God likes a good wrestling match. If we throw out a prayer request and hope it gets answered, it probably will not. But if we are persistent in taking that request to Him over and over again, He knows we mean business.

Jesus told the story of the neighbor asking for bread at midnight and finally getting what he wanted by persistence. (Luke 11:15) When the widow continued to petition the unjust judge, she was finally given help. (Luke 18:5)

When Jacob wrestled with God all night, God changed his name. And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (Gen 32:28)

Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed! It sounds like an impossible thing to do, but God allows us to prevail over Him. Wrestling with God is not for the faint of heart. It takes determination and brute willingness to persevere. There are no quitters in the Wrestling With God Hall of Fame.

How badly do you want your prayers answered? Will you wrestle for it? Will you continue to remind God of His promises? It is a wrestling match, but more to do with our own emotions and ability to stay focused in faith. But to those who endure to the end, the blessings are promised and will come.

Have you ever had one of those days when you didn’t feel all that righteous? I found myself feeling kind of grumpy and had a little talk with myself.

Me: You don’t seem very joyful, or anything.

Myself: No. I’ve decided that when my prayers get answered, I’ll be joyful, or anything.

Me: Hmm. Chances are, you’re going to be grumpy for a very, very long time.

Myself had to agree and then repent. If we can’t be joyful and expectant before our prayers are answered, it’s because we don’t really believe that they will be answered. The pre-answered joy is faith, because we know that God will do what He promises to do.

Do you need to have a conversation with yourself and get a little attitude adjustment? We all do from time to time. It just means that you need to admit that you haven’t trusted God as you should. Repent and claim His faith.

Having a bad day is not sinful. How we react to it can be. Don’t indulge in being grumpy.  Snap out of it. The longer you linger there, the more comfortable it will be to stay there. God has given us joy and love because He wants to us to live in His blessing.

Take care of your feelings and have a nice day : )

If you are living with stress, if something in your life is a burden, it’s not from God. There is a difference  between working through a mess and carrying it. Jesus said, Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matt 11:29-30)

He means it. If you don’t give Him your burden, you are not obeying His word. He can do what you can’t, so hand it over. Do what ever you need to do to hand off the issues to God and let Him do the heavy lifting. That doesn’t mean that you have no responsibility anymore. But it does mean that you stop stressing about it.

Are you facing payroll and have no idea where the money is going to come from? Fear will make you think of all sorts of panicky ideas. Faith will trust God. Do what you know to do and let God carry the burden for you. Faith is allowing Him to answer before you try to help. If payroll never comes and you have to close the doors, then everything you are is in His hands. Let Him open the next doors and then go through them. Find rest for your soul and trust Him. His plan is to let you live in rest.

According to your faith, let it be so

Whether our prayers are answered or not is up to us. I know, it sounds backward. We give our requests to God and expect that it’s up to Him to answer. But everything about God moving on our behalf depends on how badly we want it. Over and over again, Jesus told people, “According to your faith, let it be so.” If they only had faith for a minor healing, then that’s all they got.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:24)

This gets harder when what you are asking for is pretty big, but only in your head. Jesus said, For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? (Mat 9:5) Healing a toothache or resurrecting someone from the dead or forgiving sin is all easy for God, so it doesn’t matter how big the issue is.

All you have to do is believe. The same miracles that Jesus did are waiting to be done today. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you believe, He will do it, so go ahead and believe big. If He’s going to do it, let Him do it all the way.

Dreams take time to grow and mature.

You know how thriving plants start out? They start out as seeds that get buried in the ground, out of sight, grimy, and forgotten. Then, when the time is right, they send up small shoots and tiny roots and grow into what they’ve been designed to grow into. Some trees require fire to open seed cones. The beginning of things is not always pretty.

Dreams and destiny may start like that. They get planted and need time to come to maturity. Or the conditions for making them happen may require extreme change — change that challenges your faith and equilibrium.

Just because your dream didn’t develop into sudden maturity doesn’t mean that it’s not right or real. It just means that it requires time to grow. You need to be changed. Conditions need to be right. Don’t give up. Don’t get mad at God for what you can’t see happening.

