Is your faith making Him god...with a little "g"?

There was a man that bought a home in California, advertised “On side of Mountain, great views and very close to ocean”. When he moved there, he found that he did get a “Mountain” home as promised, but on the wrong side of the mountain! The view he had hoped for of the ocean was on the other side, his view was of a small hill.  He hears a Pastor preaching on how Faith can move mountains. So, he decides to pray for 30 days for God to move that mountain. At the end of that period, he was still looking at a hill. So, he wrote a letter to him stating: “What you said is not true! I prayed that this mountain would be moved, and it was not moved! I knew that God would not do it anyway!" The Pastor just circled that last part in red and sent the letter back to him.

The scripture is clear how important Faith is.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him.

So, if God loves us and if this Scripture is True: 

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” 

                                Why, sometimes, do we not get what we ask for? Is He Liar?

Scripturally we know the answer: 

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7 

Many times, our Faith is misplaced. It is a constant temptation for the flesh to walk by sight.  We attempt to calculate wholly with human resources, and to leave God out of all our plans and activities. We try to make God our puppit. We arrange to pray in a way that we can make sure what we pray for can be accomplished by us!

This is what I call: Man Centered Theology. It seeks to make God the puppit! It is nothing new:   Romans 1:20–23… “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks…they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” 

One of the wisest men in History made this clear, here it is rendered in two versions:  

Ecclesiastes 1:9: 

“What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth.” (NET) 

“History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” (NLT) 

However, even with his wisdom Solomon fell into deep sin! Why? He put his confidence in his gift and not the Giver! He trusted his flesh, not God! He 

The So What: Biblical Faith requires Focus…Not on what you want, not how much time you spend on your knees, nor fasting or not fasting. Instead, Focusing your wants with His desires for you! Dying to self, ignoring the temporal circumstances, accepting that God alone has the Eternal perspective and knows what is best, despite all the other voices you hear. God cares most what you will gain Eternally…not here & now. 

Believe and you will have! Is that what Scripture teaches?

If you like it, take as much of it as you want! I have found that this is a real weakness in human behavior…beginning with this human! When I was only 4yrs old I loved the fat on steaks. I remember a unit cookout my dad hosted when we lived in Utah. 30 steaks were cooked. I asked folks for any fat they did not want. 

I assumed they thought I was asking for our dog…which I do not remember having in Utah. I remember my whole plate with fat stacked on it. Yummy for my tummy…I thought…I was WRONG! I cannot ever remember my stomach being sicker or vomiting so much in my life. To this day I still cut all the fat off whatever I cook before I eat it! 

 

Does Scripture teach we can have whatever we want?

Question: Did Jesus tell us we could have whatever we wanted? 

Yes…Kinda! 

One of the greatest harms done to this world was done by the Church. When leaders involved in the Church decided to try and make the Holy Spirit a slave to their desires and greed. As usual, like our adversary does  – they take Scripture out of context.  

Mark 11:20-24…Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him… 

John 14:13–14 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do…

John 16:23–24…Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you…

Jesus did say “Whatever you ask” BUT there was not a period there! He qualified what He was talking about:

"Have faith in God”, “Ask in My name” and “If you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.” 

All of these statements are qualified by the same foundation – God’s agreement. If your “faith” is in God, you will ask for what God wants! If you attach – “In the name of Jesus” to any request, it means you are asking for what Jesus would want! 

The "Santa Clause god" based on greed is a lie from Hell! Prayer is never a one-way conservation with a Big Genie, that is at your beck and call! God…HOLY, AWESOME GOD has humbled Himself, because He loves who He created, and allowed us to request from Him our desires. However, due to His love, He will not grant requests that will hurt us or shame Him. 

His real desire is to help us to mature spiritually and produce in us an eternal perspective, which will lead us to desire what He knows is best. When our desires are His desires, He will gladly grant them. 

The so what: When you go to your Father in Heaven, do you begin with your desires or calming yourself and remembering Who you are approaching? Are you more interested in what His desire is for you, or a list you have? Do you take the time to review what you have asked for and what His answer was? What is that teaching you about Him?