The Intent to Deceive

"But I didn't lie...I just didn't change what they were thinking that I meant by what I said..."

Have you ever met someone that tactfully words something they either say or write sot hat it can be taken multiple ways? Where they do not technically say that things are a certain way, but their wording allows for people to believe that they are a specific way.  For example, think of the following conversation:

Interviewer: So, this engineering job requires a lot of experience.  Do you have experience in this area?

Interviewed: Oh, I have TONS of experience!

Now, they mean that they have tons of experience in other areas, but they didn't actually SAY that is what they meant, and so the interviewer is left with the belief that the person they interviewed has tons of experience with engineering.  Is this technically a "lie"?

Consider Acts 5:1-11.  What did Ananias actually say to Peter when he brought the money from selling the property? There are two possibilities; first, Ananias verbally told Peter that the money he brought was the entire proceeds from the sale, or second, Ananias simply brought the money before Peter, laid it down, and intended for Peter to believe that he had brought all of the money.  While we do not have a written record of what Ananias did or did not say, it is clear that Ananias intended to deceive Peter, the Apostles, and his fellow Christians (Note: of the two choices, it is most likely that Ananias verbally said something and that we simply aren't provided with that information).  Either way, Ananias intended to deceive.  Had it been left up to mere men, as Ananias supposed it would be, he might have gotten away with it and received the glory of men.  But he and his wife lied to the Holy Spirit; in other words, God knew the truth!

God obviously found lying (the intent to deceive) to be of serious consequence.  Do we view it in that manner? Do we tactfully word what we say, write, or what we post so as to lead others to believe one thing about us when the truth is something entirely different?

Consider Matthew 5:33-37.  Here, Jesus is talking about the taking of oaths and says that we should not swear by anything because our word should be sufficient.  While Jesus is not talking about lying here, He IS talking about the trustworthiness of our word.  He tells us to let our yes be yes, and our no be no.  Further, consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:33-37; we are either justified by our words or condemned by our words.

What is your intent?

Sounding a Trumpet

Why do we do the "good" things that we do? Why do we help fellow Christians in need? Why do we make the choice to do something for someone else or take on a seemingly insurmountable task?

In a social media driven world, "do not do your charitable deeds before men" takes on a whole new meaning! It is so easy for us to "do something" for another person, then immediately tell our 700+ Facebook friends in a post about how we've spent our day helping out a "friend in need."  As a result, when you turn on your computer and fire up Facebook, your newsfeed is filled with status updates such as, "I'm so blessed to have been able to go and mow Brother so-and-so's lawn because he is aged and cannot do it himself!" The question becomes, then, whether or not we have done it out of the goodness of our heart or if we are doing it so that others will look on our deed and praise us for our generosity?

Modern technology has provided easy avenues for narcissistic tendencies to be shown to the entire world; Americans are taught that it doesn't matter what their opinion is, it is worth hearing...even if it is illogical in every respect.  And should we do something "good," then the whole world has the right to hear about it! Christ, on the other hand, teaches exactly the opposite; there is no room for narcissism in a Christian's life.  Statements of a spiritual nature are to be based off of Scripture, not personal opinions and desires for how it "ought to be."  How we depict ourselves, whether in person or via the internet, is either a benefit to the cause of Christ or it gives the world an opportunity to blaspheme His name.

Let us consider a few pertinent Scriptures.  In Acts 4:32-37, we have the account of Barnabas selling his property and providing for his fellow Christians in need.  In this instance, Barnabas does this good deed because it was needed and other Christians were aware of what he had done because they had personally benefited from his sacrifice.  However, the beginning of Acts 5 paints a very different picture of some not so selfless Christians.  Here, the attitudes and actions of Ananias and Sapphira are contrasted with the actions of Barnabas (as denoted by the "But" in Acts 5:1).  Rather than sell their property for righteous reasons, as Barnabas had done, they chose to lie to the Holy Spirit in an effort at gaining the praise of their brethren, as well as benefiting financially.  As many today who attempt to deceive others, Ananias and Sapphira believed that they were only deceiving men.  However, Peter tells them that they lied to the Holy Spirit and not to men; is this not true today as well?

