God is Eager to Answer Our Prayers
-A Short Sermon-
______________

""If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it."
[John 14:14]

The words of the psalmist below were spoken many years before the advent of Christ on the earth to work the work of salvation for mankind, and they are relevant today: "...The Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." [Psa. 84:11] God, indeed, will give his children grace and glory and will not withhold any good thing from his sons who walk uprightly before him.

But lest the carnal minded and simplistic conclude that "good thing" is money or some material possession that God will give to true believers, I caution against simplistic and carnal conclusions. [Prov. 1:22] It seems like the blessings of God, as defined by far too many "Christians" are always material--a new Mercedes, and new home, more money on the job or in their bank account, etc., and no other way. The words of John to Gaius wherein he says, "I would that your would prosper..." have been taken out the book of John  by carnal men and ministers never called of God and redefined in ways that God never intended. [3 John 2] But these are the wicked times we live in where men love money and materialism more than God and have, therefore, made gods of these things. [1 Tim. 6:10-11; 2 Tim. 3:1-6]

But this is not the intent of God through the words of the psalmist nor through John's words. God will give us his grace that is much needed in this brutish society and world we live in. The grace of God will perfect our godly behavior, mannerisms, thoughts, etc., godly attributes once-saved saints have now disregarded as they only play church and with holy things. The beauty of God has been lost from the lives of so many once-beautifully-saved-saints, as they have definitely turned from God to the cares and things of this life; they have noticeably turned, albeit gradually and imperceptibly to many of them, from the love of holy things and attributes to things that pleasure their flesh and have ceased trying to please God His way, but please Him their way. Their way, however, is unacceptable to God.

Yet, in spite of this backsliding, God wants to bless his people. But to receive what He has for us, we must receive it according to God's criteria and not our own. The psalmist writes that no good thing will God withhold from those who walk uprightly before him. When a person is walking uprightly before God, his desires will be godly, and he will see the perfect will of God as his will; hence, he will know how to petition God and what to petition God for.

Carnal Christians are constantly asking God for foolishness and attributing material possessions as the blessings of the Lord, because they are not living the life of God and do not have the mind of God. They deceive themselves by material possessions, thinking that the material things speak to the blessings of God in their lives and that their lives, flawed and sinful as they are, measure up to some standard that God will accept, even though they know they are not doing much of what God says. My friends, God is not mocked, material possessions aside, if you are not living the life of Christ you are not in good standing with God. The American form of materialism is totally antithetical to God; it may be American, but it is not Christian. This is a peculiar fallacy of American Christianity.

The psalmist indicated the criteria of God: "...No good thing will He withhold from them who walk uprightly." Walking upright is God's criterion for not withholding good things. Carnal Christians get material possessions confused with the blessings of God. To them those possessions are good things, but their definition is wrong. And the assumption they make about their standing with God because of those possession is also wrong. God says to them, My thoughts are not your thoughts; my ways are not your ways.

The Psalmist Asaph wrote that sometimes the wicked will prosper in the world. It is one of those mysteries of life and God that those with little understanding of God will readily be deceived by. Sometimes the wicked have more than they will ever need; their eyes stand out with fatness; they spread themselves as a green bay tree; they prosper in the world and increase in riches. Yet they are wicked and hate God. They have no standing with God and will, in God's good time, be cut off from the earth and judged. [Psa. 73] Materialism does not commend you to God nor does it necessarily indicate the blessings of God upon a person.

But God wants to bless His children. Listen to Jesus, as he tells of how badly God wants to bless us. He states that it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [Luke 12:32-35] Furthermore, he says, "Whatever you ask in my name, that  I will do it that the father may be glorified in the son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." [John 14:13-14] Look at the ready willingness of Jesus to answer our prayers: Ask anything...I will do it. Surely these are words of one who is eager to do some good thing, if we just name it.

God is eager to answer the prayers of his saints in light. Look at the parable Jesus gave in Luke 15, which we commonly call the Prodigal Son parable. That elder son had done all that his father wanted and said for him to do, and when the younger son came back and received acceptable from the father, the elder brother was disturbed. But his distress was based on his failure to see what his obedience to his father meant and merited.

Because he had obeyed  his father in all things, he had become equivalent of co-owner with his father--one with the father; taken on the identity of the father. And the little that the father tendered to his brother was nothing compared to what his obedience had accrued unto him. Listen to the father explaining to that obedient son all that he had accrued: "Son, thou art ever with me, and ALL that I have is thine!" That older son, through his obedience and continuity with his father, had acquired ALL that the father had to use and have at his own will. It was not necessary that the father give him a kid to make merry with his friends; he needed only possess that which was already his, if he would but recognize his standing with his father! "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly before him." He met the criteria of God.

When we go to God with our request, we must go to him based on His criteria, walking uprightly before Him. This is what saints in light do--walk uprightly before God. Second, James stated that we should not ask things of God amiss to consume upon our lust. [James 4:3] Third, we go boldly to the throne of God as any son who has been doing the will of his father. [Heb. 4:16] Receive the things of God, because they are yours for the taking.

God, our father, wants to bless us more than we want to be blessed. The things of the kingdom are ours to have, but we must take them by spiritual force--either speak them into existence or prevail upon God until He brings them into existence for us. [Job 22:28/Mat. 16:19; Mat. 11:12] Know this and by God, make it so! God is eager to bless; let us be eager to meet His criteria!

Home

The Word of Truth Ministry
P.O. Box 6573
Oakland, CA 94603