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I shared in the last devotional that God invites us to ask Him for the things we need, and He tells us that we can approach His throne of grace and mercy with boldness. However, some believers struggle in this area and they wonder why their prayers don’t get answered.

God is sovereign and omniscient, and we do not know everything unless God reveals it to us. However, there are several scriptures that show us some of the reasons why people do not receive the answer to their prayers. 

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:1-3

The above scripture tells us that sometimes people don’t ask or if they ask, they are asking with wrong reasons. When people want something badly enough, they don’t necessarily pray about it, or if they pray, they are just looking for God to put His stamp of approval on they want to do. Sometimes, we are motivated to achieve significance through carnal means. The flesh lusts after what it wants and sometimes we leave no room for God to have say about what we want. 

When the worldly things consume our attention, we become carnal in our behavior. People can covet and compete for what others have. They make all kinds of effort to match or outdo others. The problem is that competition always distracts people from what they need and what God has for them. What if what you desire in others’ lives is not God’s purpose for you? In a twisted way, our purpose becomes about competing with others and getting our satisfaction and significance from it.

The Lord does not desire for us to get our joy from competition because that is a faulty value system. He knows that if we rely on competition to make us fulfilled and happy, we will never fully enter in God’s purposes for our lives. Therefore, He answers prayers that are beneficial. At times, He allows us to have what we want, so we can see its emptiness in meeting our needs. 

The greater our desire to remain in close relationship to the Lord, the more joy and satisfaction we receive from Him. The Lord settles our hearts, minds, and wills, and we are not compelled to make something happen. The nagging thoughts of inferiority and insignificance become replaced with security and simplicity of faith in Him. We don’t worry about what others think of us or what they have. We only pay attention to God’s thoughts about us. 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 

One of the big issues in unanswered prayers is that God expects us to believe Him and have faith in Him. With a quiet and settled spirit, we ask God according to His will. Our faith in God is the recognition that God is trustworthy and He knows what we need and when we need it. We trust His integrity and His promises, and we know that He has the best intentions for our lives. We are not looking to spend the answer on our own pleasures, but we are after the glory of God in our midst. The scripture tells us through faith and patience we inherit the promises of God (See Hebrews 6:9-12). Praise God that He is our generous Father, and He knows how to give good gifts to His children!

Lord, today we pray that you would examine our hearts for those prayers that have stemmed from envy and and jealousy. Forgive us when our prayers have been about outdoing others rather than glorifying you. Settle our hearts and fill us with your love and acceptance. We do not want any form of counterfeit to fill our hearts. Change our prayers and make them be the prayers that Jesus would pray on our behalf to the Father. Thank you Lord. Amen!

In preparation for his departure, Jesus taught His disciples to ask the Father for what they need.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. John 15:7

Definition of Abide (According to Strong’s Concordance): to remain, abide, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept, continually. 

The word abiding is about remaining present and staying in a close relationship. The above scripture comes from the same discourse where Jesus told His disciples that they were no longer his servants but his friends. Jesus was giving them the permission to ask for what they needed. He stated that the condition for asking had to do with abiding in their relationship to God.

When you have good friends, it’s not laborious to be close to them and to spend endless hours with them. After a while you find that you like similar clothes, shoes, or bags, and you watch similar shows. No one forced you to do it, but just the mutual love and admiration leads people to enjoy doing similar things.

Similarly, when we remain present in our relationship with the Lord, we are not doing it because we want something from Him, but because we desire His presence and the assurance of His love in our lives. This intimate relationship, helps us to see the world around us differently, and it changes our priorities. Those carnal issues are not as important as they used to be. We are more in tune with God’s desires, and they become our desires. 

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

When issues come up that we need God’s intervention, the scripture tells us that we have the assurance that God hears us and cares about our need. A close and abiding relationship with the Lord allows us to approach his throne of grace boldly. We have the confidence that we will receive mercy and grace in our time of need. Jesus said that God will respond to our prayers, and He gave us the permission and the invitation to ask! 

