Believe & Thank God For The Answer Before You Get It!

Thanking God is very important. Thanking Him when we ask for something in prayer is also very important. Many times we think that we should give thanks after we receive the answer to our petition. However, God says we should thank Him for the answer before we get it. Why is this important? Because it has to do with faith.

Philippians 4: 6-7 says: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." These verses illustrate that we are to ask in faith, not fear, and thank God for the answer of the prayer, as if we have already received our answer, at the time we present the prayer and petition before Him.

We are to walk in faith and confidence that God will answer our prayers. 1 John 5:14-15 says: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him." According to  verse 15, we have the answer to our prayers when we ask, not after we ask. The answer to our prayers may be made manifest immediately or in due season; however, the prayer made in faith is answered. Our role is to continue to exercise our faith and not grow weary waiting for the answer to be manifested - "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

While James 1:5 concerns asking God for wisdom, yet the same principle of faith applies when petitioning God with our prayers in verses 6-7: "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind, that man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." Here again, we are to believe first, ask and then we receive the answer. At all times we are to remain in faith.

Finally, Mark 11:24 says: "Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Notice that the emphasis in this verse is that you believe that you have already received whatever you ask for in prayer before you actually get it.

As we have seen from the scriptures above, we are to both thank (Philippians 4:6) and believe (Mark 11:24) God for the results/answers to our prayers when we ask, not when we receive what we asked for. As believers we are called to stand in faith knowing that God will answer our prayers and move on our behalf when we ask Him to do so. This confidence is ours when we stand on the Word of God, proclaim it, and pray it for our lives and the lives of others.

Thanking and believing God for the answers to our prayers before we receive those answers is a powerful thing to do. Our faith literally calls to God, recalls His promises, and unleashes the God of heaven to transform our lives here on earth. As we know, God created the world by His Word in Genesis chapter 1. When God created the world, He spoke His Word to create each new day. In Gen 1:3 - "And God said, 'Let there be light..." Gen 1:6 - "And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters". Gen 1:9 - "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place". This continues in Gen 1:11, 14, 20, 24, 26. God's pattern of creation, back at the beginning of the world, as well as for today, is that He first speaks His Word and then the fulfillment of that Word follow.

As we believe God's Word, proclaim it in our lives, thanking Him that His Word will come to pass, we will see the same creative abilites that God used in Genesis chapter one take place in our lives and situations. Jesus said: "If you remain (abide) in me and my words remain (abide) in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you" (John 15:7). Jesus who in the beginning was intimately involved in the work of creating the world is still involved in creating in our lives, His church and the world today.

We can participate in God's divine nature (2 Peter 1:3) by believing God and thanking Him for answered prayer when we pray. This is an exercise of our faith that gives Him glory and allows Him to move in our lives to accomplish His purposes, expand His kingdom and bless us - His children. God designed it so that faith and giving thanks ushers in answered prayer and blessings from His throne.

Overcoming the Spirit of Defeat and Living With The Spirit of Victory

We all remember The Roadrunner. Who hasn't seen it. Every Saturday morning I would be glued to the TV and watch the usual line-up of cartoons and this was one of my very favorites. I don't know how many episodes were ever produced (probably hundreds) but, while the story was always the same, it was also always entertaining: Wiley Coyote relentlessly in pursuit of the ever-elusive Roadrunner. We were always intrigued with Wiley's newest methods and plans to capture Roadrunner. However, no matter how hard he tried, he would go down in the flames of defeat ...only to try again. "A" for effort, "F" for results! Poor Coyote. How he made us sigh and, mostly, smile and laugh.

The Roadrunner makes a great metaphor to speak about some deeper things on a spiritual level. Don't we all know of some people, even Christians who are like Wiley Coyote? Always trying to reach some goal with lots of effort but, in some way and on some level always being defeated. They seem very determined but also bound to fail.