Hold onto what you know to be true. Thank Him for it just as if you have everything you want. Thank Him, praise Him, sing, dance and rejoice for what you know He will do. That kind of faith, believing for what you can’t see yet, can change the timeline. Mary’s faith made Jesus turn water into wine before He was ready to begin ministry. Your dreams need that kind of faith to come alive.

Trusting God means that you have to take your hands off how you want your prayers answered. You have to let go of your assumptions and preconceived ideas of what should happen. You may not be ready to have those prayers answered right now. You may need a lot of growing up first. You have to allow God the freedom to do what He knows best.

A lot of people lose their faith because they don’t see what they expect to see. They think in people terms, not God terms. He knows so much more than we do. When the opposite of what we want happens, it’s not because God is mad at us. It’s probably because He’s taking a different route than we expected.

Trust Him. He sees the end and how to get you there. If you’re frustrated with what is or isn’t happening, talk to Him about it. You’re allowed to do that! In fact, it’s encouraged. Pour out your heart to Him and let Him do what He needs to do in you. Stop expecting exact steps to take place. Maybe they will, but maybe He has a better way. Always expect the best from God, even in the middle of something messy. Keep your faith strong and He’ll move heaven and earth for you. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (Jhn 14:14)

Don’t be concerned with other people’s “blessing”.

Why does it seem like some people are blessed when they don’t even believe in God? This is a dangerous question, because it assumes that money equals blessing. We see lots of rich people who do not honor God. That does not necessarily mean that God is blessing them.

Satan’s chief goal is to prevent us from trusting God. He will use every tactic available, including influencing economics. If he can make someone rich so they trust in their own resources, they’ll be less likely to trust God. I’m not saying that every rich person is influenced by Satan, but we are all attacked by the enemy to rob us of our faith.

Looking at the “blessings” of others when we feel left out is just a bad idea. You have no idea what’s going on the hearts of other people. Your goal should be to love God totally, regardless of your situation or that of other people. Put all that you have in God’s hands and let Him bless you with what is right for you. If you are looking at what someone else has, I’m certain that you are not trusting God in what He’s doing for you. If you were, it wouldn’t matter about what other people have or don’t have.

In the end, rich or poor, anyone who does not receive salvation and forgiveness through Jesus is going to hell. Their riches will do nothing for them. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mat 6:21)

Is there anyone you can think of who would never get saved? Think of the hardest case imaginable. A murderer? A rapist? What would it take to change that person to be clean inside and out? We may not know people with a history of criminal violence, but we all know people who would be likely candidates for being the last people ever to get saved.

The power of God changes lives.

Jesus ran into one of them in the country of the Gadarenes. The man living in the tombs was physically violent and out of his mind. He was scary and dangerous. And Jesus healed him. (Mark 5) The man was brought to his right mind and wanted to follow Jesus after that.

It just proves that there is no one immune to the touch of God. All it took was for that man to be in the presence of Jesus. Anyone you know can be saved, healed, and delivered in the same way when you bring the presence of Jesus with you. He’s still in the business of saving people.

Never give up on praying for people. There are some cases that may require pray and fasting and long years of faith, but it’s important to never give up. You are the key to heaven for them.

Simple faith = greater works.

What is the one thing that prevents you from doing amazing works for God? Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (Jhn 14:12) Jesus said we would do greater works than He did. Why aren’t we doing them?

The biggest reason is that we don’t think we can. It’s the seriously effective marketing campaign the enemy has used for generations. We don’t feel qualified to be super holy, and only super holy people could do those works.

The thing is, God knows exactly who we are, warts and all, and He still said we are fully qualified to do the miracles that Jesus did. The question is, do we believe? If we’re not seeing the miracles, it’s because we don’t believe. And it’s a huge shame, because if the church believed like we should, the world would be a very different place today.

Think about what it would take to change your mindset to believe like Jesus said you were capable of believing. Just simple faith. Is God who He says He is, or not? Stretch out a little and see what happens. There are greater works coming your way.