Be Careful What You Pray For

1 Samuel 8:1-22; James 4:2-3; Matthew 6:9-13; Psalm 106:15

We've all heard it said; be careful what you wish for. The same is true for prayer. In 1 Samuel chapter 8, the Israelites ask God for a king. Samuel had installed his sons as the new judges over Israel but Israel decides that they want a king instead. Samuel takes the matter to the Lord and the Lord tells him, "look Samuel, don't feel so bad. They are not rejecting you, they are rejecting me, their one true king." God gives Samuel the warnings against it and Samuel warns the people, but they insist. He explains what a king would do and all that he would require of them. It doesn't faze them. They want a king. They want to "be like all the nations." And they get their king. And they suffer the consequences through the ages.

Fortunately, sometimes God simply says no to us if we are asking for something that He knows will be harmful to us. He sees the big picture. We can't see what is coming, or the consequences. We should simply trust Him.

People like to quote the last part of James 4:2, "you do not have because you do not ask." (NASB) But then they skip over the very next verse which says "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." James 4:3 (NASB) Just like the Israelites, sometimes we want things because we want to "be like the nations." We seek the pleasures of the world. But God called us to be separate. He knows what we need and what we don't. So be careful what you "ask" for. He just may give it to you... at your own peril.

1 Samuel 8:7 (NASB)The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

Pastor Mike Deese

A Rare Word

1 Samuel 3:1; Amos 8:11; 2 Timothy 2:15

1 Samuel Chapter 3, verse 1 includes an alarming statement:  ...word from the Lord was rare in those days... (NASB). I had read over this many times, but as I was studying this passage last week it stuck out to me like never before. The Hebrew word for rare used here is transliterated yâqâr and also carries the meaning of precious, costly, splendid, and scarce. How true this is. A word from the Lord is precious, very valuable, and splendid. But during the time before young Samuel comes onto the scene, the Lord was silent. Word from Him was scarce.
Amos 8:11 says “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the Lord. (NASB) That sends chills down my spine. The thought of our continued disobedience invoking silence from God is sobering. In the book Too Busy Not To Pray by Bill Hybels, he gives two reasons why we don't hear God's voice more often. The first is simply because "we don't listen for it. We don't schedule times of stillness that make communication possible." How much time do you invest in being still before the Lord? God doesn't operate on the "drive-through" plan. I have often expected God to speak "on demand" and on my schedule. The truth is, I should seek Him to set my schedule, not the other way around.
"The other reason," Bill suggests, is that "we don't plan to do anything about it... If we don't follow up on the Holy Spirit's promptings, He may see no reason to continue speaking." Why should we expect to hear from God if we don't plan to act?
I would also add that most of us spend little time in His written Word. The majority of Americans have the Word of God in their home, usually multiple copies. But that number drops drastically when it comes to those that read it on a daily basis. How can we expect to hear from Him if we are not in His precious, valuable, and splendid Word? His written Word was also rare at one time. Many men died to see to it that we have the Word of God in our language today, and copies of it to read for ourselves. And now we take it for granted, having multiple copies of it in our home yet rarely opening it to see what He says. Today, God's Word is only rare because of the dust on the cover. We don't make time to study. The scarcity of God's Word is not His fault, and certainly not His desire. Make some time to hear from Him today.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Pastor Mike Deese

A Spiritual Longing

1 Chronicles 16:8-11; Acts 17:24-27; Zephaniah 2:3; Psalm 14:2; Psalm 119:2

I have enjoyed jogging for a few years now. But after a recent injury I had to put all exercise on hold. I was down for over a month. When I was finally able to start back I had to take it slowly; first walking one mile, then slowly moving back into a jog. Soon I was back to jogging three miles a day. Last Friday as I got into my third mile, I really began gasping for breath. But I was determined to get through this jog. And then I felt as if the Lord was telling me, "you know, you should desire my Spirit as desperately as you are gasping for every breath of air that you are taking in right now." In other words, I felt as if He was telling me to passionately pursue Him as desperately as I was passionately pursuing every breath of oxygen I was taking in at that moment. The truth is, we should passionately pursue Him all the time. Not just when we are at the end of our rope. Not just when we are in dire straits and need Him to get us out of a jam. Not just when our world has been turned upside down and we can't go on without Him. Most of us will desperately seek Him during those times when all else has failed. But we should seek the Lord at all times. He has breathed life into us, and we need Him... desperately! We can't live without Him. Seek Him with all your heart, as if your very life depends on it. Because, quite frankly, it does.

Isaiah 55:6 (NASB) Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
Jeremiah 29:13 (NASB) ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Pastor Mike Deese