Unanswered Prayers

A man got off work really late one Thursday evening. He had tried everything that he could to get off earlier because halfway across the country, his son was playing in a Thursday night college football game that was being televised on ESPN and he didn't want to miss it. On top of already being late it had been storming outside with rain, thunder, and lightning over the past several hours. The drive home was slow and not only did he have to be cautious driving in the current conditions, he also had to navigate around the other drivers. As he was driving, he said a prayer to God. He asked God to allow him to get home in time to watch his son on television. The storm continued to rage as waves upon waves of lightning flashed nearby.

Finally, after a drive that normally takes him twenty minutes, he arrived at home after an hour commute. He arrived just in time to see a group of his neighbors standing with umbrellas in his driveway. They were pointing and looking at the second floor of his house. The man froze as he stepped out of his car and understood what had happened. A very large tree had been struck by lightning and had fallen onto his house. The tree had fallen directly over his living room where the man would have been sitting watching the game. The tree had caved in half the roof and knocked the top floor down into the living room area. It was easy to see that if anyone had been sitting in the living room they could not have survived.

The story above has similarities to when Jesus predicted His death to his disciples. Jesus told them that He would suffer, die, and rise from the dead. Peter was not able to accept those remarks and took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Peter was in denial and had no idea about God's master plan.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Mark8:31-33

If Peter ended up having it his way, Jesus would have never died for our sins.

We all wish and pray for things that don't come to fruition. We must trust in God's plan and have faith that He will see us through difficult times. Forcing or going against God's plan only seems to worsen the situation. Have patience and accept the situation you are in with thankfulness and reassurance that there is a greater lesson to be learned.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

God's Will

The Lord’s Prayer-

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.

I’d like to reflect upon the “thy will be done” part of this prayer. Many times we ask God for things that we feel as though we need or will need in the future. These things can be anything such as a new car, a better job, passing a test, getting along with your spouse, health, safety, etc. But, what we need to remember is that God’s will always trump our personal priorities. His glorious plan for us has already been outlined and is in motion. The Lord will provide us with the things that we need when He is ready. This means that when He is ready, then we will be ready as well. Many times, we ask for things prematurely or in great haste, not fully considering the consequences or long-term effect. Even worse, we ask for things out of personal gain, i.e. such as material items or even money. The Lord knows all of our needs and desires and He also knows why we sk for everything. The one thing we must continue to reminder ourselves is that everything will happen according to God’s timeline. What he wants to happen will happen, when it’s suppose to happen. Everything that we have at this moment in time is because he has provided it to us as a gift. We might not see all of God’s blessings as gifts, but we need remember that we are not able to understand the glorious mysteries of the Lord. Not even the Angels in Heaven understand the ways of the Lord. His reasons and actions are perfect and are completed with purpose according to His ultimate plan.

I heard a true story once about a woman that had being trying very hard to get her youngest child to go to sleep one night. Just as the infant began to calm down and fall asleep, her older child came running up the stairs and unintentionally woke the infant up. The mother was exhausted and of course, got frustrated. Then by the grace of the Holy Spirit, she realized how blessed she actually was to even have children. And immediately she was at ease and gave thanks to God that she had two healthy children and that she was able to take care of.

God’s blessings are all around us. Everything that we have is a gift and at times, it’s difficult to remember to give Him thanks for all that we have instead of getting frustrated for all that we don’t have. The next time you become frustrated with a situation I hope the Holy Spirit falls upon you (as it did with this young mother) and you give thanks to God for your life and all that you have in it. Remember – it could always be much worse.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!