Whatever we ask
Did you know you have access to God?
Now, here’s the deal: we are all very busy talking! Society has exploded with technology and tools that allow us to “talk” to each other. We are communicating, we are sharing, and we are unpacking our lives, our hearts, our hopes and our fears to just about anyone who will listen. In fact, because of social media, it has become completely acceptable to share the most private details of our lives with people we don’t even know!
And with all of these public conversations about everything happening in our lives, it makes me wonder about our private conversations with God.
With all that is happening in our world, are we talking to God more or less?
Is our conversation with Him getting longer or shorter? When life happens – and it always does – is He our very first call, or do we simply give Him a courtesy update, later?
With so many new challenges swirling in our personal lives, and in the world around us, we need to make sure that we do all we can to pray our way forward.
In 1 John 5, the apostle writes to believers who are dealing with a sense of unmet expectations. So, they are discouraged. They are somewhat “weary” with their faith walk. They are discovering that – at times – it gets hard to continue in righteousness! They’ve been beat down by the influence of the world, and the constant threat of persecution. But not only that, they’ve recently dealt with a barrage of false teachers and heresy – so for many, it felt like they were JUST BARELY HOLDING ON.
Have you ever experienced that?
Have you ever felt like you were just barely holding on to faith?
So, John’s letter arrives as a source of encouragement. He’s trying to remind them that even though things may feel a bit shaky – you are still very much SECURE in Christ! Let me help you with that…
Just because you feel insecure, doesn’t mean that you are unsecured.
Which means, your feelings are your feelings. And certainly, they come from your experiences. But understand this – there is something that is more true than your feelings. This is John’s reminder. He writes:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 (NIV)
John says, “Regardless of how you FEEL – I want you to KNOW!”
That means there are some things that are absolutely certain. They just are! There is much to be said about hope. There is much to be said about optimism and believing for the best. But also, there are things you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt!
No matter where you are, no matter what you are going through, no matter what you are up against, no matter how you feel in your current circumstances…
We have access to God!
All of our confidence should flow from this. It shouldn’t come from the circumstances themselves, and it shouldn’t come from how we think they might turn out…
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