Don't we also know other people who are like the Roadrunner? They go through life and no matter what they face, succeed nevertheless. They have victory. Despite opposition and circumstances, they just seem to triumph and overcoming the obstacles. Sorry to get so serious about something so enjoyable like The Roadrunner; however, it is an interesting study in victory vs. defeat.

Tragically, there are many Christians who, though knowing Christ, seem to live their day-by-day lives in defeat. They are like Wiley Coyote. Always trying, yet never really succeeding. For whatever reason, things just don't seem to work out. As a matter of fact, life itself just doesn't seem to work out. Though knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior, for some reason, there seems to be a disconnect between faith and real life experience. How can this be?

Perhaps you know of someone like this. I know I was like this. Even though a born-again believing Christian, for about the first 25 years of my walk in Christ, I lived with a spirit of defeat - not victory. I knew Jesus as my savior and lord, but honestly, I didn't know His sustaining and empowering victory in my life. I was so use to defeat that I didn't even know I was walking in it, because it was my normal. Like Wiley Coyote, lots of effort, but few victorious results. Life under the dark cloud, living with a spirit of defeat.

However, the good news is that we don't have to be like Wiley Coyote. We can live life like the Roadrunner. We can know victory and overcome defeat. Truly there is a spirit of defeat. It is manifested by a pattern of  continual failure, fear, oppression and it can even "smell" or "feel" like death.

Question: where does it come from? Answer: the enemy...the devil.

Question: How did we get it? Answer: By allowing it to happen, by giving the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27), allowing satan and his lies to speak to us and dictate to our lives instead of standing on God's Word.

Question: What do we do about it, how do we overcome it? Answer: First - repent of any sins and unbelief. Next, be renewed in your mind and spirit by God's Word (Romans 12:2)- standing on His promises and, in God's strength, walking in victory (Hebrews 10:36). Second - rebuke the devil (James 4:7). Tear down every thought/imagination/stronghold that does not agree with and conform to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5-6) and is contrary to the promises of God. Break any bondages the enemy may have on your life by claiming/accepting/calling forth the blood of Jesus upon your life (Romans 5:9-11). Third, understand that there is a warfare going on and your life is the battleground (2 Corinthians 10:2-4). Wage this warfare by developing a habit of continual prayer, as well as by standing, confessing, proclaiming God's Word over your life and situations. Put on the armor of God to be strong in the power of His might against the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18).  Fourth - be accountable to and seek the help of your spiritual oversight. Let your pastor minister to you and pray for you. Be rightly related to your leadership because your pastor is your shepherd and cares for you (Hebrews 13:7, 17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).

This is how you get the victory! It is God's will for your life and your right, as a child of God, to have it and walk in it. Because of Jesus, we are more than conquerors in Him (Romans 8:37). We have all the victory in Christ, He is our victory (2 Corinthians 2:14). He has set us free from sin and death (John 8:36, Romans 6:22, 8:2) to love, obey, serve and walk victorious in Him.

As you do these things and persist until you gain the victory, you will overcome the spirit of defeat. This is how to say goodbye to being like Wiley Coyote and become an overcomer like the Roadrunner.

Beep..beep!

The Power of The Resurrection

Jesus is resurrection life. In the story of Lazarus, the point to Mary and Martha was not merely to bring them to an understanding of Jesus as savior and Lord. That they had already confessed. But that their experience could believe Him to be the savior for that day, that hour, that moment in order to resurrect their Lazarus. You see they loved their brother Lazarus, but Jesus loved him too.

It is important that although Jesus knew what he had come to do and that the outcome would be to raise the dead, still He wept. Why? The word gives clear indication Jesus understood how it would all turn out. He wept over the condition of men’s souls and their faithlessness; He wept over their hardness to heart to believe; He wept over their grief and sorrow. I believe He wept in response over what the enemy meant for evil. All because Jesus is moved with compassion to care not just for Martha and Mary, but He cares for you.

