What Happens When God Answers by Evelyn Christenson

 

Chapter 6:  Repent

This chapter says so much.  I cannot go on sinning when God has shown me that something I am doing is a sin.

You know, does this work with overeating.  Do I know I should stop eating or drinking too much soda, but I still keep doing it?  I need to quote several paragraphs from Evelyn’s book because I cannot explain it any better than she has.

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When we have prayed, “Father, I have sinned, “how does God answer us?  Does He say, “Now that you have confessed the fact that you have sinned, it will be all right”?  Oh, no. God commands us to “Repent!”

A bewildered wife called me asking for prayer.  She said that her husband was sleeping with another woman, then getting up the next morning and asking God to forgive him.  He told his wife it was OK because God always forgives us when we ask Him to.  “Is this true?” the wife questioned.  “Does he have a right as a Christian to live this way?”

“No,” I replied and then shared a part of Romans 6 with her:  “Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?  May it never be!” (vv.1-2)  “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (vv.12-13, NASB)

After we have identified a specific sin in our lives as sin and have admitted it to God in prayer, we humans are prone to say to ourselves, “Now, just forget it,” or “Oh, that’s really not a sin.”   Or we may say, “You really didn’t mean to hurt anybody,” or “That’s not such a bad sin.”  But God says, “Repent!”

Wow, God is speaking to my heart.  I believe he told me years ago that having too much soda in my life was sin.  ( Actually, anything in excess can be sin.)  I tried hard to run from that thought, but there was always a nagging that something wasn’t right.  Caffeine in my soda was controlling me.

I have asked God over and over to forgive me for my addiction to a certain soda.  I would repent and try and change for awhile, but eventually it went back to normal.  I was consumed by my soda.

I have been wondering lately why it seemed like my prayers were not going anywhere.  Could this be why?

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The first prerequisite for prayer power in our lives that we study is “no known unconfessed sin in the life of the pray-er.”

If I want the power of prayer to be evident in my life I need to confess my sins regarding my soda controlling me.  Then I need to repent and turn from it.

It is interesting because I am doing another blog called, www.insideoutsidemakeover.com The Journey with God that we will be doing next week is “Do I Really Want to Give Up My Craving?” 

It is so like God to bring these two blogs together so my eyes are opened to the unconfessed sin in my life.

It is time to surrender and pray.

Dear God,

Please forgive me for allowing soda (does anything control you?) to control me instead of you.  I want to obey you and repent of my sin and then turn from it.  I will need your help to resist my temptation.  Thank you for what you are going to do.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5: You Have Not Fulfilled My Requirements

What Happens When God, Answers by Evelyn Christenson 

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Have you ever wondered why God answers no to some of your prayers?  He may be saying, “You have not fulfilled my requirements.  You do not qualify for My answer!”  This is the greatest secret of unanswered prayer.

Many Christians sincerely desire to have power in prayer, prayer that produces changed people and circumstances here on earth, but they are bewildered when nothing happens.  They pray earnest, fervent prayers; but God does not seem to answer.  However, when his answer is no, He may be saying, “There are some missing qualifiers in your life.”

God decreed these “if,”  “when,” and “because” conditions in our lives before the foundation world, and His no answer may actually be, “When you do, then I will.”

The words of Evelyn really speak to my heart today.  I have been praying for a long time that God would direct me in my life, but he doesn’t seem to answer.  The peace in my life has been missing for some time now. 

BUT, I can remember back to many years ago when I believed God called me to a place that I did not want to go.  I had my own plans for my life and this was NOT where I wanted to be, but I did obey and go.  The problem is that I was kicking and screaming all the way.  I questioned why God would want me in this direction.  I worked at it, but was more faithful in my plans.  I wore myself out and finally I quit the thing he had called me to do.

I have spent many years now following all kinds of my plans, but nothing has seemed to come together.  Until recently.  The direction that God had called me to and I ran from, opened again in my life.  I was shocked and somewhat angry.  I do not want to go in this direction, but the door has opened. 

The words of this chapter I read this week are really speaking to me.  “When you do, then I will.”   Maybe it is time to submit to this direction in my life and trust God.  Honestly, my heart is not in it, but it is opened miraculously in front of me.  I must obey. 

Please pray for me because following this direction will be hard and humbling for me. 

 

 

What Happens When God, Answers by Evelyn Christenson 

Chapter 4:  I Prerecorded That Answer

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Why can we get specific answers from a book whose closing words were written almost two thousand years ago?  Because the Bible is the only book on this planet earth where the Author is always present while it is being read.

I am continuously surprised at people's reaction to having the actual author of a book in  their midst.  Some stand in awe, wondering if they might touch us, while others question if we are human. Yet, the very God of the universe is present with us every time we read His book.  But how few of us treat the Bible that way!   How little awe or excitement do we display by having its Author, the very God of heaven, actually speaking to us about our personal needs and desires.     

