Deuteronomy 4:29-31 (KJV)
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
There are 1595 ifs in the bible denoting conditions to be met before blessings are released. Repeatedly throughout scripture you will read phrases similar to “if you… He will…” It was what we call “conditional promises.” In other words, God will give us a key in the form of a condition that will unlock the blessing he has wrapped in a promise.
People oftentimes will subtly feel resentment at God because they feel he is not doing something in an automatic way. We often believe that if God wants to do something for us, that it’s all up to him whether he does it or not, and we have little to nothing to do with it. Nothing could be further from the truth! Our decisions have everything to do with it.
Consider the most famous of all scriptures which is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus states that if a person believes in the only begotten son, then the blessing of eternal life will be released into their life.
I have to admit that there is a lot of wasted prayers due to ignorance. Many pray things that will not be answered due to a lack of understanding what our personal responsibility is in the situation. I will give you some examples of what I am saying. Here are some ways we pray that indicates we believe that God will just do it without any personal responsibility of our own.
1. We will pray “Lord, I am lonely send me some friends!” The Lord will then remind you of a key and where it is found.
Here is your key:
Proverbs 18:24 (KJV) A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
He is saying “be friendly to others and you will gain friends.” You can pray till the cows come home, but if you don’t use the key you will not receive the benefit!
2. We pray “Lord, please touch my mind – it is confused and miserable and depressed and I am full of worry”
Here’s your key:
Isaiah 26:3 (KJV) Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
IF your mind is always on the problem then how do you expect to have peace?
3. We pray “Lord stop this from my enemies and I pray that you make them treat me better…”
Here’s your keys:
Matthew 5:44 (KJV) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Romans 12:20-21 (KJV) Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. [21] Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
God wrote this book for us to use – it is a doing religion! These keys work and this is how you apply the Word.
It all comes down to the original point – if you… God will…
This is all so true! I think we all live in such a fast pace, selfish world and everything is handed to us and that we think everything revolves around us and "click" "click" things should happen our way or else and we never stop to think if we would use the "keys" the door unlocks! And that's not all, we have to get off of our lazy blessed assurance and put forth an effort to unlock the door and walk in. We have the garage door opener mentality. "IF"= the hinge on the door that we are responsible for!
ReplyDeleteGreat article my friend! :-}