Don't Give Up!

Feb. 20, 2006 5:45pm (added to March 1, 2010)


How much would you pay if God told you that He would make your marriage wonderful, your kids full of His love, broken relationships healed, and whatever you put your hands to would be fruitful? $10,000? $20,000? A million?

It has been on my mind that it is so easy to put a price tag (value) on something we want. If the Lord came to me with this kind of question I would know it would come with a guarantee. I would scrape and borrow and do whatever I could to get the money. We would trust it because it would have the price tag on it clearly marked and we know if we pay for something then we“own” it; we would make the sacrifice if we knew the outcome.

Well I want to tell you that God has offered this proposition to us, however He doesn’t want our money He wants us. (Don’t mistake me, I am aware that He wants us to be givers, and not have hearts that are tied to money, I am making a different point) He wants our humbleness, our time, our sacrifice of praise, our obedience. How many hours of “work” is this worth to me? How many hours of being on my face before the Lord petitioning Him would this be worth? How many days of fasting would this be worth? How many nights of being someone “who stands by night, in the House of the Lord” would this be worth. Now what if He were to phrase it this way, “I will restore to you what has been lost, I will intervene on your behalf, I will fix your family issues, I will heal brokenness and sickness, I will do what I have promised, but it will cost you. It will cost you your time, your prayers, your tears and praise, it will cost your pride, and it cost laying down your ideas, fears and submitting yourselves wholly; it still comes with a guarantee but the down payment is your faith in Me.”

Would we still pay? Is this price tag to high? Is it too hard?
Think about what King David said
(1Chronicles 21:24) Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing."

This is one of my favorite verses, this is so profound! There was no way He would offer something to God that didn’t cost Him anything, in fact he said he needed to pay the “full” price, basically if there was not a sacrifice in it, he knew it wouldn’t be an acceptable offering.

I am not speaking of needless suffering here. I know that the Word of God says that to obey is better than sacrifice. And I most assuredly am not talking about your salvation!! As Christians we know we can not work for our salvation or sacrifice enough to save ourselves; that is only through the blood of Jesus that was poured out for us on that cross. We cannot put a price upon His head! Instead I am speaking of when we ask for God to intervene in our lives, other’s lives, and situations and then we don’t see the answers to the prayers. One of two things is happening here; either we are not listening to the instruction that He gives because we don’t like His answer, or we are not hearing Him (or recognizing). Either way we can press into Him more. If you can’t hear God, keep petitioning Him, but make sure you are also having your ears ready to hear an answer. This is the tricky part; what if your answer isn’t what you wanted? I had a friend who the Lord spoke to once and she was in prayer for people and the heart attitude of the people was they didn’t like the answer; either rejecting it or not recognizing God in it. She continued in prayer and the Lord spoke to her and said. “If you don’t like the answer, change the question.” You see often times we ask and ask and when we don’t see it happening OUR way we assume God isn’t answering. God is unchanging and His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are high above.
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So what if His answer to you is, seek Me, pray for this person, wake up early and spend time with Me, or instead of watching TV for 3 hours at night take some time with Me. Too many times our rebellious heart rises up and we push down the gentle urgings of our Father. We don’t like that He says spend time with Me, yet we want to see things change in our lives. What if the answer to our prayers is He wants to change YOUR heart. What if your prayer is, I want to hear Your voice more clearly, and then you don’t talk to Him again for a week? I am not talking about religiousness here; I am talking about obedience and seeking the Lord, loving the Lord. What if you don't see the change for years? Will you give up because it's not YOUR timing? Will you trust the Lord in His timing, in His will, in His ways?
Mark 12:30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Matthew 6:33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Thank you Lord for the sacrifice you made in sending your Son. Thank you for opening our eyes to the value of obedience of what You tell us to do. Thank you for your training and for molding us. Lord continue to teach us Your ways, not just Your works but Your ways! We want to know You, the Living God. Change my thinking to line up with Yours. We cry Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, have Your way with me!
So be it! In the name of Yeshua