Truth Matter from Pastor Dean Brdlik, June 26th 2023

What do you think of when God says this to you...

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!  (Matthew 7)

This isn’t “a genie in the lamp” promise.  This is a mind-set we must take into our tribulations and struggles.  It is a calling upon the grace of God.  This promise takes on a more powerful meaning than merely picking things out of a catalog you’d like to have. Grace is God choosing to bless us rather than curse us as our sin deserves. It is His benevolence to the undeserving.  When we face difficult times, those are the times we remember God is dealing graciously with us.  It seems counterintuitive to us, but understand even when we least realize it, God is dealing graciously with us...He only deals graciously with His children.  It’s one of the reasons the promise of Romans 8:28 becomes so important to us:  “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good...”

Today’s My Utmost for His Highest brings out this truth:

“Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.

“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.”

Sometimes our road gets rough.  Sometimes very rough.  During those times we must remember 3 truths:  1)  God loves us...He protects and will never leave us.  2)  God is sovereign...that is, this “rough road” is not chance.  God knows we need it in our journey of sanctification.  3)  Our confidence in God’s love for us gives us strength through the rough parts of life...btw...never forget how much He loves you even when Satan tells you you don’t deserve God’s love.  “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us...nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:37-39

My prayer for you and me today is this:  Lord, Chambers is right, “We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.”  We know You love us.  We know You are our Father.  When things get rough, we will draw upon Your grace...Your eternal, never changing favor toward us.  We praise Your name.  Amen

Walk with the King today and be a blessing.