One of the things I’ve learned and relearned, and have to learn again when it comes to talking to God is this: to make Him great and big whenever I come to Him. I’m learning to always ascribe righteousness to Him, always thinking well of Him and not evil, and to understand that He is for me, not against me. Whenever I do that in my prayer, all other things that seem insurmountable or dreadful are put in their place. They become nothing in the sight of God. The Bible states,
“Sanctify the LORD of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.” {Isaiah 8:13}
“I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.” {Job 36:3}
I don’t know about you but there are times life can sometimes be overwhelming, and the first thing that I do when things go wrong in my life is complain to God and point out to Him what is wrong. By the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. After all, I have to come to Him with all my heart and hide nothing from Him. The Lord has said to come to Him with all of our hearts to find Him. {Jeremiah 29:13} He wants truth and honesty from us all the time. If this is how I feel, this is how I will come. However, I don’t choose to stay in this path for good either. I don’t choose to wallow in self-pity and martyrdom either, or even blaming the Lord. This is a dead-end for me. I’ve learned this by experience again and again, that staying in self-pity and anger and finger pointing, is a dead-end for me. I will never go anywhere except deeper down to the road of self-destruction and depression. So I’ve learned by this to turn around and magnify God and make Him greater than my problems instead. This is what He has taught me again and again in my talks with Him. He has taught me it is okay to pour out my heart and soul to Him whenever I’m distraught and tell Him what is wrong with my life and tell Him what I really feel, even when I feel like I’m really complaining and whining to Him and doing a pity party. But He has taught me by experience as well that as soon as I turn around and thank Him for working things out for me, and even thank Him for my problems because He knows what is best for me, He lifts me up. I kid you not, that feeling of sorrow and sadness and wretchedness and misery, goes away. I don’t know exactly how to explain this except by experience. I’ve known this to be true in times past and even again last night with my time with Him. I was crying and being so angry how things are and feeling so sorry for myself, but the minute I said, “I love You, Lord. I’m so glad I have You in my life. I thank You so much, Lord Jesus, for being so gracious to me and for always being there for me…” On and on, thanking Him for loving me and being there for me, I felt so much better right away. I don’t know how He does it, but it always works.
Another thing, I find what works in getting through to God in my prayer is admitting I’m wrong. I know this is the toughest of all – admitting I’m wrong and I’m sorry I said or did some things. This is so tough! But again, it works. As soon as I admit to the Lord and acknowledge Him because He’s dealing with me and showing me my true self, and what really the motive behind what I said or did that hurt another person for example, instantly I feel His forgiveness and blessing. Whenever I become completely pathetic and true in myself to Him about my heart, I feel a definite release of wretchedness and guilt away from my soul and spirit. I instantly feel liberation in my soul and in my spirit. It really is awesome. It might be really hard to do at first, even at times it literally feels like dying to myself, but the reward outweighs the struggle each and every time. It is always so worth it to come clean to the Lord and be honest and open with Him. I’ve experienced this so many times to say that it really does work.
Then, when I do what He tells me to do in my spirit or nudges for me to do in my spirit, whether to apologize to the person I’ve hurt or to forgive that person who hurt and offended me, He blesses me. Again, my soul feels liberated. I feel like I’m on top of the world. I feel a surge of faith come into my heart and into my spirit that tells me everything is going to be all right. All my fears and apprehensions go away. He assures me He will work it out for me and sure enough, He works everything out for my good. Again and again I’ve experienced that when I do what the Lord desires for me to do, even as hard as it feels so many times in the beginning, He ends up blessing me. He gives me joy and strength in my heart. He takes care of my situation and opens the way for me so I can freely walk through it with confidence in my soul.