God is right there with me every time I read the Bible!

I understand this, but as I read it again my mind pictured God sitting right next to me as I read the words of the Bible.  This thought touched my heart.  I cannot describe how I felt after I read those words. 

I have been a Christian for many years and I have prayed a lot and read my Bible a lot, but have not actually thought too much about the God of the universe being present with me every time I read His book.  I am excited to think more about him being present with me every time I read the Bible.

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How does God answer us by His Word?  There are four basic ways.

1.   It was the night before my first prayer seminar in Japan when God used where I was reading devotionally to influence not only me, but all my audiences throughout the Japanese prayer seminar tour.
2.  God brings words to my mind that direct me to His answer.
3.  Bringing to my mind a book of the Bible, a chapter,  a verse, or a place on the page.
4.  Then there are those very rare instances where his prerecorded answer is on the page of the Bible to which I randomly turn.
 

God has used all of these ways to answer me.  There is nothing more exciting than to be praying that God will give you an answer and then he does in a random way. 

While we were waiting on God to direct our path into missions, we had a prayer that we needed answered.  We had to decide if we wanted to serve God in Africa, where Dave’s skills of construction could be definitely used or should we go to the Philippines and work in church planting.  We had no experience in this, but we had been doing a lot of work in our local church that might have prepared us.

So one morning, Dave was downstairs in our family room reading his Bible and I was upstairs in our bedroom reading mine.  .

While I was reading I came across a verse that struck my heart.

2 Timothy 1:9

Who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

God spoke to me though this verse that we could not make our decision according to Dave’s skills in construction and go to Africa because God could have something else for us.  So I believed that we were supposed to go to the Philippines and work in church planting.

A few minutes later Dave came upstairs and God had led him to the same verse and gave him the same thoughts.

We had our answer.  God was calling us to the Philippines.

Throughout our missions experience  I have learned that I can have all the plans I want for my life, but God’s plans for us are perfect.

Dear God, 
Thank you that you speak to me in so many ways.  Please help me to take the time to listen.

 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I'm sorry with the busy holiday, I forgot all about doing my blog.  I will be back next Tuesday.

Happy New Year to all of you.

Robin

What Happens When God Answers by Evelyn Christenson

  Chapter 3:  When God Answers…You prayed the wrong prayer

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That God will not answer prayer under certain conditions is just as clearly taught in the Bible as is that He will answer the prayers of His children at other times.  Even though they had prayed, James said:  “Ye ask and do not receive, because ye ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts”. (see James 4:3)

There are two kinds of prayer to which God answers, “You prayed the wrong prayer.”  First, there is the prayer that asks for the wrong thing—which God in His holiness never would grant.  But then, there is the prayer to which God would have answered yes, except that it was for the wrong reason.

Wrong Motives

 

The reason God sometimes answers no to our prayers is that we prayed with the wrong motives.  Although the things for which we ask may be good in themselves, we want them for the wrong reasons.  So, even though we do ask, we do not receive.

This was an amazing chapter.  I pray all the time, but honestly have not thought about my motives.  This is something that I want to stop and take a good look at as I pray.  Evelyn even gives some examples of our motives that would not be good.

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Here are some of the common, everyday motives that creep into our praying; praise, fame, love of power, love of display, love of preeminence, status over others, ease, comfort, personal satisfaction, self-pleasing, self-vindication, gratification of sinful desires, and revenge. 

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A wrong motive makes it a wrong prayer—which, of course, God won’t answer.

So I want to stop and look at the prayers I have prayed recently and how or if God has answered.

My Prayer:

I have been praying for my son Jeremy for quite some time, but it does not seem like God is answering.  He seems to be getting worse and not better.  I need to spend some time thinking about my motives in my prayers.  In fact, I want to pray for God to show me my motives.  This is going to be challenging for me, but I need to find answers.

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It is possible that we are deceiving ourselves, as well as other people, about our motives in prayer, but never God.  He is aware of our hidden attitudes and motives –many times unrecognized even by ourselves.

Please pray for me as I learn to discover my motives in my prayers.

Merry Christmas to all of you!  Thanks for following my blog this year.  You have blessed my heart on this Journey.  I was not alone.  My thoughts and prayers will be with all of you. 

What Happens When God, Answers by Evelyn Christenson 

Chapter 2:  When God Answers When I Am Not Able

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People frequently ask me how much time they should spend in personal closet praying.  I reply, “That depends on how much power you want.”

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God with all his power of the universe is sitting on His throne in glory, even today, waiting and longing to release that power on planet earth.

Why?  Why don’t I spend more time praying?  I used to, but what has happened?  LIFE becomes so busy I can allow the things of life to take over. 

LIFE becomes so hard, that I allow my pain to overcome me.