People wonder why some prayers don’t get answered. The scripture provides us with insight. I will share on this subject in the next devotional.

Lying is something that most Christians would find wrong and distasteful. However, in practice, lying happens more frequently than people would like to admit because it takes on many shapes and forms. 

Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’  Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it,and that he may bless you before his death.”

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” Genesis 27:5-13

Rebekah’s love and partiality for Jacob led her to conjure up a deceitful plan to ensure that Jacob would get the best blessing and inheritance from his father. In her mind, she must have convinced herself that she was partnering with God in fulfilling the word He spoke to her about the older serving the younger. She could have thought that time is running out and something has to be done. If we are  compelled by a certain outcome, we will compromise our values and will we justify our actions by  spiritualizing them. 

In the name of love or loyalty, people step into the realm of lying and cheating for the benefit of themselves or their loved ones. They may justify it by saying they are protecting their loved ones, or they may claim that this one time the issue is important enough that the truth needs “twisting” or “exaggeration.” 

When Rebekah opened the door to lies and deception, it caused her family to be torn apart for years. Jacob received what she wanted for him, but she and her entire family had to pay a high price for it. I doubt if she had understood and considered the consequence of her sin, she would have attempted to do what she did.

Lying is a short-cut to God’s purpose. If we really want something badly enough, when the opportune time comes, we would have a hard time saying “no” to the temptation of lying. Rebekah took the short-cut and received what she desired, but it wasn’t God’s way. God’s purpose comes with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If we try to achieve God’s dreams through our carnal efforts, the outcome will not bring about joy. As a matter of fact, the outcome could be very bitter. 

How badly do you desire the promotion, higher income, best school,marriage , or acknowledgement? Do you find yourself manipulating the circumstances to ensure others won’t acknowledged or receive the credit they deserve? The only way we can ensure we won’t fall into lying is to trust God regardless of the outcome.

The Bible has many scriptures in regards to lying, but this issue does not appear to be a major moral concern to believers. 

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight. Proverbs 12:22

How many people think of lying as an abomination to God!? Generally, our ideas of  abominable actions might be alternative lifestyles or blaspheming the Holy Spirit, but we do not consider lying in that category!  

Many Christians uphold honesty as an important Christian value. However, in practice, believers fall into lying for variety of reasons such as fear of man, desire to impress others, or just out of habit. The problem gets worse when lying is justified by calling it  “white lies” or claiming that it does not hurt anybody else. Some might even self-righteously claim that they lied to protect a friend or a loved one.

Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. Psalm 120:2 

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. John 14:14-16

Jesus left the disciples with an important truth about their new identity, which was going to be revealed to them in the process of time. He told them that they were no longer going to be His servants but His friends. He also told them that He was going to make known to them the things of God.

This may have excited and even flattered the disciples. Being the friend of Jesus would have been a more prestigious position than just being a servant. They could have felt the extra special “click” whom Jesus wanted to associate with.  In reality, the disciples did not really understand the ramification of this new identity.

Many times we do not fully understand God’s word to us. We may get very excited at the beginning when we hear God’s voice concerning our identity or receive a prophetic word, but over time we wonder about the fulfillment of that identity.

The new identity as the friend of Jesus did not transpire right away in the disciples’ lives, but this truth began to be revealed to them one day at a time starting on the Day of Pentecost. This new identity was going to build on their previous identity as fishermen of men, and it was going to upgrade the nature of their relationship with Jesus to a new level.

The idea of friendship with Jesus, would have looked very different than what Jesus had in mind. Their choice would have been to be closer and spend more time with Jesus in person, but that was not what God had in mind. Their friendship began when Jesus was taken up and when the Holy Spirit came upon them. They received the resident comforter and counselor who was going to always be with them. The disciples had to grow up fast, and as representatives of Jesus, they had to begin to think, speak, and act like Jesus.  They also had to do away with their competitiveness for a superior position in Jesus’ circle and begin to work as a team.

