"God, please, help me."
Think about how often you catch yourself saying or praying these words.
Now think about how often you catch yourself wondering if he actually ever hears or answers.
How often, for me, you might wonder? More often than I would ever like to admit. I say these four words and a lot of times I'm stuck wondering if God is even listening to me at all. The one thing I am absolutely convinced of when I feel like this, is that I am not alone. I know that there are so many people out in the world on a daily basis who feel like they are always asking God for help and never actually receiving any of it.
A while ago, I was driving home sometime past midnight and my car was the only one on the highway. Tiny drops of water hit my windscreen in very quick succession and the only audible sounds were my wipers going back and forth and my tires on the tar. I was moving at about 130mph, and alone in my car, it felt like the perfect opportunity to just have a conversation with God. I wasn't praying. I was just talking to him like I would confide in a friend. I found myself saying these four words to him - God, please, help me -, and expressing to him how I felt like I had been asking and he wasn't forthcoming.
Now I am definitely still growing in my walk with Christ and getting more mature as time goes by, so I am not at the point in my life yet where I can say I distinctly hear the voice of God, but as I sped down the highway that night and expressed my heart to him, something began to stir my spirit halfway through our conversation. It was a question.
"You keep asking for God's help, but are you positioning yourself to receive that help from him?'
I tried to ignore it, telling myself that God didn't need my help to help me, and that he was all-powerful and could do anything I asked if he wanted to, so this really wasn't about me, but about him. But as days went by, no matter how hard I tried, this question would not leave my spirit, so I decided to explore the option of attempting to answer it.
You see, many times we ask for God's help but we truly don't position ourselves to receive help from him. We can be as specific as we want to be in prayer, but remember, faith without works... exactly. If you have been asking God to help you get a job, and the only place your resume is, is in the documents folder of your computer, you won't get a job. If you have been asking God to help you stop abusing alcohol, but the first place you go when you get off work is the bar, you will keep abusing alcohol. If you have been asking God to help you increase your finances, but you sleep-in until 1p.m and wake up and binge watch the new season of Orange is the New Black everyday, you will always be broke.
God loves you, but he won't break the rules for you. How are you positioning yourself for his help? If you need a job, send in your resume to organizations electronically, and walk around and distribute it if you need to. if you need to stop abusing alcohol, choose an AA meeting and go there after work instead of the bar. If you need an increase in finances, use your time to do something that can take you to where you want to be, or something that can at least be a start. You need to wake up everyday and make a conscious decision to be ready for whenever God's help will show up, especially if you have been asking for it.
As I spent some time reflecting on this question that stirred my spirit, I realized I had some work to do. I was asking for help from God, but the only reason why I was avoiding answering the question of whether I positioned myself for it, was that I hadn't. Instead, I was trying to put it all on God because well, he is all-powerful. God has every ability and capability to help you with every single situation in your life, but you have to actually let him. Granted, not all situations might be as black and white as needing a job or financial increase. It might be the restoration of a broken heart; a relationship you know you shouldn't be in; dealing with the spirits of unforgiveness or revenge; dealing with depression and a lack of self-worth; overcoming selfish desires ad desires of the flesh; getting over significant failure and defeat; it might be an extremely wide range of things. So the next time you find yourself asking for God's help concerning a situation in your life, ask yourself this one question: "How can I position myself to receive this help from God?"
In extremely challenging situations in my life, I pray these four words and many times I remember to express to God that I don't even know what "Help" means. I don't know if help means getting through the situation. I don't know if help means removing myself from the situation. I don't know if help means not dealing with the situation. I just. don't. know. Sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you dont even know what "help" means when you're asking for it, but you just need something because you're at a point where you have absolutely no idea what to do. When these times come, ask God to position yourself for his will to be done.
God always wants to help me, you. Go always wants to help us. But God isn't going to give us the trophy if we aren't even playing the game.
That is positioning yourself... as I do it.
~***Shanpepe***~
Photo Credit 1 Photo Credit 2 Photo Credit 3 Photo Credit 4
Think about how often you catch yourself saying or praying these words.
