MORATORIUM ON WORLD'S METHODS!!

Verse for Today: Friday, August 05, 2011

It is true that God helps humans in so many different ways which are general in nature. But this is different from the specific help that comes to His children in response to their prayers. This response of God to His children is based on their trust in Him. If they do not trust in Him, they might not pray about a matter. But there are people who pray and then do whatever they want to do to accomplish their purposes. These two cannot go hand in hand because if we pray and ask the Lord for help without trust in the power of God to supply the need, our prayer becomes very insincere. But if we have full trust in the Lord to meet our need, no matter what it is, then we should not do any thing that we think is a smart way to accomplish it. When we pray and commit our ways to the Lord with full trust, then there is no scope for us to have anxiety about it. We should not also resort to short cuts, detours or other ways of the world including recommendations to people of influence, bribery, praise or promise of some deed in return. If we resort to these and similar ways, it is very difficult to believe that we have trust in the Lord to provide for our needs in righteous ways. Our trust in the Lord should be demonstrated through the righteous acts that follow with an undefiled conscience and transparent motives. If the Lord finds that we resort to the ways of the world as we also pray, we are not in the will of the Lord. Only when we find that the Lord responds to our trust by fulfilling His perfect will in our lives can we leap for joy and sing hymns of praise to the Lord. Moses did exactly as the Lord commanded him to do and so the Lord blessed his ways. Joseph, Nehemiah or Daniel didn’t do anything contrary to the will of God as they trusted Him without reservation. This was why they could experience the Lord as their strength and shield. This Lord is our God who is willing and able to do abundantly for us as we put our total trust in Him.

Dear friend, it is likely that our culture and environment tempt us to resort to ungodly means to accomplish our ends even as we pray to God for help. At the same time, the Spirit of God challenges us to put all our trust in the Lord and wait for Him to accomplish His purpose in us at the right time through the right ways. When there is some delay in accomplishing things, we might get impatient and want to resort to ways which are less than straightforward. This is a situation that we must carefully handle as we keep surrendering our will to the Lord and ask Him to take full control of our lives and circumstances. Our continuous surrender is the continuous sacrifice of our will at the alter as true worship so that our will becomes enthralled in His will and we get ourselves lost in Him. That is when all that happens in our lives become His mighty works of wonder which will enable us to praise Him and sing songs of true gratitude. It is an experience when we do not have any selfish involvement in our lives, but all that happens to us become His acts of benevolence, mercy, grace and compassion for which all credit goes to Him. When He thus works in us, we don’t need to be anxious about its consequences, but keep thanking Him for what He does in and through us for His glory. Today let us examine our motives as we pray for God’s will in our lives in the light of all that we do to accomplish our goals. May the Lord find us faithful in our trust, prayer and corresponding actions so that our conscience will be clear in our relationship with Him.

Psalms 62:8 – Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

Thought for Today
Trusting in the Lord puts a moratorium on pursuing any other means to accomplish our goals in life.