APPENDIX ONE
What about Matthew 21:22.......ALL THINGS...BELIEVING...SHALL
RECEIVE.
Does this mean we can pray:
1. Please God, I'm late for work, I must speed at 65 in a 45
miles per hour zone. Give me freedom from the police and from
killing someone in a crash.
2. I'm out of work Lord, I have a good job offer but I must work
on the Sabbath for half a day. Please let that be okay with you.
3. Father, I need to embezzle some money to pay the hospital
bills for my sick mother. Please help me find a good way to
embezzle money.
4. My ex wife/husband is a rotten person (taking me to court,
abusing the children, making life hell on earth for me), so
please Lord, help me find the right "hit man" who will blow them
away.
5. I think the President of the USA is an evil man, help me oh
Lord to assassinate him, give me the right opportunity and a good
aim as I pull the trigger.
Can we really pray for "all things" and believing we shall
receive?
I think you will see from the examples I gave that as a
Christian, and knowing the laws and character of God, it is not
possible to just pray for "all things" and receive it from the
Lord.
Matthew 21:22 must be understood in the context of the WHOLE
Bible and many other verses on this subject of prayer. Some of
the other verses we must keep in mind are:
James 4:3
Eph.5:17
1 John 5:14,15
Again, go back over the above pages and meditate upon the section
"Prayers are unanswered when."
NOW, I want you to turn to Matthew 5 and read verses 25,26. Jesus
is talking to His DISCIPLES!! Jesus is talking to any Christian.
Jesus is saying that if a Christian has done wrong, make it right
with those wronged. If the Christian is in the wrong better try
and solve the problem and make it right if possible. If you do
not, don't expect God to erase the physical penalty you may have
to pay - don't expect God to get you off "scot free" from the
physical penalty that may be imposed on you by those you have
wronged.
Please read Romans 13:1-7.
Clearly the powers that be are there because the Lord allows them
to function, and in many cases they are His servants to execute
punishment on those who break laws. James tells us that it is
through law that we have liberty. If there were no laws then
everyone would be a law unto themselves, doing it "my way as a
popular song was entitled. With no laws we would have anarchy,
people driving as they wanted, as fast as they wanted. Imagine
our towns and cities without any laws governing traffic - it
would be a horror show all the time.
Examples:
1. You are stopped and given a speeding ticket by the police -
you ARE guilty and you know it. Will God deliver you from paying
the fine? Even if you pray all night long, I doubt if the
Lord will set you free from the physical penalty - Romans 13
takes effect. If we are guilty the laws of the land usually deal
out some penalty and that is the way the Lord has decreed it
must be, if we are willing to let Romans 13 teach us the truth of
the matter.
2. You rob a bank by "white collar" work - you are guilty. Will
you pay a physical penalty?
Sure you will, the courts of the land will impose some punishment
on you and God will allow it, for they are His servants to
execute punishment upon those who do wrong.
3. Your son/daughter pulls a knife on another classmate and
threatens them with harm. They are guilty. Can you expect God to
give them complete freedom from some sort of punishment from
society for the evil they have done? According to Romans 13 you
must expect a penalty to be paid.
4. Teenagers - you deal in drugs - you get caught - you are
guilty. Don't ask our God to answer our prayers to get you off
"scot free" without some penalty having to be paid. Romans
13 says God's servants will render punishment upon those who do
wrong.
5. If you "drink and drive" and kill someone - you are guilty -
better get ready to pay the price, Romans 13 will kick into gear.
It is very unlikely God will hear any prayers for a "no
punishment" sentence.
God can and will forgive ANY sin/evil upon genuine repentance
the spiritual side of the sin is forgiven and no death penalty is
handed out, but God does not always remove the physical
punishment that He or His servants the judges say must be paid by
the offender - Romans 13.
Here is an outline of what I think our attitude should be in
prayer when a son/daughter/mother/father/brother/sister/close
friend etc. runs amok of the law of the land, when they are
guilty and Romans 13 faces them:
Our heavenly Father, help them to see their error and sin, help
them to turn to you in deep sorrow and repentance. Please help
them and us to FACE and ACCEPT the physical punishment from your
servants the judges(Rom.13). If it is your will, grant that the
judges will be able (if there is evidence) to show some mercy to
be applied in some cases. I have faith that whatever the penalty,
it is your will for your purpose for the ultimate good.
APPENDIX TWO
DOES THE ETERNAL HEAR PRAYERS
FROM PEOPLE NOT IN THE
CHURCH OF GOD?
The woman that went into history as the doctor who delivered
7, yes 7 babies all alive into the world, being interviewed about
it all, said: "To many people God is abstract, but let me tell
you God is not abstract" and then put her face in her hands and
cried.
