Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. ~ Jeremiah 33:3
That's what prayer is, what it does. It allows you to form a bond, a relationship, with the One who has the answers to everything. I was taught once that if there's something you want to know more about or do better, then you need to find people who are "in the know" and ask them about it. For example, if you want to have a better handle on your finances, then you should talk to people who are not in debt and are doing well. Just talking to someone who "appears" to be well of, but us under a mountain of debt will get you nowhere. Another example is for your marriage. If you and your spouse want to learn how to have a better marriage, hang out with couples you see who are doing it right, who seem to possess the qualities and traits you would like for your marriage.
When someone says, "I prayed and still don't have the answers," refer them to Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." These verbs: ask, seek, and knock, are not just one time action words; they are verbs of continuous motion. We are to ask and keep on asking; we are to seek and keep on seeking; and we are to knock and keep on knocking. And we need to keep doing it until we have received everything that God has for us.
Almost three years ago, one of the pastors at our church gave a sermon called, "God's Rest." In his message, the pastor said, "whatever the bottom of the ladder is that you're gonna stay at is all you're gonna get from God," (Anderson, Alex 11/26/06). In other words, if you received a promise in your heart from God, but you give up before you have received the fullness of that promise or that vision, then that is where you will stay. If, however, you keep pushing and keep seeking and keep knocking on the doors of heaven, if you keep going after it, you will receive His promises.
One example comes from Genesis 32:25-29. Jacob had done some deceitful things, including stealing his brother's birth rite. Esau, Jacob's brother, called a meeting for the two of them and on the way there, Jacob stopped the night before they were to meet. That night, Jacob wrestled with a man all night. Even though the man demanded that Jacob let him go, Jacob said he would not until the man blessed him, which he did and gave him the name Israel, because he "struggled with God and with man" and overcame. When we go after something, sometimes God will "wrestle" with us to see how determined we are to receive it. It seems the bigger the blessing, the more we need to keep asking and keep seeking and keep knocking in order that we may receive the fullness of it.
A couple who was about to be married received a word from God that He would create a ministry through their marriage. Well, this couple wasn't married for very long before struggle after struggle after struggle beat upon their marriage like a relentless storm crashing waves upon the sand trying to break up the beach. In the middle of one such storm, the wife cried out to God, "You promised me that we would have a marriage ministry! I don't understand why this is happening! You promised me, and I will have nothing less!" That girl didn't settle--still hasn't. A few years later, God revealed to her that if she and her husband were to carry His message, they must first survive the mess. Today, the couple is impacting people for Jesus through different ministries at the church they attend. And while they are sharing God's message, they continuously ask, seek, and knock to ensure they will have the fullness of what God promised them.
You can have that, too, if you do not lose heart, if you do not give up, if you do not quit fighting. With everything in you, till there is nothing left, do not stop searching and seeking and calling out to God. Because it is then that He will reveal to you "great and unsearchable things you do not know."
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