Finally, because I obeyed what His Spirit tells me to do and came out open and clean to Him, I can rebuke Satan, the enemy of my soul to go away and leave me alone. With him goes the spirit of depression, and the deep inexplicable sadness that he brings to us whenever we entertain his suggestions. The Lord has shown me that Satan has the power to manipulate our hearts whenever we respond to him whether through anger, through rebellion, or through cursing someone back or getting even with them, etc. Whenever we find ourselves responding to injustice with evil, for example someone says something that hurt us and we turn around and revile them back and hurt them back, we are actually inviting sin in and the enemy. The word of God said not to pay back evil for evil, or insult for insult but rather give blessing so we can turn around and inherit a blessing in return. Basically, you will reap what you sow. This is how Apostle Peter penned it:
Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. {1 Peter 3:9}
In other words:
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. {Luke 6:28}
One of the things we can do that can really keep God away from us is un-confessed sins. I tell you right now by experience, it’s not worth it. I’d rather be wrong and happy than be right and miserable. Life is too short to stay angry and miserable. I’d rather humble myself before the Lord and swallow my pride and come out clean and honest with Him. Anyway, I’ve found He is a very fair God. He doesn’t let the wicked get away with their wickedness either. Have you ever been hurt by someone really badly and have decided to stay angry with them and not forgive them, even though the Lord has dealt with you about letting it go and now you can’t even pray anymore? If every time you pray there is this wall that comes up before you before God, then maybe it’s time to just come out and be honest with the Lord with it. I always say, better have it out with the Lord than be miserable. This is what I love about talking to the Lord: you can defend yourself to Him. You don’t have to be afraid about not speaking up for yourself and being bold with Him about where you stand and why you did the things you did. He said in His word after all,
“Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.” {Isaiah 41:21}
Really, present your case to Him and bring your best arguments to Him. He is a fair judge, He will listen to your side of the story believe it or not. I have experienced this with Him numerous times. He will not ever condemn you or belittle you. He won’t ever make you feel like you’re a horrible person because you’re coming out honest to Him. Actually, He loves it when we do this because He knows coming clean to Him is hard for us, it is not easy. He knows how tough this is for many of us. Satan on the other hand, likes to make us feel horrible and terrible about ourselves. He likes to frighten us from being honest with the Lord. He wants us to think the axe is going to come down and fall from heaven if we do that. It’s all lies, for after all the Bible states, he is the father of lies. {John 8:44} Satan likes to accuse us to the Lord because the Bible states he is the accuser of the brethren. {Revelation 12:10} He did it with Job he will do it to us too. The Lord on the other hand I have experienced, gently shows me my heart and deals with me kindly. Oh, He is ever so gentle. He understands us so much. Remember He said in His word that He is meek and lowly in heart and that we will find rest upon our souls when we come to learn who He is. {Matthew 11:28-30} I have learned this to be true, that He is ever so meek and lowly in heart. He never condemns and makes me feel bad about myself. He is always so gentle with me in my moment of vulnerability. There actually have been times that He’s shown me I was in the right and asked me to forgive that person that hurt me. I would have not ever experienced this side of Him if I stayed afraid of being true and honest with Him. I love Him so much, He is so good. Remember:
“Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.” {Isaiah 41:21}
Here’s the thing I’m learning from the Lord, whenever I make Him great in my prayer and acknowledge His dealings with me about being honest with Him with my heart, He always makes me feel better afterwards. Whenever I come out and confess to Him about what I’ve done wrong and being guilty of hurting someone, He never condemns me but forgives and blesses me in return. Whenever I turn around and forgive the person He tells me to forgive and pray for them that He will bless them, He turns around and gives me joy. And lastly, He honors my prayers and gives me the power and the right to rebuke Satan out of my house and out of my life so that he has no power over my heart to keep depression inside. My prayers end up bringing me joy and satisfaction each and every time. I can look forward to talking to the Lord knowing that with Him there is liberty. I get through to the Lord because I know He is for me.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” {Galatians 5:1}
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” {2 Corinthians 3:17-18}
Prayer
Lord I thank You with all of my heart that You are always there. That You are always for me and not against me. That no matter what I’m going through You are always and above all greater than anything I can ever face and experience in this life. Thank You Father, with all of my heart, for giving Your life for me at the cross at Calvary so that I can experience Your grace and forgiveness today, Your compassion and Your mercy. I am so lost without You! You are so awesome, Lord Jesus! I love You so much.
Please Savior, I pray once again for Your grace and Your help upon me today. Please, Father, give me faith in You. Please Lord Jesus, give me faith in Your great love for me to believe that You understand me and desire to heal me. Help me Lord Jesus to surrender to You all of my hurts and all of my apprehensions. Help me to pray and come and talk to You all the time. Help me to ask You whatever it is I need from You for You have said to ask so that my joy may be full. Please Lord Jesus bless me today with great faith in You and a desire to always talk with You. I pray all these things in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You with all of my heart, Father. Amen.
Rp10/2017