This familiar story makes a greater point of relevance to your life, that today, Jesus seeks to resurrect your Lazarus, but with power. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead to bear much fruit as the word says, ‘bringing many souls to Jesus.’ Many more can be brought to the Savior by the power of His resurrection in what you thought was dead, or of what you had stop believing Him to do, touch or redeem.

Do you realize Jesus has wept over your condition? He weeps for what the enemy has done and wants to redeem your dead condition to raise up a powerfully able witness to deliver men from their state of denial and unbelief. He waits for you to believe Him for today, saying to you like Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this? I am the power to raise you where I live and move to do the unbelievable’. Jesus commands new life to your current state of condition saying, ‘come forth as my living testimony, I will raise you up to bring many others to Me’. Read John 12:9-11 and see many were brought to Jesus all because He cares to resurrect those He’s wept for. He cares for you and says, ‘Just believe.’

Pastor Kyle Nees
Abiding Life Ministries
Lindale, TX
Pastor Nees' Blog: http://kyleneesgracelife.wordpress.com

Do Your Ears Hear?

"...but sometimes good men fall asleep, and are inattentive to divine things; and this is one way God takes to awaken them, to arouse their attention; he speaks to them out of a whirlwind...which fetches them out of their slumber, and so their ears are opened to hear what He says in it..." - John Gill's Exposition Of The Entire Bible

The Bible speaks much about having an "opened" ear. In spite of the fact that Jesus Himself declared in Matthew 13:16 - "But blessed are your...ears, for they hear" - there are conditions that we face as children of God when our ears can become closed to what He is saying. Is this a time for you, O Saint of God, when you know that God is trying to get your attention, but you simply cannot hear what He is saying? He may have spoken to you a thousand times - as far as what to do or where to go - yet you are not hearing it.

You are crying out to Him for answers. And, unless you are entertaining some form of sin in your life at this time, His ear is "not heavy, that it cannot hear" (Isaiah 59:1). He definitely hears the cries of the righteous, and you happen to be one of them.

So, the problem is not on God's part. It isn't that He cannot or will not hear you. The problem no doubt is with your "ears." Something has come along to close them or to impair your spiritual hearing. In Psalm 40:6, David prophetically spoke of the coming Messiah - Jesus - in saying "...mine ears hast Thou opened..." However, these were not words pertaining to the Messiah alone, but words for David and for every child of God as well.

"...mine ears hast Thou opened..." What exactly does this mean? Why did David say that God "opened" his ears? And, after doing so, what was the result? In this verse, the meaning is that God hollowed out...digged...bored... excavated...and made a passage through his ears - making it possible for David to hear what He was saying. The Lord caused him to hear truth...made him more attentive to receive the truth...opened his ears in order to make him "swift to hear" (James 1:19)...communicated the specific truth to him that He prefers obedience to sacrifice...and provoked an instant obedience in his heart along with a complete and full surrender of his soul to Him.

From this verse, we gather that there are those who have "opened" ears and those who have "closed" ears.Isaiah 48:8 describes a people who were perverse, hardened, and insensible - "Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened..." Notice how the prophet drew this conclusion by referring to the state of their "ears" - their hearing - or should we say the lack of it. These people didn't attend to the predictions, warnings, or promises of God when uttered. They were prone to disregard Him. They didn't listen to anything He had to say. Their "ear was not opened" to it.

So, from this discussion - based on the Word of God - we conclude that having an "opened ear" denotes a prompt and easy attention to what God is saying; while a "closed ear" denotes an unwillingness to listen to what is spoken by Him. But, you may be saying to yourself -"I do have a heart to obey God. I just don't know what it is that I am supposed to do in order to obey."

There is a picture drawn in the Scriptures of Isaac's wells being closed up by the Philistines. Genesis 26:18 explains - "And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them."
Somehow - perhaps while Isaac was preoccupied with mourning over his father's death - the Philistines stopped up all the wells of water which his father Abraham "had digged" and passed on to him. They definitely belonged to Isaac, but the "enemy" by some means got through to them and stopped them up.

