Seeking God for the Righteous Reason

Even though God tells us that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2), that is not an invitation or license for us to tell Him how to do His business; yet that is what a lot of men and women standing for marriage restoration tend to do. Of course, the perfect example for us to follow is Jesus praying to be delivered from the cross (Luke 22:41-44), but ultimately sacrificially accepting GOD’S will.

Sadly, over the years, I have seen many fall away from their stand for marriage restoration, and the reason most standers fall away is because they come to God just seeking help in the restoration of their marriages instead of a personal relationship with God, and they are never able to truly love and trust Him, especially if He doesn’t appear to be restoring their marriages and families. And God definitely knows the difference even if we don’t, and since His Word instructs and commands us to love and seek HIM FIRST (Matthew 6:32-33) and with ALL of our hearts, minds, soul and strength (Mark 12:29-31); putting no other Gods or idols before Him (Exodus 20:2-4, God most definitely is not going to help or bless and reward us as we break His commandments! And we are told very clearly in James 4:3…When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. So our prayers are much more likely to be answered when they are RIGHTEOUS and line up with what we KNOW is the Word and will of God. As Jesus taught in John 15:5…If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. And when we truly know and understand the Word of God, we won’t try to tell Him how to do His business or ask for things that we know don’t line up with His written Word. Yes, God wants us to share our burdens, cares and hearts’ desires with Him, but we need to be very careful when it comes to telling Him the when, where and how we expect or believe He should grant our petitions and make sure that they are righteously motivated.

One reason such prayers are so dangerous is that they are very ineffective and prideful…and God OPPOSES the proud, so we become discouraged, disheartened and even angry when God doesn’t meet OUR expectations and demands or abide by OUR time tables. Yet I can’t think of many promises in the Lord’s Word that come with details such as the when, where and how, so those are just limitations we’re trying to put on God to suit our own agenda and His ways just aren’t our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9)! And God ALWAYS knows what is best for us so much better than we do, so we just have to trust Him enough to be able to walk in the wisdom, power and promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-20, which we will when we just BELIEVE AND OBEY IT!

Teresa recently shared the following on the private FAM Fellowship website, and based on the responses, other members realized that they were doing the same thing as well. So I want to share it here too because our relationship with God should be based on WHO HE IS and not what we want Him to give us. And the best way to more fully grasp how important it is to put our trust in God and humble ourselves under His mighty hand as we stand and pray for the restoration of our marriages is to read Job 7-42 as Teresa’s post suggested. And if we really want to be blessed and encouraged beyond belief, we need to heed and keep in mind that Job’s very hopeless and dire circumstances did NOT turn around UNTIL he prayed for his friends…NOT FOR HIMSELF, as revealed in Job 42:10…After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

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Seeking God’s Agenda by Teresa in Arizona

Hello FAM Family!!! I want to share something that God has laid on my heart, which has been confirmed several times (as God always does).

Recently, I have felt that God was asking me “Are you serving Me because of what you believe I will do for you, or are you serving Me because of who I AM?” And soon after having that question posed to me, I heard Joyce Meyers say “Are we praying “more of you, God” or “more stuff from you, God?” and I was reminded of Job saying…”Even though you slay me I will trust in you.”

I have several obstacles in my life right now and there don’t seem to be any answers or concrete solutions to resolve them, so I have cried out to God; being angry because there is not a light at the end of the tunnel and telling the Lord “if only you would do this or that” or asking “Why won’t you show me the way?” I have struggled with whether or not I should even be standing and with condemnation because I am standing for a second marriage. So I have many battles going on, and that’s when God posed this question to me. And it breaks my heart to think that I have questioned God himself when the cross alone tells me more than enough how much He loves me and shows me the depths to which He goes for us!!!

I have just begun reading a book about Jesus’ prayer life and I’d like to share a prayer that’s been a good example to me. The author talks about how we are not very good LISTENERS when we pray; we would much rather tell God our latest ideas and plans. But in Job 38, God responded to Job by saying “Did you counsel Me when I put together the seas and the mountains?” Hearing that, Job responded in humility before God, and that’s how our response should be when we are tempted to tell God how to run His ministry. : “O Lord, forgive my ignorance. Who am I to tell You what I think is best in redeeming a world? I did not lay down my life. You did it! It was Your Son and His blood that brought our redemption. And it was Your Holy Spirit that You poured out on Your people to give them resurrection life and power. Who am I to tell You how to bring this world to Yourself? You alone know, O Lord.”

I am praying now that God will put me on His agenda in all I do; that I will work “with” Him and not just for Him. There are many things we “do” as Christians that seem good, but are we doing what God has called us to do? So I am asking God to reveal my motives so I know what is of Him and what is of me.

All I know for certain is that God is good and no matter what this life brings, He will never leave me nor forsake me. He will finish what He has started and I know that this life is in preparation for our real home in eternity. So I pray that we would all seek to have God’s Agenda in our lives and that we would be eternally minded rather than temporal minded. It is then that our circumstances, which are temporal, will become small and God will become BIG!

Praise God for His constant revelation in our lives and for the wonderful encouragement and exhortation we receive from one another. God bless you all!

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