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope"(KJV) This tells us that through it all we can know that it all works to good and hope is ours even through our troubles. Troubles last for a short time but our hope, peace, and strength from God lasts forever as long as we trust Him. Rely on God and his plan for your life and then you, can like I am, be happy and at peace even through illness and trouble. God Loves You and Me so hang on to that assurance and ask God to help you through and to help you stay in his perfect plan and it will all work for good.