In Acts 9:36-43, we have the account of the death of Dorcas.  Acts 9:36 tells us that Dorcas "was full of good works and charitable deeds".  Had Dorcas paraded herself through the streets of Joppa announcing her own goodness? Had she sought out the praise of those around her? If she had a Facebook page, would she have posted, "Whew! So tired today after spending my day making garments for the women of Joppa...they can't pay me, but it was worth it!"? Doubtful.  Instead, it seems that the good deeds of Dorcas were known only because the people for whom she had performed these deeds recognized her goodness.  In other words, she did not have to TELL people that she was charitable because other people already knew it from experience (reference Acts 9:39).

From the examples of Barnabas and Dorcas, we are seeing exactly what Christ meant when He said not to do our charitable deeds before men.  While other people will know that we have done charitable deeds for them, we are not to do so for their praise.  In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus tells us that if we do our charitable deeds to be seen by men, God will not reward us for them.  He further tells us that when we have done a charitable deed, that we are not to "sound a trumpet before" ourselves so that we may receive the glory of men! The concept is that we do a charitable deed because it is the right thing to do, then we do not go around discussing it (Matthew 6:3-4).  It is hard not to allow your right hand to know what your left hand is doing...if you are telling everyone that you have done it!

Unfortunately, our modern culture has taught us that everyone ought to know everything that we do, whether it is appropriate to discuss what we do in a public setting or not! Often, people "sound a trumpet" before themselves for some choice that they have made or for some aid that they have given to another person.  Is this something that is new, however? It is not something that is new with our own generation; rather, it is something that has always been! Consider 2 Timothy 3:1-9 where Paul tells Timothy that perilous times would come because men were "lovers of themselves," among many other worldly things.  There is, in fact, a whole list of attributes that mankind has that keeps them separated from God, but is it coincidence that Paul places "lovers of themselves" at the head of such a list? If one loves themselves rather than God (and by extension, others), wouldn't the rest of this list naturally follow?

Denying ourselves is probably the hardest part of becoming a Christian and continuing to live faithfully for the rest of our lives.  In our "me first" society, it is hard to tell ourselves "no" to just about anything, but especially to make sure that we are putting other people ahead of ourselves.  As we have seen from the passages explored, we are to do charitable deeds for others because it is the right thing to do and because God recognizes those deeds, but we are not to ensure that everyone in the world knows how good and righteous we are because we have done something "good."

What Does Your Online Profile Say About Your Spirituality?

This past Sunday afternoon after our worship services, my family and I were in the process of returning home when we passed a local denomination.  In the parking lot of their building, a group of younger people were standing around and talking.  My wife and I both noticed it at the same time; they were all dressed in clothing that was unbefitting of Christians (1 Timothy 2:9-10), especially when you consider that they had just left their own worship service! The girls were in tight and extremely short shorts, and the guys were wearing shorts and tank tops! Now, was my first reaction was not to think about how spiritual those young people were, but rather about how worldly they were, and I was disappointed in both their dress and their behavior! Consider: did their dress and behavior show any distinction between themselves and any worldly person driving down the road? Did it denote any change in their spiritual lives? (Note - there would obviously be other doctrinal differences between us and I am NOT equating this denomination with the true kingdom of God). 

Many Christians will argue for the right to dress immodestly based on the idea that the Bible does not define specific lengths, but the question I want to pose is this: when you see a woman dressed in a bikini or a man dressed in a tank top (or no shirt), is your first thought about how godly and spiritual they are? Are you immediately impressed with their service to God? Please, take a moment and honestly ask yourself what your first thought is that goes through your mind.

This specific experience caused me to begin to think again about our influence in this world and how even some of what we deem to be the "little things" that we do can either make or break our spiritual influence with our friends in the world.  With the obvious rise in the use of social media in the modern world, we need to be particularly careful about our online persona! While we may find some things to be amusing, we need to consider what our "likes" say about us and our spirituality.  Most especially, we need to think about what our personal photos say about us!

There have been many instances in which I have seen faithful Christians "share" or "like" an image, saying, or joke on Facebook (or some other social media platform) that was connected to a website or Facebook page whose name contains a swear word or sexual innuendo.  While my first thought is to be lenient towards that Christian and to believe that they have not noticed that, does a non-Christian use such leniency? Are non-Christians seeing us as being careful and not participating in such things, or are they seeing us "liking" or "sharing" such things and assuming that it must be ok to do so? Or are they perhaps seeing no difference between our activities and their activities, and wondering why there is no difference? 

