Obeying God Rather Than Men

„Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men“ Acts 5:29. 

When human authorities put themselves above the Word of God and tell Christians that they must obey those kinds of laws, any Bible believing Christian can state like Peter and other apostles did when they were told by the priests and Pharisees to shut up. We must tell them that we ought to listen and obey God’s commands more than human ones. Word of God is above any other law that humans have ever made. And all of us will have to answer before God on the day of Judgment how we followed the Word. In some cases we will have to disobey human laws and God will bless us for that. This we should keep in mind when people want to force us to acknowledge that sin is ok. It is not!

Those Who Are With Us Are More

„So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” 2 Kings 6:16. 

This is what Elisha told his servant when the servant saw that the whole town where they lived was surrounded by Syrian army. The army came after Prophet Elisha, because he was getting warning messages for the king of Israel regarding positions of Syrian army. In human eyes all that is described in the chapter looks like a fairy tale, except that it is not. God is alive and He cares after His people even during the most difficult times. You can expect Him to defend you at the expense of evil people if you are living according to the Will of God. He will protect you, because He protects His Word and His Will. So, fear not. Syrian army was blinded and they did not do any harm to Elisha, his servant or Israel. If you are with God, there are more of those who are with you than the whole armies of the world.

Exceedingly Abundantly Above All We Ask or Think

„Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen“ Ephesians 3:20-21. 

We often limit God with our requests. It seems to us that God is somehow like us, thinks like us, acts like us and does things like us. That is not true. God’s thoughts are well above our thoughts and His intentions for us much higher than we have for ourselves. Therefore, we should not limit Him by our thoughts or imagination. If you want to understand the real capabilities of God read the first chapter of Genesis. That’s what our God is like.

Power of persistent prayer

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18: 1-8)

Meet Christian Singles

In this parable Jesus wants to show us that our Heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers them quickly. You see how persistent the widow was. She was confronting an unjust judge about her situation. It was purely her persistence that made the judge change his mind. 

Now, it surely does not mean that Jesus wanted us to learn how to manipulate God. Nothing could be further from the truth. God cannot be manipulated and Jesus does not encourage such type of action. Jesus wanted to say that if persistence worked with unjust judge, it will surely work much faster with just and good God. 

Have in mind that we are talking here about God as our Father, not some indifferent judge who doesn’t care about our problems or rights. God does care about them. And He will answer our prayers very soon!

What do you focus on

Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

A lot of things happen in our daily lives. Some are good, some are bad. Jesus did not promise us life without troubles. However, He promised us victory and even when bad stuff comes our way we will come out of it as winners. Unfortunately, we do not see much of that in most of our lives. Why is that? I believe our focus on the ‘wrong stuff’ keeps us on the losing side. We think about our weaknesses, troubles, problems, losses, failures and etc. and we stay in those things indefinitely. Why? Whatever we focus on grows. By focusing on the negative things we magnify them and they overwhelm us. We become victims of our own thinking. 

I want to repeat myself that I do not deny the fact that we constantly experience troubles. I want to say that our focus helps or hinders us to get from ‘the bad’ to ‘the good’. If you meditate on the negative side, that stuff takes a firm grip on you and does not let you to break free. 

Let’s assume you have lost your work and are unable to find any at the moment. What do you focus on and what are your expectations? Do you beat yourself up, think how hopeless you are, be desperate and see only doom and gloom, or you still find ways to enjoy life, have hope and expect bright future. Your thinking will determine how you feel and this really makes a difference. You can be in trouble for a considerable period of time and still enjoy life, because your attitude determines whether you are happy or not, and not the circumstances you are in. If you think you are a victim of your circumstance and only when they change you will be happy you will be disappointed. Circumstances will change, but they will not change you. You will stay the same. And if you were unhappy during troubled times you will not be happy during good times, because your focus will be the same. You will find things to be unhappy about. 

If you are ill and situation does not change or even gets worse you still have to look for positive things to make you feel better, have fun and enjoy life. Disease is not your cross to be carried. Think about God’s love and that one day your trouble will be over. Believe for a miracle and for the time being find courage to laugh at your problems. If you have joy during hard times you are a more than a conqueror. If you have joy, you are a winner.

Change your focus now. Find the silver lining now. When things get better you will be even happier then. If you do not change, a change in circumstances will not bring about a desirable change. Love God and expect good things to happen and God Himself will work for the good of you. Just be sure to think right.

Happy New Year! I wish you the most blessed year you have ever had.