Have you ever grown accustomed to something you disliked or which caused you discomfort? Perhaps like me you have been waiting for the opportunity to patch the walls in your home and the sight of them still causes you to cringe but every time they seem to bother me a little less. If it’s not holes for you, what is it?
Is there something that has remained in your life because like me you have been busy with other urgent matters? Maybe you have been waiting to work on your vehicle or rearrange plants in your flower beds? Perhaps it is a situation God has been calling you to change or address. Although it happens easily, there are somethings we should not get accustomed to.
Last week I managed to sprain my ankle and hurt my neck within one day of each other. Had you been over to visit at our home, you could have watched me limp around while turning my whole body in order to look at anything. It was probably a bit comical to look at yet with the pain I felt, I did not have a desire to laugh. I began praying for healing and doing just about anything that would help! Laying down, icing, massages, stretching, magnesium... you name it! I felt trapped and desperate. I couldn’t sweep, cook, or do much of anything else for more than a few minutes. As you can imagine, I was praying! Asking God for help was first on my mind.
Have you ever been there where I was - completely aware of your need for God to move? In Matthew 7:7 He says: Ask and you will receive. In the NLT, He says:
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [If] You parents … know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:7-9, NLT).
I have had problems with my foot many times and over many years now. Why have I not asked for healing before? I have limped through the pain but learned to "accept" it as a life long injury. Could you believe that it has never occurred to me that the God of the universe could heal my foot so that it wouldn’t sprain so easily? I am fairly certain that spraining my ankle that day was what hurt my neck.
In this past week, I have been challenged to ask God for healing not just of my neck but of my foot. Is there an area in your life that you grown accustomed to pain or dysfunction? God wants to bring wholeness to your life and mine.
Is there an area of your life that God wants to change? Perhaps like me, you have already given up hope or grown accustomed to it? Our heavenly Father is a good Father who desires to give good gifts to those who ask Him.
I pray that we would know the hope and power of God:
“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:18-20, NLT).
I pray that your hearts would be flooded with the confident Hope and the knowledge of the mighty power of God. If God is for you, then who can be against you?
Accustomed
Have you ever grown accustomed to something you disliked or which caused you discomfort? Perhaps like me you have been waiting for the opportunity to patch the walls in your home and the sight of them still causes you to cringe but every time they seem to bother me a little less. If it’s not holes for you, what is it?
Is there something that has remained in your life because like me you have been busy with other urgent matters? Maybe you have been waiting to work on your vehicle or rearrange plants in your flower beds? Perhaps it is a situation God has been calling you to change or address. Although it happens easily, there are somethings we should not get accustomed to.
Last week I managed to sprain my ankle and hurt my neck within one day of each other. Had you been over to visit at our home, you could have watched me limp around while turning my whole body in order to look at anything. It was probably a bit comical to look at yet with the pain I felt, I did not have a desire to laugh. I began praying for healing and doing just about anything that would help! Laying down, icing, massages, stretching, magnesium... you name it! I felt trapped and desperate. I couldn’t sweep, cook, or do much of anything else for more than a few minutes. As you can imagine, I was praying! Asking God for help was first on my mind.
Have you ever been there where I was - completely aware of your need for God to move? In Matthew 7:7 He says: Ask and you will receive. In the NLT, He says:
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [If] You parents … know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:7-9, NLT).
I have had problems with my foot many times and over many years now. Why have I not asked for healing before? I have limped through the pain but learned to "accept" it as a life long injury. Could you believe that it has never occurred to me that the God of the universe could heal my foot so that it wouldn’t sprain so easily? I am fairly certain that spraining my ankle that day was what hurt my neck.
In this past week, I have been challenged to ask God for healing not just of my neck but of my foot. Is there an area in your life that you grown accustomed to pain or dysfunction? God wants to bring wholeness to your life and mine.
Is there an area of your life that God wants to change? Perhaps like me, you have already given up hope or grown accustomed to it? Our heavenly Father is a good Father who desires to give good gifts to those who ask Him.
I pray that we would know the hope and power of God:
“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:18-20, NLT).
I pray that your hearts would be flooded with the confident Hope and the knowledge of the mighty power of God. If God is for you, then who can be against you?
Keep on asking.