Unfortunately, there are also many photographs of Christians floating around the social media world in which they are dressed immodestly, are in spiritually compromising locations (such as bars), or are in compromising physical positions that are intended to be "funny."  Consider 1 Thessalonians 5:21-23 where Paul writes, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.  Abstain from all appearance of evil.  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (KJV) and ask yourself if these types of photographs and actions are doing that? What do your photographs say about your spirituality? 

Recently, I read an article that made an excellent point concerning what picture we paint of our children online; we often post pictures of our children in just their diapers (or nothing at all!), in the bath, or in clothing that disrespects them.  We often forget that once something is posted online, it is there forever (even if deleted, it can still be found somewhere).  Consider Ephesians 6:1-4 and Proverbs 22:6; if we post these types of things about our children, are we truly respecting them?

Let us take that principle a step further; many Christians will even run down their spouse by posting inappropriate stories, inappropriate pictures of their spouse, and even inappropriate pictures of themselves.  Does this depict the attitude in Ephesians 5:22-33 that a couple is to have concerning one another? It is "funny" or does it just harm the relationship between you, as well as the influence you have on the world? 

It is probably fair to say that every single one of us needs to be more careful in this area.  Remember that we do not always know who may be watching us and seeing how we act before they consider becoming a Christian! It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but only a moment or a post to ruin it (Ecclesiastes 7:1; 10:1-3; Proverbs 22:1).  

Judge Not - What Do the Scriptures Say About Judging?

In the world today (although this is nothing new), Christians are commonly faced with the argument “you shouldn’t judge!” It seems that no matter what the sin, whether it is gossip, lying, murder, or the current hot-button issue of homosexuality, the Christian is judged to have the wrong attitude by “judging” the person committing the sin.  If a Christian tries to explain to a person that they are doing something contrary to the Gospel of Christ, the almost instantaneous retort is “judge not that ye be not judged!”  This retort is generally followed up by an attempt to show some perceived or even real hypocrisy in the life of the Christian, which is thought to negate the sin in their own life. 

Now, can a Christian be a hypocrite in their judging of others? Absolutely.  Does that hypocrisy negate the sin the Christian is addressing in the life of another? Absolutely not.  Can a Christian justly judge another human being as living in sin? Again, absolutely.  Let us take a few moments and look at the Scriptures, not to cement our already preconceived notions (whatever they may be), but to see what the Scriptures actually say about judging. 

Matthew 7:1 is possibly the most used and misused verse in the Bible (excluding, perhaps, John 3:16).  Here, Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (NKJV).  It seems that many readers stop with this single verse as though it encompasses the entire meaning of the passage and there is nothing else to consider (not trying to be harsh or unfair in this assessment, only stating from experience that I have never seen anyone try to quote anything from Matthew 7 beyond verse 1).  A little less often used is Romans 2:1-4.  Again, it seems as though many leave off with verse 4 instead of keeping it in context.  Should a discussion make it past these two verses, another popular retort comes from John 8:7 where Jesus says, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,” but once again context is generally neglected.  Now, to be fair, if these passages were the only ones that we had to go on (without even their immediate contexts), then coming to the conclusion that we as humans are not to judge one another would be a very logical and correct deduction.  But we need the rest of the story, so to speak, and that is found in the contexts of these passages, as well as in some additional ones found throughout the New Testament.

If we continue to read further in Matthew 7, Jesus goes on to tell us that the same measurement of judgment that we issue will be dealt back to us.  He absolutely DOES address the attitude of the judge and tells that person to remove the speck, or sin, from their own lives.  A Christian who obeys the Lord’s commands (Acts 2:38; John 14:15) has removed that speck, and thus can see clearly to remove the speck from another’s eye (Matthew 7:5).  Additionally, when a Christian uses the Scriptures as their measurement of judgment (again, attitude IS addressed in this passage), then of course we will be judged by the same measurement! In other words, Jesus addresses our attitude and essentially tells us not to take such a thing lightly.  Likewise, Romans 2:1-4 has a context.  At the end of Romans 1, Paul talks about those who are judging others as being in sin, but they themselves are doing the same things (so, for instance, an envious person is judging another person of envy, etc).  Further, Paul is discussing those that laid aside the will of God and embraced the evilness of this world (Romans 1:18-2:11).  In other words, the context of both of these passages does not indicate not judging at all, but only the right kind of judgment! The remainder of the context of John 8:1-7 is, actually, a perfect example to illustrate the discussion thus far.

