Luke 11 – 12
Verse 11:9 spoke to me about my unanswered prayers:
So listen: Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened for you.
This is the kingdom answer to a short parable in verses 5-8; we need to not give up on our prayers. We are told to pray “never ceasing” but we also need to be aware of God’s will. Time allows us to mold our prayers with guidance from the Holy Spirit. Say we wanted an elephant, which would be illogical since most do not have the room for it. Over time we would adjust the prayer from an actually beast to maybe a small statue.
Verse 11:36 is critical to look at OUR outlook:
If your outlook is good, then your whole life will be bright, with no shadowy corners, as when a radiant lamp brightens your home.
At times life sucks, you injure yourself, have a heart attack, lose the big deal, or whatever. The key to this is our attitude! Sure physical problems stink, but are you alive? There is joy in that! The thing we find with big deals is God always seems to present us with a bigger deal in the future. See life is going to have its ups and downs; it is our response to those points that determines our life’s lamp. Are we going to focus on almost croaking or the fact we are alive for another glorious day? Paul was in prison and sung with joy, why can’t we?
Verses 12:25 & 26 speak to me:
25 Which one of you can add a single hour to your life or 18 inches to your height by worrying really hard? 26 If worry can’t change anything, why do you do it so much?
Oh how I worry too much and in the end it doesn’t really matter. Nothing can change if I worry or not. Now does that mean don’t be concerned? Not always, see I have seen the carefree get into serious messes because they don’t “worry” about the details. There is a distinct difference between the worry about things we cannot control and those that we can. If we don’t “worry” often we do not take action.
With my calves cramping for years, I was sure it was “compartment syndrome” and was relieved when needles were poked into the compartments. I looked at vascular problems, but did not worry or concern myself with that since it seemed to be fixed. Guess what? One of the first indications of plaque build-up and heart problems for many are cramping calves. So my inaction from lack of “worry” may missed a chance to have it investigated and avoided my heart attack. The key is worry and act on things you can, then don’t worry anymore!