Remember - the idea behind "opening mine ears" is the idea of excavating, digging, or hollowing out. In the Scriptures, the "Philistines" have always been a type of the "flesh." We are talking about the "flesh" as in opposition to the ways of the Spirit of God.

Could it be that - just like Isaac - through some type of circumstance (death of a loved one, setback, tragedy, sickness, disappointment, loss, misfortune, etc.), your enemy came along - taking full advantage of you while you were "weak" - and stopped up your "ears" using your "flesh" - thoughts, attitudes, impressions, or dispositions of fear, doubt, unbelief, and confusion? Now you find that you cannot hear what God is saying to you. You have no clue! When you turn to the right or to the left, all you encounter are impossibilities and silence from Heaven.

Is God speaking to you? As long as you are one of His righteous ones, yes, He is! Are you hearing what He is saying at this time? Hardly! Nonetheless, the Scriptures do tell us that the Lord is the One Who "opens the ears" to "hear."

Isaiah 50:4-5 says - "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious..." The Lord GOD is well able to make you obediently attentive to His voice...cause you to hear most freely and receive most fully... and know what is being said and comply with it.

Job 33:14-16 says - "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." Here we see that God makes use of various ways to make known His mind and will to mankind - through dreams, visions, providence, the conscience, or even chastisements. When one way is without effect, He uses another. However, even after many attempts, the individual may still not perceive or regard it. He may still not discern it as the "voice" of God - being "deaf" to all instruction - not understanding His mind and meaning.

The Good News is that - even after many attempts - God is well able to "open the ears of men, and seal their instruction." He is well able to open the heart which - in turn - opens the ears. He removes that which stops the ears from hearing. He makes the soul to receive a deep and lasting impression of the truth - as wax upon a seal.

Yes, it is God Who "openeth the ears of men" - Who is able to remove any hindrances that the "flesh" may have caused. David said - "...mine ears hast Thou opened..." God - like Isaac - is able to "dig again" - the "wells of hearing" - making a clear passage down into the fountain of your soul.
Job 36:10 says - "He openeth also their ear to discipline..."
Job 36:15 says - "...and openeth their ears in oppression."

God is able to "awaken your ear to hear as the learned" - to prepare you to receive His divine instruction - to "hear" it attentively - to understand and remember it. He is able to "open your ears" to understand the reasons behind your circumstances or to learn the lessons intended. He is also able to cause you to understand His government - the reasons why He is visiting you in this manner or permitting things to come into your life at this time.

If you are not careful, some circumstances can cause you to become drowsy and sleepy - spiritually speaking - causing you to hear by halves or not at all. It is imperative that God allows times of "discipline" or "oppression" to wake you up out of your slumber and cause you to "hear" once again.

Are you at a place in your life where you are having difficulty "hearing" the voice of the Lord, or at least understanding His mind and will on a matter?

Is it possible that - at a time when you were very vulnerable - a "Philistine" - possibly your own "flesh" - stopped up your ears - causing you to now have problems "hearing"? You lack understanding and discernment concerning the will of God for your life. You feel the "discipline" and the "oppression," but cannot discern the lesson or purpose behind it.
David said - "...mine ears hast Thou opened."

The Prophet Isaiah said - "The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious..."
God is able to unstop your "ears." He is able to - "awaken your ears to hear as the learned."
In your moment of desperation, cry out to Him to do this! If you will, we guarantee that you will be able to boldly confess - "...mine ears hast Thou opened..." and "The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious..."Once again, "light" will flood into your soul - driving out all darkness - bringing understanding and discernment - and causing you to "hear" what God is saying to you at this hour.

May God Bless His Word,

Connie Giordano
Abiding Life Ministries
Lindale, TX
www.abidinglifeministries.org

The original title to this article was "Ears That Cannot Hear"