Prayer is a two way street
Illus. By Fred Markes?
HERE BE GOD
Before 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the common belief was that if a ship from Europe sailed too far West, they would either fall off the edge of the world or face terrible danger. There was fear of the unknown. In England, there is an ancient nautical map dating back to the time of King Henry IV. On it, the mapmakers wrote these words over the Atlantic Ocean: "Here be dragons; Here be demons; Here be danger." And based on those superstitious warnings, sailors were afraid of sailing there. But there was an English navigator named John Franklin who was a mighty man of God. He knew the Word of God that says God sits above the circle of the earth. He took that same map and crossed out those fearful words and added these three words: "HERE BE GOD!"
Prayer is a two street! To many of Gods children like to think ones prayer life is a one-way street, full of requests and pleas for the impossible with a wait and see perspective.
If God is going to move on your behalf, first you need to have faith He will answer your request. And secondly, you need to be willing to listen for His instructions! Because getting God to move on your behalf usually involves you doing what He asks and request you to do.
Many times God speaks to us, as in the story I just shared with you. God will speak through his word, through a willing servant that will step out in faith and be His voice. And sometimes through direct communication!
Has God ever spoke to you? God speaks to His children if they are willing to listen.
How? I heard it described as and it made a lot of sense to me, God’s voice is a thought that you did not think.
So many people when they are faced with the struggles of life, pray and ask God for help and suddenly a thought, or an idea comes into their head as to what to do. That idea wasn’t theirs, it was God’s!
We are taught growing up to be a problem solvers and to learn problem solving skills. That learned trait, is what helps us in the day to day difficulties of life.
But when the answer to our difficulties comes to us when it’s beyond our reasoning abilities, that is our caring, loving Abba Father responding to our request!
God will talk to you and correspond with you, if you are willing to listen!
Far too many let the fear of the circumstance, drown out the communication method God uses, to respond to their need!
Isaiah 41:10-13 NASB
‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11
“Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12
“You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13
“For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
God doesn’t want us to be fearful! God wants you to know He has you in the palm of his hand, in the palm of his righteous right hand! God wants you to be aware that you can look to him for strength and help!
God wants you to realize when you are willing to use the measure of faith He has given to you, all things will work to your advantage!
The word says, “all things” do you believe God can use all things? You should! You should as a child of The Most High God, believe every promise in the Bible!
For yourself,
your family,
your friends,
your church,
your elected officials,
your world!
All things, really stretches ones faith in God’s abilities! Imagine every possible outcome not only you can think of, but anyone can think of, including God!
With man or human nature, all things would be an impossible equation! But the Bible says with God all things are possible! God says, “don’t waste your precious time looking to the distractions of your circumstances, look to Me the Master of All Things!
Isaiah 43:1-4 MSG
But now, God’s Message,
the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
(Put your name in there, as a son or daughter of the most high God! Jesus died for you, so you could put your name in that space! God spent the priceless value of His only Son, so you could hear this word loud and clear! Jacob has nothing on you, God made us all equal and with all the same opportunities to use the faith we have been given!)
But now, God’s Message,
the God who made you in the first place,
(SAY YOUR NAME HERE!)
the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
(God knows your name, God knows your circumstance, God knows the numbers of hairs on your head, God knows everything there is to know about you, about the answer and the ability to deliver you from your need!)
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end—
(God is describing all things right here in the word, rough waters a rock and a hard place, a dead end. God can use all things and will use all things to bring about the good that he wants to do in your life! Why? Because He loves you, that’s why?
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
You may not see it with your natural eyes, but God is doing the impossible in your life, through the faith you Willingly and consistently display every day of your life!
Like the man in the story I shared in the beginning, when others thought the world was flat and at the edge of the world they would sail off that edge to their death, one man had the courage to scribble down those thoughts and write, “Here Be God!”
God is looking for someone to do the same, someone to realize where things look impossible, that’s where God is to be found making a way where there seems to be no way!?
Illus. The Impossible Dream -- Joe Darion
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.
To reach the unreachable star!
This is my quest,
To follow that star,
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far;
To fight for the right, the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
To run where the brave dare not go.
To reach the unreachable star!
To dream the impossible dream!
To do all those things would be impossible, not with God!
All those things, or just a drop in the bucket to God!
To do all those things is not your quest, to believe God and rest in Gods abilities is your Quest! Because If you will put your faith in God, He will help you do all those things and more!
All those things are nothing in comparison, to where God wants to take you in your walk and relationship you have with Him through His Amazing Son Jesus!
Doubters still say, to do all those things and what you’re talking about, do you know what God would have to do in my life? First of all, let’s give God glory and praise for what He’s already done in your life!
Secondly, I don’t know what God would have to do in your life to bring about those results for you, but I know God is more than capable and willing to do whatever is needed to bring about, “your miracle and the abundant life He has planned for you to live your best life now!”
Psalms 77:16-19 MSG
Ocean saw you in action, God,
saw you and trembled with fear;
Deep Ocean was scared to death.
Clouds belched buckets of rain,
Sky exploded with thunder,
your arrows flashing this way and that.
From Whirlwind came your thundering voice,
Lightning exposed the world,
Earth reeled and rocked.
You strode right through Ocean,
walked straight through roaring Ocean,
but nobody saw you come or go.
Just like God split the Red Sea for the children of Israel, God is also willing to make a path for you through the unknown, through the invisible uncharted territory of the unknown and make a way for you to cross the rivers you’re facing on dry ground to the other side, where your miracle is waiting for your arrival!
Illus. by Gene Gregory
The story goes to the impossible task of building the Panama Canal at the beginning. It would be an undaunting, impossible task, the building of the Panama Canal?
After the canal was completed, after working on that seemingly impossible mission, the men who build that canal wrote a song. They said:
“Don’t send us back to a life that’s plain again,
We who have shattered a continent’s spine.
Easy work? Oh, we couldn’t do that again.
Haven’t you something that’s more in our line?
Got any rivers you say are not crossable?
Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
We specialize in the wholly impossible,
Doing what nobody ever could do.”
God wants us to realize the spiritual significance of the attitude these men had after doing the impossible!
God wants us to not rest on our understanding of what has already taken place. God wants us to use our faith to continue to fuel the possibilities of the unknown!
Because as long as our faith remains active and we choose to continue to walk the path of relationship and believe in the God of all possibilities, God would have me tell you “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Isaiah 43:16-21 MSG
This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
For those who are willing to believe, that’s us friends! This scripture is talking about you, this pertains to every son or daughter and believer of the most high God!
We have seen great things in the past from God, we see great things happening in the present from God, but God says the greatest things are still yet to come!
The obstacles we may think are lying in the way, God is getting ready to use as building blocks for the foundation of something even more fantastic coming on the horizon! Something far greater than we have ever experienced in the past!
Let your prayer be God would help you in your walk with Him, to hear and acknowledge His voice as He speaks to you with thoughts and ideas, that will lead you to multiple doors to open with God placed opportunities He has waiting for you, to arrive at!
Today, tomorrow and for the best that is yet to come!
