HE HEARS US!

 

At the end of the day, Christianity is like a rock. It's foundations having been set, it has persevered for 2018 years now. Despite opposition from various angles; from the outright oppression by the Roman empire, to today's veiled but no less menacing pluralistic, postmodern, materialistic (global) society. It's amazing that not only are Christians still around, they claim the highest number of adherents among any religion and are actually thriving.

Amazing!

Perhaps just as amazing is the fact that Christianity hasn't survived by being inventive with it's belief system. It's not like we're still here because we've changed our message to suit every cultural scenario we've found ourselves in. (That is not to say we don't contextualize the gospel.) We've survived by doing (and believing) pretty much the same thing all this while - although different denominations certainly disagree on certain stuff.

For example we've been praying for two thousand years.

For two thousand years the way to communicate with God has been through prayer, generations have come and gone, empires have risen and fallen, and yet we pray. In English or Latin, Greek or Zulu - we pray.

I know for a fact that when you and I woke up today, our thoughts immediately turned back to God. We realized the need to begin the day by communing with God, and so we brought out our Bibles (or phones), dusted our devotionals and sat (or knelt) before God Almighty to speak to him.

Consider for a moment that you're one more person in a long line of praying people. Consider also that at the moment you sat (or knelt) millions more were sitting (or kneeling) with you in prayer. Incredible right? It's called being a body.

There are however times when it seems like you're cut off from God. Like you pray and you pray, but you feel he doesn't hear you. Those times can be rough, it's so easy at those times to despair and if there's one thing we must not do, it's despair.

Recently I've been having a rough patch myself (there are millions of us I'm sure). I talk to God, and come away wondering if he really heard me. What if, just what if I've been wasting my time all this while?

So this morning as I got up to pray as those before us have done everyday, God drew my attention to two verses, two wonderful verses in John's first letter.

1John 5:14-15 (KJV)
14: And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

15: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

The peace and reassurance these verses brought me this morning are not measurable. This is the confidence! It's not just a hope, or a theory, or a hypothesis. It's the confidence.

I can be confident and you can too, that he hears us when we pray. Even when we feel like he doesn't, he hears us - his hearing isn't tied to our feelings. And much more than that, if we know that he hears, then we know that we have whatsoever petitions we desire of him - according to his will.

His will of course we can find in the pages of scripture. Thus we not only pray, we study. And when we secure his will and pray along those lines he does what we ask of him. John is so certain, he says we have what we ask - not we might, or we could, but we have.

Friends let this be our confidence, and having filled our hearts with this truth let us pray. At home, at work, in the bus, on the go. Wherever and whenever we whisper a prayer. He hears!

He Chose You!

 The first chapter of Ephesians is (one of) my favourite parts of the Bible. I remember some time last year, after a long day I came back to my room and lay down to sleep, my roommate's Bible was on my bed, I opened (randomly) to Ephesians to do a quick reading and I was awestruck by the first chapter. I think my mouth was hanging open for quite some time, while I just absorbed the whole chapter (and book) over and over again.

One of the things I've noticed on my most recent reading of Ephesians is that Paul takes some time to remind us that God chose us. Three times in the first chapter alone you'll find Paul drumming it into us like, "hey! He chose you!"

Ephesians 1:4-6
4:For he CHOSE us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

5:he PREDESTINED us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will

6:to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Firstly in verse 4, he chose us! And then in verse 5, he predestined (just another way of saying he chose) us! Then we find also in verse 11 of the same chapter,

Ephesians 1:11
11:In him we were also CHOSEN, having been PREDESTINED according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Again he chooses us, and we are predestined. God had a plan for us from before the beginning of all things. He chose us.

There are several reasons why I believe this is an important biblical truth to know, meditate upon, and savour, but I'll dwell on just one.

Consider that if God has chosen you, and verse 11 says he works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, then everything we pass through must of necessity be in conformity with God's will, and we know that God's will for our lives is good.

That is, because he loved us and chose us, he wills to do good to us, to be good to us. And because every thing must work out in conformity to his will (which is to be good to us) every situation we pass through whether (from a human perspective) good or bad is in fact good, and working out for good for us and in us.

Perhaps the biggest (or at least one of the challenging) problems in Christian life and living is dealing with bad situations. Child-of-a-king-but-low-on-rent kind of scenarios. It can get overwhelming at times, especially for me personally. And in those times I (we) despair and lose sight of the big picture, we (I) lose sight of God's plan and God's perspective.

God's perspective of course is that everything he allows is good for us, even if the world calls it bad! It is very important that we do not give in to the world's definition of good and bad. If God says it's good, it is good, regardless of what the world thinks.

God's plan is to be good to us, and for us. He hasn't chosen us grudgingly to give us just enough so that we get by in life. He has chosen us to lavish his kindness and his grace on us. Listen to Paul again in chapter 2,

Ephesians 2:7
7:in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus

So this year and in the years to come let us (instead of despairing) remember that he chose us! And if he chose us to do us good, then everything, absolutely everything will work out for good for us. Let us remember this; and live, laugh, love, grieve, worship, mourn, with this in mind. The king chose me.!

     By Chukwuka Osakwe

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton