Yep - it's time for another breakfast meeting with one of my bosses. My favorite boss, at that. It is fun to meet her for breakfast about every six weeks or so. Funny, this morning it seems like we just met! Oh yeah, we did! We met a couple weeks ago for lunch with another friend! Good thing I like this boss, huh! I did ask her if she wanted to pass as we had another breakfast scheduled on August 31 (which I have moved out a few more weeks) but she said no, she wanted to meet this morning. YAY!
Yesterday was a busy day for work - I think I had eight or so really hard meetings to schedule and then had to find time for other meeting to be scheduled. I finally told my one boss to 'stop giving me hard meetings to schedule!' He apologized and said he was getting hit with meetings too. This guy is too smart for his own good. And, just like my other boss, everyone thinks they need him in their meetings. I finally had to set him straight - he doesn't have to go to every one of the invited meetings; sort out what pertains to his area of expertise and go to it. If it doesn't affect his department or what he does, skip it. They are just naming names! And three of you from the same department don't need to necessarily go to the same meeting - one can go and share info with the others if it needs to be. I had another boss who would sit in meetings and total up salaries of everyone who was in attendance. If they were just listeners and not contributors, they didn't need to be in the meeting. Many times the salary total was in the hundreds of thoursands - and then emails would come out to reevaluate if everyone needs to be invited. I have no idea why that remembrance came to mind.
Sometimes we get hung up on God answering the prayers we pray. I know people who have walked away from God because He did not answer their prayer the way they thought He should, and in the timeframe they thought He should. I feel sorry for those people, and pray for them, for just because we ask God, it doesn't mean He will answer the way we want. I think I have shared this before, but it's on my mind from my reading this morning, so will share again. Sometimes when we ask God for something, His answer is NO. Or it may be WAIT. Or it may be YES.
I've had prayers answered immediately. I've said prayers that I'm still waiting on answers to. I've said prayers that I am forever grateful that God said NO. I don't always see it then, at that moment, but I know that God always answers the prayers we pray. We sometimes don't see it because we don't want to see it. We aren't getting the answer I want, so we quit praying, or we quit paying attention to the only One who can answer. 'We'll get even with Him!', we think to ourselves. 'He won't answer my prayer, so I'm not going to believe in Him anymore.' How many times have you heard that? Too many, I'm sure. Perhaps you have even thought those same words.
I John 3:21-22 (NKJV): "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those thigns that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."
The Bible promises again and again that God answers prayer. However, the statement whatever we ask we receive does not imply that if people just pray hard enough, they can have whatever they want. Their requests must be in line with God's will, and they must be in right relationship with God; as evidenced by their desire to do what pleases Him.
In other words: Prayer + God's Will = Answer. Many times we may think we know God's will about a situation or a person, and yet, when we have prayed, our prayer doesn't get answered. We pray for healing for someone, and really expect God to heal them, cause we asked Him to. And He takes them anyway. Some people turn away from God because of the 'wrong answer' to their prayer. But what if... what if... God had another plan in mind when He took that person? What if God knew He was going to use the person who prayed the prayer of healing to be a catalyst in bringing life to others?
Sometimes we have no clue what God is doing. Seriously. For example, I prayed continuously for my older sister to be healed of her rheumatoid arthritis and start living life again. I don't believe she really wanted to be healed. She liked playing the person who people had to make allowances for. The more I encouraged her to take charge of her health and start eating foods to reduce the inflamation in her body, the more junk she would put in it. So this last 'episode' - and I still believe she did not do it herself, not intentionally. She ingested antifreeze. I prayed so hard for three days, believing that God would do a miracle and she would awaken from her unconsciousness and be totally healed of all disease in her body. I believed it; I asked for it. And she died. When I heard, I went to God and asked 'Why? Why didn't You answer my prayers the way I wanted You to?'... and the thought came to me, 'I did. I healed her My way'. God's way isn't always our way, and I needed to remember that. He healed her by taking her from her world of suffering and pain. I wanted complete and total healing and 'life as normal'. And I still believe that God could have done that - if it had been His will. It wasn't.
God is God and I am not. My job is to follow Him, no matter what. No matter what answer to prayer that I receive, no matter if my life is good and joyful, no matter if life is hard and painful. No matter what, I choose to follow Jesus. I feel the pain of unanswered prayers. I hurt because of the 'no' answers I receive. I struggle because of the 'waiting' period. I know what each of those are, personally.
But I know that my Redeemer lives, and I know that He loves me and He hears the prayers I pray on my behalf and on the behalf of others. I believe that no matter what I pray, He hears me, and He answers in His own way. And He hears your prayers, and He loves you more than you can ever imagine.
But for Him to hear our prayers, we must believe that Jesus is who He says He is - the Son of God. We must believe that Jesus went to the cross and died for us sinners. His blood covers every sin you and I have ever committed, and He puts His robes of Righteousness over us. He stands as our Advocate before His Father, and while Satan stands and accuses us of all our sins, Jesus just says, "My blood covers that sin."
There is power in the blood of Jesus. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of the Living God, that He died for our sins, and rose again on the third day, and that He reigns now in Heaven, awaiting the time for His second coming, when we will all rise with Him. The trumpet will sound soon - will you believe? Will you be ready to rise with all the saints?
Blessings!
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