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Psalm 116:1-11 – Imagine yourself on a frosty roof for some reason and you slip and fall. As you slide you are grasping and scratching and clawing, but there is no way to stop yourself. This is a very helpless feeling.
Sometimes we feel like we are completely helpless. An inner struggle that has gotten the best of you and you don’t know which way to turn or what step to take. Or perhaps things seem hopeless.
What do you do when all seems hopeless?
Luke 11:9 – Jesus says that if we ask we’ll receive. He who seeks will find. To him who knocks it will be open. He doesn’t say that it will be given to us immediately, or that the door will be opened immediately, but if we’re asking God we are at the right person and are asking the right person. He is the one who can give us what we need and He can open the door.
Solomon Asks God for Wisdom
2 Chronicles 1:7-12 – Solomon was a fresh new king. God asked Solomon what thing He could grant him… Solomon in his wisdom asked God for more wisdom and knowledge. Solomon wanted wisdom to serve in a God-honoring way, by himself he felt incredibly insufficient. We dare not be too confident in ourselves!
Jeremiah 10:23, James 1:5-8, Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 19:20 – We need more than our own intelligence and God knows that. He promises that if we come humbly we can expect to receive from Him. Lean on Him, don’t trust your own wisdom and knowledge!
If we have prayed and sought the Lord for direction and guidance and the way ahead still seems cloudy and unclear, if we are kneeling and praying we are still closer to the source of the answer than if we hadn’t been praying, asking, seeking, and knocking.
Does God care for and love you as much as Solomon? Scripture would tell us that He does, He cares about you and your wisdom.
Hezekiah Pleads for Deliverance
2 Kings 18 – An army was entrenched against Hezekiah and Jerusalem. Other countries had fallen before the Assyrians. Hezekiah didn’t know what to do next except to fall before the Lord from a humble and desperately pleading heart.
God moved on behalf of the people of Israel and delivered them! So too we can lay our needs and concerns before the Lord and He can and will help us too.
There are things that we are praying about that we don’t know the answer to… but if we have prayed and if we have sought the Lord for intervention. Even if it seems as if nothing is changing, we are still closer to the source of power and deliverance.
So we keep asking and asking earnestly, and we keep seeking earnestly, and we keep knocking earnestly.
The Gadarene Man’s Storm is Calmed by Jesus
Mark 5:6 – At the end of the previous chapter a fierce storm arose quickly, the disciples were terrified and so they woke Jesus up. The storm was calmed with a few words from Jesus.
The storm on the lake was a lot like the storm in the heart of the Gadarene man. He hated himself and often harmed himself. He wished for release from the bondage that he was under. Something drew him to Jesus.
Though he was possessed by a demon, he must have been able to do some things on his own, but the demons took over his body and his voice. Jesus had mercy on this man, He knew the doubt and hurt in his heart and life. Jesus ordered them to leave, so they did.
The Gadarene loved Jesus. Jesus had delivered him. The Gadarene wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him to stay where he was and be a testimony of the change that God can do and his power.
Romans 5:6 – We are unable to save ourselves. When we were weak, when we were helpless, Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice in our place.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – Are you sometimes disappointed with the juvenile, selfish, wrong thoughts that come to your mind? Jealousy, pride, a critical spirit, suspicious and judgmental, or impure thoughts. We don’t want these things, but they come. We know that Paul says, if we are in Christ we are a new creation, all things have become new. Still, we have these struggles.
As we struggle in prayer, seeking the Father, asking for the direction of the Holy Spirit. Know that your Heavenly Father knows what you need, and He wants to give you what you need. We need to have a sense of where we are and our needs.
Luke 18 – The tax collector was a desperate man. He wasn’t embarrassed to stand in the temple before a lot of people and to plea to God… “be merciful to me a sinner!” Jesus said that this man was justified, not the proud Pharisee.
If we’ve prayed and sought the Lord for deliverance from some besetting sin. If we’ve sought the Lord for growth in our lives. If we sometimes despair that there seems to be no victory and no change. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking… we’re still closer to the source of power, the source of all things.
Does Jesus love you as much as He did the demon-possessed Gadarene man? Yes, yes He does.
We want to be close enough to God and praying constantly to Him about our needs, sensing them deeply. Let us stretch our hands towards the Father. Without God, we are lost. With God, we are not lost! God is with us!