Still?

 I've longed prayed for myself, as well as for those I've pastored, that He would break the spirit of mistrust and the unholy fear of Him that so many are trapped in. An inability to trust God almost always stems from an unholy fear of Him. By unholy I mean an attitude and mindset that believes that God is against us, means us harm, means to lessen our standard of life, not add to it. These attitudes, to whatever degree they exist, are present because  we don't know Him, and ignorance of who He really is can be a spiritual stronghold in our mind and heart.

The verse, "If God is for us, who can be against us," may be widely quoted, but there are great numbers who in their hearts, don't really believe He is for them at all. The thought that He is trustworthy may be in their mind, but the reality of it has yet to reach their heart. As a result, we cling to something or someone else, be they people, finances, professions, even ministries. Above all of them, we cling to and depend upon ourselves. We seek manage and control all of these and all of how they can and do affect us. All the while we live in a growing sense of anxiety and fear because deep down, we know we can't control all the things going on around us, or the people involved with them. As a result, all of that which we're trying to control just gets more and more out of control. We want to believe in the truth that He is for us, but we can't because we lack any real experience of that. We lack it because we don't really know Him. The Father declares in Scripture, "My people are perishing for lack of knowledge." The proof of this is seen everywhere. Is it being seen in you?

There's a lot of talk and teaching within the church concerning the need for communication in marriage and relationships, and that is a need, yet there is so little being taught and said about how communicate with Him. We don't really know how to talk with our Lord. We talk at Him, not to Him. This is true even in the lives of those who would say they have been walking with Him for many years. We're like the disciple Thomas, called by many, "Doubting Thomas." Jesus, in love, gently rebuked his doubt by asking, "Have I been with you so long Thomas, and STILL you don't know Me?" How often must He ask us this same question?

In my prayers, I seek that He would teach us how to really pray. Not just ask for things, but to relate, communicate in deep and intimate ways. This is what prayer is meant to be. What prayer should be for us. Yet, more often than not, it's a hurried obligation, or a "to do list" to be presented to Him. He wants to talk. He wants to hear our, your, heart, and the heartaches upon it. He wants you to share your hearts hopes and dreams, and its burdens too. More, He wants to share His heart with you. His hopes and dreams for you. The purposes He has for you, and above all, how precious and loved beyond words you are to and by Him. Author and speaker Priscilla Shirer asks, "Satan wants to make us dependent upon others for hearing from God.....if He loves us enough to die for us, doesn't He love us enough to talk to us?" 

The apostle John wrote in I John 3:2-3, "Beloved, we are God's children; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." I know the full realization of the Scripture lies in the future, but we don't have to wait till then to begin to come into that realization. We can know Him as fully as we are capable right now. His time for knowing Him is always NOW! Ignorance, fear, and mistrust of Him is a spiritual and emotional prison and such is never His plan for you. How long has He been with you and yet you still don't know Him? In the midst of Thomas' doubts, Jesus invited Him to lay hold of Him and know the truth. He invited us, you, to do the same. He invited us to intimacy with Him. Lay hold of Him. Know Him. Now!

Blessings,
Pastor O