Alone or with God

One morning while reading and journaling, I saw a shadowy thing go by. I thought, “hummm, that’s weird. Wonder what that was.” But then I saw clearly what it was. It was a grey rat! The next thing I knew, I found myself doing what many women do in that same situation: screaming loudly and climbing up higher on furniture. I managed to open the front door and was hoping that because of my screaming, the rat might run out the front door. Well, it didn’t seem bothered by my screaming, so it didn’t. It went the exact opposite direction, right into the kitchen. By now my sleepy-eyed children were coming to see what all the commotion was about. My peaceful morning had been interrupted and now I was a wreck.

We decided to hire a professional. He came and put traps in different places and told me there was probably more than one rat. This freaked me out. I was ready to go stay in a hotel. By the end of the week, the traps had caught 3 small rats. When I knew they were gone, I felt so relieved.

We’ve had the same pest control guy ever since. As you may remember, we’ve had a lot of bug problems this year and I wrote about it in my blog called Bug Off. I am thankful for his service and his friendship. I think we sometimes hesitate to hire professional help because it’s a bother and it’s expensive. Yet sometimes God is doing something significant in all the craziness.

Over the years God did do something. This professional was now having a health crisis. It was visible as he had lost so much weight. I honestly thought that if something wasn’t done soon, he would die. I asked him if I could pray for him. He was a bit shocked, but because of his desperation, he said yes. After we prayed I felt like God wanted to hear directly from him. So I said to him, “when you get back into your truck, you talk to God about your health issues. He wants to hear it from you.” He did pray from his truck that day.

During the the next year he got better. The medical doctors figured out what was wrong. He had surgery and is now gaining weight again. When I saw him recently, he looked good again. He said his life has changed physically but also in another way. He talks to God all the time now. He said he always did believe in God. But now it’s different. It’s different because now he talks to God everyday. He has a relationship with God.

People may believe in God. They believe Jesus died for their sins. But they have no relationship, no friendship, with Him. They don’t know him personally. They’ve only heard about what he did while on earth so long ago. They may also believe that if enough people pray about something, God will answer from on high and rescue a situation. They love the possibility of a miracle when put in a tough situation. So basically they desire to see the power of God over life and creation but haven’t taken the time to develop a relationship with Him personally.

Dear God, Thank you for what you have done in this man’s life. You listened to his prayer that day in his work truck. He is getting healthy again. You continue to listen each time he talks to you. He always believed in you but now it’s different. I guess that’s the difference between just believing alone and choosing to do things with you. It’s about choosing to trust you on a whole different level.

God’s Word to us: That’s right and it makes a big difference on how they handle a situation. Is their first thought how am I going to fix this? Instead of praying and saying to God, “How are we going to fix this”? Alone or with God. The more you choose “with God” the more you value me. I want to be your friend and walk together through your days. Invite me to be your friend.

Dear God,
I believe that you died on the cross for my sins.
I have for a long time. But I want something more now.
I want to start praying more often.
I want to be your friend.
Please help me with___________.
I’m tired of being alone in it.
I invite you in so we can do life together.
In Jesus name Amen.

God truly wants to hear from you. Think of your adult child. Yes, they can do everything on their own now. But wouldn’t it be nice for them to call and talk to you about their life decisions? Don’t you want to be a part of the process? We want to be in relationship with them. So it is with God, He wants to be in relationship with you. He wants you to call upon Him. In fact, He loves it because He loves you.

Go in peace my friends.

Kim

If there is anything I can pray with you about, use the message form that is available. Also, if you think it would be helpful, consider sharing this with a friend.