Why do I allow this to happen?  I have a power source available to me and all I need to do is use it.  PRAYER POWER.

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A pastor in California told me he spends the first two hours of his day, starting at 5:00 am, in conference calls with his board members, prayer supporters, and even his mother in law.

Wow, I would love to hear the results of praying like this. 

I want my Prayer Time, or as I call it, my LISTENING Time with God to grow again.  It’s time! 

This time of year I try and spend a week making a goal poster for the year. I want Prayer to be a huge goal for 2014.  After all, it is my power source for everything.  I need to use it, instead of worrying about everything.

My favorite verse:  Don’t worry about anything.  Pray about everything.  Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.  Philippians 4:6

I want to pray about everything.

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No matter how much I expect from God, He always gives more.  No matter how much faith I have, I never seem to have enough to equal the fabulous amount of whatever God is ready, willing, and anxious to do—when there is enough prayer.

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Capable, yes.  And able too—when there is enough prayer!  How much power is God releasing because of your prayers?  Then again, how much power is God waiting for you to unlock with your key of prayer.

Dear God,

Please forgive me for not making prayer a priority in my life.  I want 2014 to be a year of prayer, for our country, our state, our family and my life. Please help me to follow through with this commitment.  In Jesus name, Amen.

         

What Happens When God Answers, by Evelyn Christenson

I am so excited to read this book.  I have spent the last year reading Evelyn’s books about prayer, but now it sounds so refreshing to begin understanding more about Answers to our Prayers.

When I read the first chapter I wanted you to be able to read the whole chapter with me.  It felt so good to think about how God is going to answer my prayers and what comes after His answers.  You all know this has been a very hard year for me, but I wonder, where God is taking all that I have learned through the pages of Evelyn’s wonderful books.  I will wait and watch God show me.

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When God answers a prayer, it is not the final closing curtain on an episode in our lives.  Rather, it is the opening of the curtain to the next act.  The most important part of prayer is what we do with God’s answers and how His answers affect us.

God never intends that an answer to prayer be an end in itself.  He expects much more than an emotional response—joy, disappointment, or anger—to His answer.  He expects us to be prepared to act or to be acted upon by His answer to our prayers.

God’s answer to a prayer is His means of accomplishing His will here on earth.  The way He answers reveals to us His sovereign will, His plan, His reasoning, and His perspective on the subject.  We must ask, “What does God expect to accomplish with this answer?”

These words have challenged me to stop and take a good look at the way I pray and what I expect to happen when God answers. 

Looking back on my life, it seems like quite awhile since I have experienced that incredible joy when we see God’s answers to my prayers in a big way.   Everyday I see small answers to my quick prayers for the little things in life, but I have been waiting on God for many years to unfold his plan for my life.  I know he has been preparing me for his ultimate will for my life, but it seems so long.  I am so... ready to see his answers.

I wrote a poem several years ago that shares my thoughts on waiting on God.  I’d like to share this poem with you today. 

 In YOUR Time

 Years ago, this all began.

Over and Over I questioned your plan.

I thought I LISTENED, I tried to OBEY,

But the Learning continued day after day.

 

Many days I wanted to let everything go,

Like a stubborn child, I would tell you so.

Like a miracle you would send something along.

To give me what I needed to help me be strong.

 

My faith kept believing, it would happen in YOUR time,

But as each year would pass, I wanted that time, to be mine.

I tried to proceed, but a wall would hold me back,

Like a train that was charging, but then falls off the track.

 

You’ve broken down walls, in areas of my life,

You’ve broken my spirit, which caused me much strife.

At times I’ve wondered, “Where are you God?”  I’m all alone.

You’d wrap your arms around me, your love for me you’d shown.

 

When your timing, finally appears, joy will overflow my soul,

Because I know you’ve been preparing me, more than I’ll ever know.

I’m sure that I’ll be ready, for whatever the task,

Because you’ve taken the time needed, to prepare me in a way that lasts.

 

© Copyright 2012

 by Robin Gove

 

I am still waiting on God’s answers to his plan for my life and the work that I have done, but I know he is preparing me for it.

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Since God’s answer is always that which ultimately will produce what is absolutely best for the pray-er, we must be willing for His intermediary answers.  They are the stepping stones He knows are essential to His ushering us into that eventual and state He desire for us.

Opening the Curtain

Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  What will be opened?  Whatever God has for you!  His next open door.  A better life with Him.  God is using the prayers you are praying today to open the curtain to the rest of your life.

Closing Prayer

Oh, God, I deeply desire to understand Your perspective of prayer.  Please teach me how I should respond to Your answers to my prayers so that You can direct my life through them.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This book is incredible already, the first chapter.  I would encourage you to stop by this website and purchase this book.   

http://www.evelynchristensonministries.org/bookstore.html