While many people will read John 8:1-7, most will stop at verse 7, or at the very least they seem to ignore from there forward.  However, Jesus does address the attitude of the accusers, but He does not indicate that because the accusers had the wrong attitude that the woman’s sin was negated! What does Jesus actually do in this passage? The scribes and Pharisees had brought this woman to Jesus and accused her of adultery (since she was caught in the very act of it, have you ever wondered where the man was that was also involved?), but they were not accusing her to either save her soul or to even fulfill the law, as we are told in John 8:6.  Rather, they were brining her to Him in order to test Him! When Jesus tells them that the one without sin should cast the first stone, He is addressing their attitude, not whether or not the woman was guilty.  They are convicted by their own consciences (John 8:9).  Now, with the attitudes (which fully illustrates the wrong type of judgment discussed in both Matthew 7 and Romans 2) having been addressed, Jesus absolutely does show mercy to the woman.  He does NOT act as though she had not sinned, which is evidenced by the fact that He commands her to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11). 

Now, let’s take a step back for a moment.  Let’s assume for a moment that Matthew 7:1 and John 8:7 actually mean what they are generally misapplied to mean and that we are not to judge anyone.  Would that apply to the Apostle Paul? Surely we would tread carefully before judging an inspired man of God as not having the ability to judge someone in sin! Consider 1 Corinthians 5:3 where Paul writes, “For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.”  Note that Paul not only judges the man who has his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1), but that he addresses the attitude with which he did the judging (“…absent in body but present in spirit…”).  He also judges the congregation that had not dealt with this sin (1 Corinthians 5:2, 6)! Now, at this point, we may be tempted to make the argument that Paul was an inspired apostle and that we are not (please note 1 Corinthians 11:1 and 1 Corinthians 4:15-16 if this is your true stance).  Even if we again grant that argument, Paul did have the ability to judge and he has provided numerous lists of sins! There are at least four extensive lists of sins provided by God through Paul for us (1 Corinthians 6:8-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7).  Galatians 5 also includes “and the like” in the list, which indicates that there must be some sort of judgment made by man since it was written to man! All of these passages are in addition to Paul’s depiction of a Godless society in Romans 1! Thus, even if we grant that we cannot judge and that Paul, as an apostle, was allowed to judge where we are not, we have an entire list of sins that we cannot participate in.  In other words, Paul calls fornication a sin, so if a person commits fornication they are sinning…not by my word, but by the inspired writings of the apostle Paul!

As homosexuality is, as I said, the “hot-button” issue of the day, let us use that as an example.  Many people today call Christian’s “haters” if they oppose the sin of homosexuality and they tell Christians not to judge.  Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:8-10, condemns homosexuality and sodomy as being sins.  If a person is participating in those worldly things, how is it that a Christian is truly judging them? Christians merely utilize the Scriptures to show another human the path to heaven! Can a Christian do this with the wrong attitude? Absolutely.  If, perchance, a Christian DOES “judge” with the wrong attitude, is the person participating in these sins no longer a sinner? Of course they are still a sinner! Remember, while Jesus did address the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees, He did not forget that the woman had sinned!

While many people don’t think about it in these terms, all people make judgments.  If we decide that a person living in sin is “ok,” then we have judged them to be so.  If we make that decision and nobody else shows that person the Scriptures, then we may have also judged their eternal soul and condemned them to eternal torment because we were unwilling to help them see the sin in their life.  Do we want that soul’s condemnation on our hands because we had the opportunity to teach them? Do we want that on our hands in the day of our own judgment by the Lord? While they may or may not listen to us when we show them the Scriptures, our job is to show them the path to heaven!

Finally, as we begin to conclude, consider this: too much time is spent by Christians trying to defend their reasons for “judging.”  Too often, we spend so much time concentrating on the messenger’s attitude and making sure that they are doing it right (which, coincidently, involves judgment…) that the sin of the “judged” is overlooked or excused.  Note Proverbs 17:15 where we read, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord,” and Isaiah 5:20 where we read, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

How Do You React to God's Word?

