Pen Pals

Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. (Matthew 7:7, GWT)

My nine year old has a pen pal who lives on the Mainland. Last Tuesday, she sent a letter to her pen pal. The same day she mailed the letter, she started checking the mail twice a day expecting a letter in return. 

Every day, without fail, she has checked the mail twice a day fully expecting a letter in return.

Every day, without fail, she gets excited that her letter may be in the mail today. 

When she checks the mail and discovers the letter hasn’t arrived yet, she makes comments like, “I’m sure my letter is on it’s way.” and “I can hardly wait to see what my pen pal has to say!” and “Maybe my letter will be here tomorrow.”

My child sent a letter to her pen pal fully expecting a letter in return. 

These pen pals have a sweet relationship. My daughter has confidence in her pen pal. 

When I ask things of God (1 John 5:14-15) on behalf of myself or my friends, I fully without fail, expect to receive. Every day, I check to see if the answer to prayer has arrived. Every day, I get excited to see how prayer is going to be answered. And if the prayer wasn’t answered “today”, I know tomorrow just may be the day our prayers are answered. 

I expect and believe until I receive. 

Why? Because we have a sweet relationship. I have confidence in Him. 

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15)

Snippets

Behold, I give you all authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you. (Luke 10:19, NKJV)

I read something today that tempted me to get irritated. Please don't fall for stuff like the following snippet...it totally undermines the wonderful goodness of God.

"If you are going through something difficult, it's because God is preparing you for something great!”

There is one reason we go through something difficult. John 10:10 & Psalm 34:19.

However, the end result for us is the end of John 10:10 and Psalm 34:19 and that is this "But I have come to give you life in excessive abundance" and  "But God delivers us out of them all".

And by the way, God is ALWAYS preparing us for something great! Because He is great! He doesn't have to drag us through difficulties (Isaiah 5:20) to prepare us for greatness (2 Corinthians 2:14). 

Another popular one is, "Everything happens for a reason." I can almost hear the long drawn out sigh before and after that statement. 

Dr. Bill Hanshew addresses that very well. You can find his response at the link. 

http://www.cfaith.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13758:everything-happens-for-a-reason&catid=48:leadership-&Itemid=67

The point I'm trying to make is this...instead of putting our confidence in a not so cutesy saying, let's put our confidence in God's Word! (Hebrews 4:12), believe everything God said (Mark 11:22), and walk in our authority (Luke 10:19).