On the evening of December 24th 1997, the NBC program
DATELINE had a special one hour documentary on mother Bobby
(including her husband and others as well) and her
REMARKABLE pregnancy and delivery of 7 small (but not as small as
could have been expected for sure) babies. The world was WATCHING
and had been for some weeks before.
Don't know about you but I praise the Lord when He now and
again lets the whole world KNOW He is still alive and well, still
ANSWERING prayers, and still able to perform ANYTHING He wills.
What a joy to know and to believe that it is still true, "Nothing
is impossible with God."
Here were two parents, who found that they were possibly
going to have SEVEN babies. It just blows your mind to think
about it. As far as they knew it had never happened before in the
USA, and who knows where else, maybe no other country has
anything on record like it either. These parents did not ask the
Eternal to give them seven children, seven babies all AT ONCE!
They just found they were the parents of seven babies, growing
inside Bobby's womb! For most young couples without the Lord in
their lives there is probably no way they would have tried to
carry seven babies to birth - natural reduction would have been
chosen. The doctor's offered this to Bobby - a picking of what
would be considered as the healthiest of the babies, and ABORTING
the rest. But as Bobby said, because they believe LIFE begins at
CONCEPTION (which indeed it does as proved not only by physical
science but the Bible) such a choice was NO CHOICE. There would
be NO THOUGHT of such a thing, and as she said they did not want
ANY doctor serving them who would want to regularly badger them
with such an idea. For Bobby and her husband, it was full steam
ahead, and let the Lord work His work, as He wished it to be.
This young couple were and are a SINCERELY religious couple,
faithful members of their church. They have a personal faith in
the Almighty and His Son. Soon the whole congregation knew about
this wonder taking place. For a number of months they were asked
to keep it a secret from the world. They did. But all who knew
were busy PRAYING for the hand of the Supreme One to be watching
over this young pregnant mother carrying seven babies. There were
times a prayer chain was called when things seemed very difficult
for one reason or another. Answers in the positive came. Finally,
Bobby could not go on any further without having to deliver the
children. Once more, in the hospital with members of the family
and church there, prayers were sent up to heaven that all would
go well, and that the Lord would grant all seven of the babies to
live through the birth and on from there into further life.
Well, once more the Eternal answered in the affirmative, all
were delivered, and as the woman doctor that did the deliveries
said, "To many God is abstract, but let me tell you God is not
abstract." I guess she really knew it that day if she had any
doubts about it before.
The last to be born had his problems not long after, pretty
serious it was, the doctor's did what they could, but...... they
just did not know if...... So the prayer chain in the church
was called into action once again. And sure enough in no time at
all it would seem, the answer came back on the plus side. The
problem was cleared up and just gone!
All seven are doing well. Does all this mean they will grow
up with a silver spoon in their mouth as we say. No, it does not!
At this time we have no way to know what lies ahead for anyone of
these seven little children. That is not our concern here. We
just need to focus in on the reality of what the Lord has done in
granting this mother and father, and their community, these seven
babies as they are now, alive, healthy and to be raised.
Not only brethren is this a wonderful strengthener of faith
in the fact that the true Eternal Father is in heaven above and
still working His miracles here below, but it carries another
very important lesson for us who tend to pride ourselves as being
the true children of God, with more "truth" and "enlightenment"
than any of the others who call themselves "Christian." Far too
often we think and even believe as a doctrine, that God only
hears and answers prayers from......well the "elect" - only from
people like ourselves, ones who have been given all the special
truths of God, that others do not see, will not see, or who are
just too blinded to see. Ah, and in those last words is part of
the important answer to all this.
Of all people on this earth, we in the Church of God who have
been granted to know the very plan of salvation for this whole
world, from Adam to the New Jerusalem and the new earth, should
realize that that is where it lies, for it is written, the whole
are BLINDED, and only the few chosen to grace and light. Many may
be called to hear the word of the Lord, but relatively few go on
to really understand it and live by every word that God has
written for us. What is true about Israel is also true for all
nations. Read carefully again the message of Paul, the truth of
the Lord, as found in Romans chapters 9 to 11. This world
naturally lies in deception, for Satan the devil has been allowed
by God to deceive this whole earth(Rev.12:9). He is the god of
this world the one who has in the main blinded the minds of men
who believe not(2 Cor.4:4) lest the light of the glorious gospel
should shine unto them. And even among those who "do believe" -
who do have a zeal for God as many of Paul's country-men did,
they have a zeal "not according to knowledge" (Romans 10:2), not
according to the correct understanding of the truths of the Lord
as is given to those who are the "elect" that cannot be deceived
(Mat.24: 24).
