Daily Devotional December 2 - You have to yield to wield

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." John 14:13-14 "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, that ye should go forth and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you." John 15:16 "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." James 1:6-7

I can tell you right now that I have prayed for a great many things that did not come to pass. I have prayed, pleaded with and even begged God at times to do this or that in the mighty name of Jesus. I have prayed to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and many, many times I did not get an answer, nor did what I prayed for come to pass. Have you had a similar experience?

I have heard so many sermons on this issue and most of them say that God answers yes, no or wait. I would be satisfied with yes, no or wait, but I am talking about the times when you would give anything for a clear answer and God lets you wallow in the land of uncertainty.
Have you ever wondered why, when you pray about something quite important and you are careful to pray in Jesus' name, yet nothing easily discernible, nothing conspicuous happens.
What happens to your faith when you are afraid or worn out or worried about something really big and you call on God and and you don't get called back?
Have you ever been mad at God because you were sure that God could hear you, but He wouldn't lift a hand to help you?
Have you ever questioned why some things happened and went the wrong way in spite of your true faith prayers?
I hope you have experienced some of these let downs or else I would know that you haven't come very far with Jesus yet.

If every word of the scriptures are true, then why is there this dichotomy between asking and receiving? You are probably thinking that I am going to answer this question with some formula that you just haven't heard before, something that makes you think, something that exposes the great secrets of God, hidden from mortal men, found after deep digging in the mines of God's wisdom. Sorry.

God has withheld much from us followers and seekers of God's will. We should be thankful. Our plates are already full. We can barely manage what we do know, much less the hidden things of God. As a whole we are a much mixed up and confused group of believers. At times I wonder why God would entrust such precious information as that of the salvation of the soul to mortal man. God must know how we will abuse our power, misuse our positions, cause separation by classes, hide what we know from others so that we can act like we know more than they do, distribute unsubstantiated doctrines of men, sell the gospel for money, and even make up stories about how this cloth or that towelette or this tape of that book is the cure-all for the human condition. At times I'm surprised that God entrusted man to even know what we know. We haven't done a very good job of becoming Christ-like and living seriously as children of the living God.

That being said, we are in a fallen world and Jesus did not take that away from us. It is this fallen world that must take the heat for all the interference between God and man, for all the misunderstandings and confusion. It appears that God says one thing and another thing happens because of this fallen world. It's hard to get a clear picture in a foggy bottom.

This much I do know.
What God says is true.
If there is a mis-understanding, I am certain that it is I who has misunderstood.
If there is unanswered prayer it is due to my inability to ascertain the answer in its purest form.
If there is confusion it is because I trust in too many chiefs.
If there is any reason to be mad at God it is that I am ignorant of the ways of God and I am suffering the consequences of that ignorance.
If there is any doubt that pervades our soul, it is there by invitation, a sordid cat and mouse game that we play so we can continue to blame our humanity for our own freewill choices.
If there is any lack of faith, it's not because the fount of faith is running dry, it is because we place thimble under the faucet when we need a bucket.
If there is any lack of power, it's not because God isn't pouring out His Spirit on the people. It's because we have to yield to wield.