We also have our own ideas of how this new identity is going to work out in our lives. Certain circumstances and situations that we had not imagined can cause us to get disillusioned with our identity and the call of God in our lives. However, God’s work is not limited to our understanding, and we have to be willing to go through the process with Him without fully liking or understanding the process.

The disciples’ obedience as fishermen of men had grown them to a level where Jesus was giving them more authority and heavenly privileges, but they also had greater responsibility. Now, they were supposed to continue the mission Jesus began by sharing the Gospel and making disciples of others.

I think, most of the time we claim we have faith because we are comfortable with our circumstances. However, when our faith is challenged through perplexing circumstances or uncertain future that is when its true nature revealed. The disciples’ new identity as the friend of Jesus had to develop in the crucible of an uncertain future and in the absence of Jesus. This would have seemed like an oxymoron to the disciples.

Our new identity in God will also grow when we are willing to go through the process with God and allow Him to unfold what He has spoken concerning our lives. If we are developing friendship with God, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to comfort and counsel us one day a time and learn to depend on Him at a new level. Friendship with God is very different than friendship with people. Friendship with God requires deeper level of faith and trust in Him when everything in our carnal nature wants to oppose it.

Please don’t give up on God’s identity for you. He is working on us in ways that do not make sense in order to fulfill His word in our lives. He is faithful to accomplish it as we surrender ourselves to His process.

When Jesus intersected the disciples’ lives, they were busy working as fishermen and making a livelihood for their families. A different calling or identity was not on their mind.

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-20

Jesus told them that their identity was about to change and that they were going to become fishers of men. This identity was going to be based on following Jesus and being shaped through their relationship with Him.  The disciples were willing to leave their nets and follow Jesus immediately, They didn’t know where Jesus was going, but they were willing to take the risk and follow Him. I doubt if they fully understood what it meant to be fishers of men. Jesus found busy fishermen and intersected their lives to completely change their worldview and their value system.

Most of us have had encounters with the Lord when we weren’t looking for Him, but at a moment in time, He intersected our lives and completely changed our passion, hope, and dreams. He replaced the worldly desires with the passion for His presence and His glory. In some ways, we were like the disciples. We knew our identity was being changed, but we weren’t sure where we were headed and what to expect in our relationship with the Lord.

The disciples walked with Jesus for three years and ministered to people under Jesus’ direction and guidance. They assumed that being fishers of men was about their limited ministry under the supervision of their teacher. This was evident when they went back to fishing after Jesus was crucified. They must have thought that their identity as fishers of men was over. Therefore, it was time for them to return to who they were before.

Our disappointments cause us to go back to our familiar places. The familiar always appears more real than something that we don’t understand. The familiar is more comfortable than the person who has disappointed us.

I’m so glad that Jesus did not give up on the disciples. He also does not give up on us. Today, if you are questioning certain aspects of your identity in Christ, be real with Him in prayer. Submit and surrender the perplexing issue to the Lord. Refrain from blaming and accusing others about your situation.  Be open to receiving His words of life, comfort, and correction. His presence and assurance will settle your identity in Him!

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10

Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.  And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.” Exodus 3:15-17

Moses was a shepherd for his father-in-law for forty years and he was content with that role. However, God was about to close that chapter on his life and move him into a new dimension. God called Moses to be Israel’s deliverer, but Moses was reluctant and did not see himself capable of doing it.

Moses questioned God and wondered why Pharaoh would take his demand seriously. The Lord showed Moses that He was with him by turning Moses’ rod into a snake, and then He had Moses catch it by its tail to become a rod again. Then God allowed Moses’ hand become leprous and then He restored back to normal. A snake and a leprous hand would have been frightening to anyone, yet, Moses was still reluctant because he had a stutter. God solved his problem by picking Aaron, his brother, to be his spokesperson. 

