Tag: doubts

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Why Can’t I Get Through to God?

I pulled up at an intersection hoping to turn onto a thoroughfare only to discover that the street looked like a parking lot. Traffic had been diverted through our normally quiet neighborhood from a freeway several miles away. A truck accident was blocking the roadway and rush hour traffic was backed up for miles. My route was blocked.

Did you ever have the feeling that your prayer life was choked by spiritual grid lock? That no matter what you tried, you didn’t feel that you were getting through to God?

Isaiah the prophet put his finger on this condition when he wrote, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). In the New Testament  James understood this problem: “When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3).

There are hindrances to prayer that must be cleared away if we want to get through to God. I will mention three of them.

Unbelief

There is an old story of a midwestern town that was suffering from an extended drought. The townspeople decided it was time to gather to pray for rain. When they came together only one small girl had faith enough to bring an umbrella! That’s how it is too often for some Christians. They pray without expecting that God will answer their prayers.

James 1:7 says that unbelief is a major obstacle to prayer. What can we do about our doubts? First, we should keep on praying. We should not let our anxious misgivings keep us from coming to God out of sheer obedience. When our faith is wavering let us pray the prayer of the helpless father in Mark 9:17-24: “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!”

Second, we should remind ourselves of God’s promises. It is said that George Muller kept a careful record of his prayer requests — and of God’s answers. His prayer journal was a reminder to him of God’s faithfulness to his word.

Once I was praying with a Christian man who was unemployed. He was distressed and desperately needed to see God supply the needs of his family. I heard him pour out his heart to his heavenly Father, reciting one after another of God’s promises. My own faith was strengthened as he prayed.

Weariness

It is easy to identify with the disciples of our Lord. The hour was late. They had just eaten a big meal. They were exhausted.

The gospels record how they fell asleep at the very time Jesus needed their companionship in prayer (Matthew 26:36-41). Three times the Lord found them sleeping. His words, “The spirit is willing but the body is weak” show how patient he was with their physical limitations — and with ours.

Prayer is not easy. It is not always enjoyable. It requires dedication and persistence So, we should set aside some good time for prayer when our minds are alert and our bodies are rested. King David made it a point to meet with God in the morning. “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you” (Psalm 5:3).

The prophet Elijah was physically and emotionally drained. He was so depressed that the only prayer he could manage was for death to take him (1 Kings 19:4-7). Before God began to use him again, he sent an angel to minister to his physical needs. After Elijah had slept for a while and had taken nourishment, God sent him back to an effective ministry. Sometimes the best aid to a spiritual life is a good night’s sleep.

Marital conflict

Some folks make the mistake of trying to develop a relationship with God while ignoring their relationship with their spouses. The apostle Peter says they are connected. Christian wives are to adapt themselves to their husbands’ leadership and husbands are to treat their wives with consideration and respect (1 Peter 3:1-7). This, he says, is so that nothing will hinder their prayers!

The Bible says that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:23). How can we husbands love our wives as Christ loves the church? Christ laid down his life for the church. Most husbands would react instinctively if their wives were in danger, sacrificing themselves if necessary. But in addition to the heroic moments that may come once in a lifetime, there is the daily sacrifice of one’s self-interest in little ways for the benefit of the wife.

How does Christ love the church? Christ intercedes for us (John 17; Hebrews 7:25). A husband who loves his wife will pray for her. Christ is building his church (Matthew 16:19). Christian husbands are to build up their wives instead of cutting them down with criticism (Colossians 3:19).

How does Christ love the church? He listens when we pray to him. A Christlike husband will pay attention when his wife talks to him. If we husbands want the Lord to hear us when we pray, perhaps we had better learn to listen to our wives.

Christ promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  A husband or wife who wants an unrestricted prayer life must promise the same thing.

Here, then, are three of the ways our prayers may be hindered. If we deal with them according to scripture,  our confidence in prayer may be restored and spiritual power renewed.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Make Room for Doubters

Make Room for Doubters

Graham Johnston wrote about a conversation he had with a man in his thirties living in his hometown of Perth, Australia. He asked him, “Do you ever attend church?”

He replied, “Not really.”

“Do you ever wonder about spiritual matters?”

“Well, yes, who doesn’t?”

Johnston then asked, “If you have questions about spiritual matters, don’t you feel that the church could address some of those issues?”

His response was interesting: “The church is for those who already believe, not for people like me.”

Is it really? is the church only for naive adherents whose gullibility and enthusiasm keep them from thinking deeply? The Bible gives us a different picture.

The Gospel of Matthew closes with Jesus appearing to his disciples in Galilee after his resurrection. Matthew says in 28:17,  “When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.” These were, apparently, disciples of Jesus who had not yet seen him in person. Were they among the five hundred Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:6?

In any case, Matthew includes them among the disciples. They just couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Matthew writes with sympathy toward these hesitant ones. D. A. Carson commented: “Jesus’ resurrection did not instantly transform men of little faith and faltering understanding into spiritual giants.”

Perhaps Matthew had in mind his own skepticism and that of the other disciples about the first reports of Jesus’ resurrection. Or he may have been thinking about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who at first did not recognize the Lord when he appeared to them on the day of his resurrection. Or Thomas, who needed extra confirmation before his incredulity could be dispelled.

“But some doubted.” Surely this tells us that there is room in the church for those with honest doubts. Jesus’ patience with “doubting Thomas” is proof of that. Thomas needed evidence for the resurrection and Jesus gave it to him. What was it that quieted the doubts of these Galilean disciples?

The authority of Jesus’ presence and his words (Matthew 28: 18-20) must have turned some of them from doubt to certainty. Perhaps they prayed, as you and I sometimes pray, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). This is the kind of honest praying that pleases the Lord.

Martin Luther put it this way: “Dear Lord, although I am sure of my position, I am unable to sustain it without Thee. Help Thou me or I am lost.”

One other thing that strengthened the faith of these early disciples, was the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, a few weeks later. This was a  supernatural confirmation because it was a supernatural transformation. Believers today are given the same Holy Spirit who confirms the words of Jesus to us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

This leads me to the following conclusions.

  • We should talk openly to Jesus about our own doubts. Philip Yancey wrote, “But in honesty, I must admit that even now, after two decades of rich and rewarding faith, I am vulnerable to…doubt.” Jesus shows immense sympathy for our weakness, as he did with his first disciples.
  • Let’s be patient and gracious to others who express doubts. There is a role for the church to play in their spiritual experience. Often it has been the faith and unconditional love of church members that have helped bring skeptics to faith in Jesus.
  • Encourage the doubter to trust the authoritative word of Christ who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live” (John 11:25). It all comes down to faith in his promise. “Faith comes by hearing the message (in church?), and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17).

“The church is for those who already believe, not for people like me.” Well, it is true that the church is an assembly of believers. But there is also a loving welcome for the doubter who comes with an open mind to hear the word of Christ. Those with doubts “must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 24-25).

    –  Pastor Randy Faulkner

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