Now think about how often you catch yourself wondering if he actually ever hears or answers.
How often, for me, you might wonder? More often than I would ever like to admit. I say these four words and a lot of times I'm stuck wondering if God is even listening to me at all. The one thing I am absolutely convinced of when I feel like this, is that I am not alone. I know that there are so many people out in the world on a daily basis who feel like they are always asking God for help and never actually receiving any of it.
A while ago, I was driving home sometime past midnight and my car was the only one on the highway. Tiny drops of water hit my windscreen in very quick succession and the only audible sounds were my wipers going back and forth and my tires on the tar. I was moving at about 130mph, and alone in my car, it felt like the perfect opportunity to just have a conversation with God. I wasn't praying. I was just talking to him like I would confide in a friend. I found myself saying these four words to him - God, please, help me -, and expressing to him how I felt like I had been asking and he wasn't forthcoming.
Now I am definitely still growing in my walk with Christ and getting more mature as time goes by, so I am not at the point in my life yet where I can say I distinctly hear the voice of God, but as I sped down the highway that night and expressed my heart to him, something began to stir my spirit halfway through our conversation. It was a question.
"You keep asking for God's help, but are you positioning yourself to receive that help from him?'
I tried to ignore it, telling myself that God didn't need my help to help me, and that he was all-powerful and could do anything I asked if he wanted to, so this really wasn't about me, but about him. But as days went by, no matter how hard I tried, this question would not leave my spirit, so I decided to explore the option of attempting to answer it.
You see, many times we ask for God's help but we truly don't position ourselves to receive help from him. We can be as specific as we want to be in prayer, but remember, faith without works... exactly. If you have been asking God to help you get a job, and the only place your resume is, is in the documents folder of your computer, you won't get a job. If you have been asking God to help you stop abusing alcohol, but the first place you go when you get off work is the bar, you will keep abusing alcohol. If you have been asking God to help you increase your finances, but you sleep-in until 1p.m and wake up and binge watch the new season of Orange is the New Black everyday, you will always be broke.
God loves you, but he won't break the rules for you. How are you positioning yourself for his help? If you need a job, send in your resume to organizations electronically, and walk around and distribute it if you need to. if you need to stop abusing alcohol, choose an AA meeting and go there after work instead of the bar. If you need an increase in finances, use your time to do something that can take you to where you want to be, or something that can at least be a start. You need to wake up everyday and make a conscious decision to be ready for whenever God's help will show up, especially if you have been asking for it.
As I spent some time reflecting on this question that stirred my spirit, I realized I had some work to do. I was asking for help from God, but the only reason why I was avoiding answering the question of whether I positioned myself for it, was that I hadn't. Instead, I was trying to put it all on God because well, he is all-powerful. God has every ability and capability to help you with every single situation in your life, but you have to actually let him. Granted, not all situations might be as black and white as needing a job or financial increase. It might be the restoration of a broken heart; a relationship you know you shouldn't be in; dealing with the spirits of unforgiveness or revenge; dealing with depression and a lack of self-worth; overcoming selfish desires ad desires of the flesh; getting over significant failure and defeat; it might be an extremely wide range of things. So the next time you find yourself asking for God's help concerning a situation in your life, ask yourself this one question: "How can I position myself to receive this help from God?"
In extremely challenging situations in my life, I pray these four words and many times I remember to express to God that I don't even know what "Help" means. I don't know if help means getting through the situation. I don't know if help means removing myself from the situation. I don't know if help means not dealing with the situation. I just. don't. know. Sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you dont even know what "help" means when you're asking for it, but you just need something because you're at a point where you have absolutely no idea what to do. When these times come, ask God to position yourself for his will to be done.
God always wants to help me, you. Go always wants to help us. But God isn't going to give us the trophy if we aren't even playing the game.
That is positioning yourself... as I do it.
~***Shanpepe***~
Photo Credit 1 Photo Credit 2 Photo Credit 3 Photo Credit 4