Sometimes the Lord has to take drastic measures to help us believe that our season has changed and that we need to embrace our new identity. We don’t like it when life situations seem uncertain and out of our control. We like to be comfortable and certain, but it is in these new dimensions that we become more intimate with God and less religious. We have no other option except to seek His face and to depend on His mighty hand to walk with us in those unknown situations.

Moses’ new identity as the deliverer of Israel caused him to seek God and to get to know Him. When had the simple job of shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep, he could operate on cruise control, but he could do that no longer.  He had to depend on the Lord because the situations he was going to encounter were going to be difficult, uncertain, and unique.

We also like our predictable life where we have a level of control and familiarity with our surroundings, but when God wants to give us a new identity everything changes. We used to easily prescribe scriptures to others and think that it will fix people’s problems if they took it once a day, but now we don’t want others’ pre-packaged prescription. We need God in a level that we cannot even articulate. Nowadays. we seek His presence at a deeper level to calm our nerves rather than just singing some good worship songs to feel good. We are in a place that we desperately need His insight in this new identity that we just stepped in. 

God said to Moses that he was going to be like God to Aaron. Moses had a temporary identity to be as god for Aaron. This was a temporary assignment in order for Aaron to be the mouthpiece for Moses. Aaron was supposed to only speak what Moses instructed him and not add his own thoughts and opinions when he spoke to Pharaoh. Moses understood this temporary identity, and it did not cause him to think that he was more important than Aaron. Neither did he think that Aaron was going to remain in that role for the rest of his life.

In the last forty years of his life, Moses was not only Israel’s deliverer, but God also imparted the law and the Ten Commandments, and Moses is known as the Lawgiver. The Lord has different seasons with different identities for us as well, and when He taps us on the shoulder,  it is time for us to let go of the past identities and step into the new role that He has given us.  

Understanding our identity in Christ is one of the key foundational truths in our walk with God, but our identity develops in new dimensions as we grow in our relationship with the Lord!

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6

The scriptures  tell us that when we accept Jesus’ work on the cross, God wipes away our sins and accepts us into his fold. At one time, we were orphans, but now we are children of God. Being adopted as a child of God seems to be a simple idea, but sometimes it takes a lifetime for us to get a good grasp of this truth and allow it to sink into our spirit and soul. This truth not only sets us free from fear, but it also allows us to believe God’s promises for our future and His purpose for our lives.

When we begin to live as a child of God, the Lord starts to develop new identities in us.  Some of the identities are temporary and some of them become life-long assignments. Moses’ identity changed a few times. He was a Jew but he grew up in Pharaoh’s palace in the presence of Egyptian royalty. When he was grown, he left that life behind because he knew that was not part of his true identity. He murdered an Egyptian to protect a Hebrew, but that caused him to run to desert and flee from being captured by Pharaoh. He must have felt that his burden for his brethren was a fleshly and dangerous zeal! However, God had a plan for that burden!

Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” Exodus 2:21-22

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Exodus 3:1

Moses tried to put his bad experience behind,  and in the process he let go of his true identity. He married Zipporah’s daughter and became a father and a shepherd taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep until God met him in the desert at the burning bush. While he seemed content with his life, God was  not finished with him and the Lord was about to change his identity forever. 

Sometimes we don’t see the fruit of the burden God placed on our hearts. We become disappointed and disillusioned with what we thought to be true. This leads us to give up on the dream and our true identity, and we find something else to do. The good news is that God knows where to find us when it is time for us to step into the new identity and the role He has for us. 

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

Paul wrote that, “we have this treasure in jars of clary” (See 2 Corinthians 4:7). While clay can make useful containers, it is fragile and brittle. Similarly, we also can be useful to God but remain frail and vulnerable. That’s why it is important not to look at our usefulness as a sign of strength. While we should be thankful that God uses us, our various ministry roles do not change our vulnerability. Peter found this out the hard way, and it completely caught him by surprise.