There cannot be more of a difference in reactions to God’s word than what we find with Josiah and his son, Jehoiakim.  In Jeremiah 36, Jehoiakim is given God’s word and his reaction is much less than desirable.  Rather than accepting the word of God as it was, Jehoiakim has an adverse reaction and not only rejects it, but physically destroys the scroll that it was written on by Baruch.  When Jehudi “had read three or four columns,” the king cut the scroll up with the scribe’s knife as though that will alter what the message was!

          While many people today do not necessarily cut up the word of God with a knife, how often do they (we) cut it up metaphorically? In other words, we find a passage that we do not like for whatever reason, and instead of altering our attitude to fit the passage as it is, we attempt to alter the passage to fit our desires.  Thus, a passage condemning sin no longer condemns sin, but promotes it in some way, shape, or form!  How often have you seen this done (ref. 2 Peter 3:15-17)? Many misconstrue the Scriptures and develop elaborate doctrines (mental gymnastics) that alter “thou shalt not” into “go ahead and do what you want.”  Sometimes, people may not even do these things consciously; meaning, they are not sitting there thinking consciously that they are twisting the Scriptures! They often get caught up in something that they WANT to participate in, and therefore they seek a way to make that deed allowable by God.  Perhaps the biggest threat to Christianity is when we so often try to cover the sins of a loved one by trying to explain away what they are doing as being “ok.”  Does this actually alter the word of God?

          On the other hand, Jehoiakim’s father, Josiah, had a completely different reaction to the word of God! While we should avoid having the reaction that Jehoiakim had, we should strive to have a reaction like Josiah.  In 2 Kings 22, the word of God is discovered and read to King Josiah (note: 2 Kings 22:2 says that Josiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord).  Josiah is distraught that they had not been following the word of God (he is distraught to the point of tearing his clothing – 22:11).  Unlike Jehoiakim, Josiah allows the word of God to create change in his own life and in the life of those he ruled over.  Throughout 2 Kings 23, we are told of how many things Josiah did to rid Israel of idolatry, which included tearing down alters and idols! Josiah not only heard the word of God, but made it applicable to his own life!

          Let us strive to be more like Josiah than Jehoiakim when we hear the word of God.  When God’s word shows us sin in our lives, let us seek to remove that sin rather than excusing it! When the Bible calls something sin, we need to accept that deed as such and not try to explain it away! This is applicable for us as individuals, but it is also applicable for those that we love; just because someone we love is doing something does not make it right in the eyes of God, nor does any amount of our explaining it away change God’s mind! Work to be more like Josiah and rid our lives of sin!  

Less Than the Best

In what other area of our lives would we accept the "desire" to do what is right? In what other area would we equate "desire" with "fulfillment"? Sometimes Christians, in their desire to attribute good to all they meet, will confuse the dsire to obtain the reward (heaven) with the desire to obey God.  Those two things are not one and the same, unfortunately for some.

Consider it this way: if you had to have brain surgery, do you want the person who wants the wage of a brain surgeon (the reward), or do you want the person who disciplined their life in order to be able to perform brain surgery successfully? There are a great many requirements to becoming a brain surgeon (and with good reason!); undergraduate work, graduage work, medical school, residencies, lab classes, etc.  Those that want to be a brain surgeon MUST fulfill these requirements (you might say that the path to becoming a surgeon is narrow).  Do you want someone who does not fulfill these requirements to cut into your head?

When we get to our spiritual life, however, we treat God as if He is lucky that we offer anything to Him at all.  Like becoming a surgeon (and even being able to maintain an active surgeon status, they have requirements for continued education, etc), the Christian has requirements to fulfill in order to achieve the reward of heaven, not JUST the desire to reach heaven (obviously having a desire to reach heaven does play a part...otherwise, why would anyone bother?).

We obviously would not allow the person who only desires the wages of a surgeon, but has not fulfilled the requirements to do such work, to do brain surgery on us.  However, we consistently accept (or make excuses for) those that have the "desire" for the reward of heaven, but do not do the commandments of the Lord (John 14:15; John 15:14).

Perhaps we should also consider it this way: would our jobs or school accept us doing our duties for them the way we do our duties for the Lord? If we constantly told our school or work that we simply "couldn't make it" in because of this reason or for that reason? If we were consistently late for either of those things? Yet, we aruge that this is acceptable for God and that God will just have to understand.  Consider Malachi 1:7-9 in which people were offering things to God that they would not dare to serve their dignitaries.  We often frown at passages such as this and shake our heads, but do we not do the same thing today when we offer God less than our best?