But, with all that said, with all that as it is, those who
are BLINDED but still "do believe" are so because God has not
then chosen to REMOVE that blindness. It was Jesus Himself who
said that UNLESS the Father called a person - removed the
covering of blindness from their eyes - NO ONE could come to Him
- John 6:44,65.
And, some do come to Christ, some do believe there is a God
in heaven, but never go on to "grow in grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Christ Jesus." They may be sincere but often
they are still sincerely wrong in their religious beliefs and
practices.
We in the Church of God, who have been given the light of
knowing the great and wonderful plan of salvation for all who
have ever lived on this earth as pictured through the Festivals
of the Eternal, need to remember it really is true that "there go
I but by the grace of God." We need to remember there are
millions out there among the Roman Catholics and Protestant
churches that are very sincere in their love, in their service,
for God and fellow man. They really do want to live as best they
know how and with what has been revealed to them about the
Almighty and His Son. And if their zeal towards God is in part
without knowledge, THAT IS SO BECAUSE GOD HAS NOT YET CHOSEN TO
REMOVE THE
BLINDNESS!
Can the Father LOVE such persons? Can He HELP such persons?
Can He GIVE to them? Can He ANSWER THEIR PRAYERS? Oh, if it is
written "The Lord sends the rain on the just and on the unjust"
SURELY He can help, serve, love, give, answer the prayers of
those who have a zeal for Him but not according to full
knowledge, because He has not chosen to remove their blindness!
The Father wants, desires that all should come to repentance
and be saved. He does not want ANY to perish - so it is written.
But He has a time plan for everyone. Many may be called to hear
the Gospel, but few are CHOSEN to be of the election of grace,
and the rest are left in BLINDNESS - see Romans 9. Yet in the
Eternal's good time the Redeemer, the Messiah will come, and so
as it is written "all Israel will be saved" (the huge vast
majority by the time the plan is finished) - see the wonderful
11th chapter of Romans.
There were two sincere young people, a husband and wife, the
parents of one little girl, who found themselves through the
grace of God to be the parents of SEVEN babies growing inside the
womb of the wife Bobby. As they said, they may not have wanted it
to be that way, they may not have chosen it if left up to
themselves (I can understand that, for who in this modern world
would want to have seven babies all at once?) but they found God
had given them this miracle. In the sincerity of their hearts
they said "Lord, your will be done."
They went forward in FAITH! They went forward with PRAYER! They
went forward with others who saw the hand of the Almighty in this
and who said they would serve and help them care for these
precious little lives that have the potential to become part of
the very family of the Father in heaven.
Oh, indeed it is so, God is not abstract, He really does
live, He really is an individual being that exists, and He does
hear and answer the prayers of even those who may not be
called to the first resurrection. God has a special love for
those whom He has called and chosen to be the BRIDE of Christ at
His coming in glory, but He still loves and serves, as He
wills, those who have a zeal for Him but are still in much
blindness. As it is His responsibility to remove spiritual
blindness and reveal the truths of His word to anyone, so it is
that He is able to see the sincerity within the heart of anyone
towards Him that are still left in blindness, and answer their
prayers, as He wills, just as He is able to do so for those
called to be the very elect and bride of Christ.
It is very sobering to realize that Jesus taught in plain
words that many who had been called and chosen to be in the first
resurrection at His coming again, would not MAKE IT!
Yes, five of the ten virgins would run out of oil in their lamps
and find they missed the Bridegroom when He came. There were many
in Jesus' time who had the law, they had the prophets, they had
the covenants, they had the true God of Israel, but they lacked
the simple heart-felt humility and sincerity that would be needed
to enter the first resurrection. He looked on that scene,
sometimes crying over it as He did with Jerusalem, wanting to
gather them under His wings as a mother hen does her chicks. He
told them that in the day of judgment - the great white throne
day - the sincere humble attitude of those who repented at
the preaching of Jonah would put to shame many of those in His
day who were witness to one greater than Jonah (Mat. 12:41).
As I have seen the interviews of this young mother and father
who were given seven babies on one particular day to have and to
raise, whatever befalls them, I have been amazed at their simple
sincere and humble faith in the Father and His Son. The Supreme
One loves them, has helped them, and He surely did answer their
prayers and those who prayed with and for them and their seven
babies.
May the Lord continue to help and be with them through
whatever this physical life may present them with. Let us
remember that young mother and father and their children in
our prayers. As the delivery doctor said: "To many people God is
abstract, but let me tell you God is not abstract," then she put
her face in her hands and wept.
Oh, that many more thousands and millions in Israel would
come to see the reality that God is alive and is a real personal
Being. Oh, that many more would then pray to that Eternal Father,
and even put their face in their hands and weep.
........................................
Written December 1997
All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed without his consent.
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