Grantor~

Greetings from rainy Miami~

There's just one little phrase left to our verse, and it is the most important one.

1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. 

Someone once said that the value of prayer is that God answers it, and we see that it was true for Jabez.  

God is the great Answerer!  But allow me to ask a rhetorical question: Can God answer a prayer that has not been prayed?

There is so much emphasis in the Bible on asking, seeking, knocking, persevering, persisting, petitioning, etc...that we can only conclude that God desires a relationship with us that thrives through prayer.  Prayer is a lovely word for communication.  

The foundation for any great relationship is communication.  Think about your relationships.  They are either thriving because the communication is solid or frustrating you because there is mis-communication or a lack of understanding or even an atmosphere where you feel you can not speak freely.

How can we get to know God if we do not speak to Him?  How will we ever "be able to take in the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God,"

(Ephesians 3:18 THE MESSAGE) if we keep Him at a distance.  Not only does God desire for us to reach out to Him, we are the ones who need Him more than He needs us.  We forfeit peace, joy, and hope when we fail to plug into the One Who so freely gives us all these things and more.

Whatever ails you right now, take a moment to turn it over to Him in prayer.  Take a huge and bold step of faith and let us pray.

PRAYER: Dear God, Thank You that You answer prayers.  We don't know what holds us back sometimes from asking, but we come to You today with renewed hope that You are the Grantor of requests.  It's a powerful mystery why You would even listen to us, and maybe we don't fully understand how this all works.  But we do know Who You are, and You answer prayer.  You let the blessings flow when we put our trust in You.  You scoop us up in Your arms and cradle us when we need help.  You love us and love listening to us and love answering us.  Amen and Glory!

Famine to Feast~

TGIF Greetings~

 

So many of you beautiful and blessed children of our Relationship Expert God commented on yesterday's DEVO; you are all longing for a trip to the Acres of Hope. Hang in there; God is teaching us all some amazing things:)

 

Ruth 2:14 "At mealtime Boaz called to her, 'Come over here, and help yourself to some food. You can dip your bread in the sour wine.' So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat. She ate all she wanted and still had some left over."

 

Principle of the day: A good man is generous; a good man improves the quality of your life.

 

Keep in mind that Ruth was a widow who traveled back to her mother-in-law's home country because the economy was so bad where they were from that there was a food shortage. Kind of scary to think that there's not enough food. Who knows how many nights Ruth and her mother-in-law went to bed hungry, but all that changed when she met a particularly generous man named Boaz. He invited her to eat and made sure she ate until she was satisfied and then some.

 

In a bigger context, Ruth's life went from not having enough to having more than enough--from famine to feast. One of the most important things we can teach our children is that when they start dating someone their lives better instantly improve. From being happy to being even happier. The person they are with better be bringing joy into their lives. Obviously, it can not be 100% bliss 100% of the time, but that initial phase needs to be drama-free and fun.

 

I have seen some excruciatingly painful situations all because some people--young girls in particular--did not understand this principle. Girls who went from a carefree existence to having to deal with dangerous jealousy, stinginess, control freaks, pressure for sex, or yes, even physical abuse.

 

When my Rayray was 15 years old a nice young man from church took a liking to her. He was adorable and noble, but his home life was a mess. That did not automatically disqualify him from dating Rayray because no one is better than anyone. But her dad and I were on hyper-alert. The advantage of this was that she was never alone with him because they were too young to drive. All four of us were kind of joined at the hip, and at first it was fine. Then the drama started. It all culminated in a dinner party that we were invited to where the mother's drunk boyfriend made threats at everyone. We all looked mortified as Rayray's young man stood up to defend his mom. My son stood up to leave, and I shot him this "let's not make this worse for Rayray and please sit down" look.

 

Later that night I sat down with Rayray, and in her little heart she knew that somehow things were not the way they were supposed to be. She was right, of course, and she was much too young to play the role of counselor/comforter to another teenager. The three-month long relationship ended--no harm/no foul--and the long talks Rayray and I had about what constitutes a beautiful relationship proved to be a solid foundation now that she is seriously dating someone.

 

Sooner or later we will all face difficulties in our relationships because life is difficult. But based on what God's word is teaching us, we need to know that at the beginning of new love it better be all about life getting better and not the other way around.

 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, We know that You want us to be compassionate to others and care for them in times of trouble, but we need to understand the difference between being there for someone and what being a significant other means. Thank You for Your precious Word that teaches us that in a relationship we should expect to be treated a certain way. Nothing less than Your standards will do for us or our children. In Jesus' name, AMEN~