Remember Matthew 6:33 where we are told to seek the kingdom of God first.  The context of this passage is that God will see to our earthly needs as He sees fit if our service is first to Him, not this world.  This doesn't mean that we will necessarily be "rich" with earthly things, but we will have our needs met as He sees fit! We cannot use the materialistic things of this life that we "need" as an excuse not to obey the commandments of the Lord.  Remember the words of Joshua, "...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).

Prayer: the Forgotten Blessing

I know of a brother who, when he prays, always thanks God for the “beautiful day” that we are having.  I have heard him say that in prayer on days that the rain was coming down in sheets, and the wind was howling so loud that it was difficult to hear.  Now, some may say that he is guilty of rogue repetition–he’s just saying what he always says.  However, I know differently, because he often elaborates on his thoughts.  He seems to always find good in whatever kind of day that we are having (weather wise) and expresses his thankfulness to God.  The snow is beautiful.  The rain makes things grow.  The sunshine warms us.  He thinks of these things, and expresses them to God.

I believe we often forget just how great of a blessing prayer is for us as the children of God.  We have the ability to go before His throne, without fear (Hebrews 4:16), and bring our petitions to Him.  Sometimes we don’t think about this blessing until we have gotten ourselves into some problem and can’t find the way out.  We think of Him only when we need something from Him.  How many people think they are strong enough to get through anything that life can throw at them, and therefore don’t need God, and don’t need to ask Him for anything?  As the children of God, we should see our open line of communication with our Father.  We can pray to Him, and He will hear us–and more importantly, He can answer us!

But, the ability to make requests of God is only a portion of what we should use this line of communication for.  How long would we keep friends in this world if we only called upon them when we needed something from them?  There is much more that can be done in prayer than just asking God for the things that we need (though that is certainly a valuable blessing!).  If we don’t use prayer for all that it is intended, we are missing out on this great blessing handed to us by our God.

What other blessings are a part of prayer?  Consider just a few…

Praise. We can use our time in prayer to praise God for who He is, and for what He has done.  This is not something that is needed by God, for He does not change whether or not I praise Him.  However, it is a great blessing for us!  Even a casual reading of the Psalms reveals need for us to praise God.  Many of the Psalms are prayers that are converted into songs for the purpose of the people praising God.  When we spend time in praise, how can we possibly forget the majesty of God?  How can we forget what He has done for us, caring for us and providing spiritual salvation for us?  We can praise Him for His creation, and for providing every spiritual blessing through His Son.  We could spend much time praising God in our prayer!

Thanksgiving. Sometimes we are quick to ask God to help us, but not so quick to remember to thank Him when He answers our prayers.  We often make requests for physical blessings, or health and then fail to thank God for answering us in abundance.  How often might we ask for the healing of one of our loved ones, and then forget to thank God when that loved one regains his health?  It is easy to become consumed by our concerns, but we never should take our answered prayers for granted.  We can also use prayer to express our general thankfulness to God for His overflowing blessings.  He provides so much to us, we should remember to be thankful for His blessing (James 1:16-18).

Sharing concerns, trials. God does not need us to tell Him what troubles us, but it is a great blessing for us to be able to share it with Him.  Sharing our troubles with God through prayer helps us to identify exactly what is going on in our lives, and will help us to turn to Him and His word for solutions.  Sometimes we may become very self centered, and think that we can find our own solutions.  However, if we are casting our burden upon Him, we will be turning to Him for answers.  That may mean asking for His help in some way, but it may simply be a way of pinpointing our own issues, and committing ourselves to solutions based upon His desires for us (as expressed in His own word).

It may be challenging, but try to offer a prayer to God without asking Him for anything.  How much have we come to look upon prayer as only a time to make requests (sometimes even selfish requests) rather than a time of talking with our Father?  Sometimes we need to just stop and consider our relationship with Him.  Have we expressed our gratitude to Him for His loving kindness?  Have we expressed thankfulness for the beauty of His creation, and His provision for our every need through it?  Have we praised Him for being our God, and the all powerful creator of our world?    Just once today, try going to God in prayer expressing only gratitude and praise.  It is good to ask God for what we need, but let’s not become consumed with only making requests.  If we do, we are definitely forgetting one of the greatest blessings that God has given to us!

~Kris Brewer, April 2010