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” Luke 22:31-34

Based on all the stories we read in the Bible, Peter seems to be the bravest and the boldest of all the disciples . He was the one who declared Jesus to be the Messiah. Peter was also the only disciple who stepped out of the boat and walked on water.  Finally, he also had the bravery to defend Jesus and cut off the ear of the solider that tried to arrest Him.

Peter had an impressive resume of boldness and zeal, but those qualities did not buy him immunity from being vulnerable. He never thought in a million years that he would ever deny Jesus, but in his moment of weakness, he did the unthinkable. Peter didn’t deny Jesus just once but three times!

If you were Peter, how would you have felt about denying Jesus? It would have been easy to feel like a failure or a hypocrite. He could have questioned his faith and wondered how real was his experience in ministering with Jesus for three years. Peter found himself bankrupt and perplexed while he had been trained by powerful teachings he had received from Jesus.

Peter had a mixture of fleshly and spiritual confidence up to that moment. This made him presumptuous of his abilities to the point that he refuted Jesus’ prediction about the denial of him! In addition, his association with Jesus may have given Peter false confidence, and in time, he had to stand on his own spiritual feet!

While our circumstances look very different than Peter’s, we can also suddenly find ourselves bewildered and weak in a moment of pressure. Jesus knew that Peter was going to deny him, and He told Peter that he had prayed for him. Similarly, Jesus understands our frailties. Our weak moments do not surprise Him, but they expose something that we need to address with God. Jesus restored Peter for the work He had for Peter was far more important than letting Peter sulk in his failure.

Praise God for His grace and mercy! It takes a huge burden off of our shoulders when we realize that not only God is not surprised by our frailty, but Jesus is interceding  on our behalf, so we can get through the situation and come out stronger on the other side!

We all know that a successful Christian life has peaks and valleys, but most of us hate to be in a valley. We don’t like the times of weakness because they make us think that we must not be a good Christian. 

We have learned to quote the Bible and speak eloquently of the giants in the faith. However, at times, we find ourselves at a loss for words or scriptures to console ourselves or others. It seems that everything we have learned and known up to that point, evaporates in a moment, and we are left bewildered in how to respond to the situation at hand. The truth is that we are not alone, and the Bible has some examples of brave and Godly individuals who found themselves lost and dumbfounded for a season.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” 1Kings 19:1-5

Elijah had mightily faced prophets of Baal and shown them the power of God in the midst of grave opposition. That was a major feat for any man of God. Nowhere in the Bible is there any information about Elijah’s apprehension in facing these false prophets or wondering if God was going to come through for him. However, one woman’s threat changed everything for him! Jezebel’s threat led him to not only run away, but he also dreaded being alive! Why was there such a drastic change in Elijah’s life!?

We all can feel helpless like Elijah at times. We may be strong for a long time, but one thing takes us completely off course. Or we can be strong in many areas, but certain things or people push our vulnerable button and cause us to question ourselves. 

Is it possible that Elijah’s accomplishments gave him a false sense of self-righteousness? Success has a deceptive way of making us think that we are capable apart from God! Whenever we begin to feel self-righteous, it becomes a set-up by the enemy to attack us! If our focus becomes what we can do, then we look to ourselves when a new challenge arises.

Our spiritual walk was never intended to be done apart from the Lord! Our success should bring us closer in intimacy with Christ. Otherwise, we are trapped by that success, and now we begin to have greater confidence in our ability than God’s power. When a new challenge comes along our way, we measure it against our strength, and we fall short because our strength was never meant to be enough to face that challenge.

In addition, Elijah felt all alone that he was the only righteous person left. We are always meant to stay connected with others. If we just get busy with the tasks of the day or relish on our success at the sacrifice of relationships, sooner or later, we will find ourselves emotionally bankrupt. 

From Youtube:Healing hand of God by Jeremy Camp

If you are feeling frail today, remember that you are not alone and this does not make you a weak or a bad Christian. Talk to the Lord and be honest with your heart condition. Let Him comfort you with His spirit as He helps you how to deal with the situation!