Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

I heard once about a very forgetful lady. She was having a friend over for lunch and wanted to make a special dessert for her – a pie. Now this pie only called for three ingredients – that’s it. One ingredient was the main flavor of the pie, and the other two were the sweeteners. Well, in her haste to prepare the delicious dessert, she left out one of the sweeteners! When her guest took a bite of the pie – which LOOKED yummy – she was startled to find it was the sourest pie she had ever tasted! The pie was un-edible because it was so tart!! It was ruined because one ingredient was left out…one very important ingredient!
I believe my prayer life gets like that sometimes! I get busy reading over my prayer list with my mouth, while my brain goes on “hold” and I mentally rehearse all of the reasons He can not- or will not- or has not- answered my requests! I am leaving out a very important ingredient to my prayer life: BELIEF! The verse we’ve read today says we must ask in prayer – form the words with our mouths – while also believing that He can do it! That’s it. We ask, while believing, and we shall receive! When I leave out the “believing” I think my prayer life tastes pretty sour to the Lord!
Well, I laughed very hard when my friend, who was the “taster” told me about her sour pie experience! I thought to myself, “How can you leave out an ingredient of a recipe, when there are only three ingredients in the whole thing?! Today, however, the Holy Spirit asked me, as I was trudging through my prayer list with vain repetitions: “How can you leave out the most important ingredient, Valerie? You’ve forgotten to believe that I can accomplish these things!” I wasn’t laughing, in fact, I was crying. I’m so thankful the Lord is working on this area in my life. I want to see my prayers answered!

I don’t want to have a “sour” prayer life. I don’t want to leave out “believing” from my prayer recipe again!

Ex. 24:9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:10 And they saw the God of Israel:
Lev. 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

My husband forgets things. He forgets the bag of ice that I asked him to pick up at the grocery store. He forgets the names of people he sees very often! Well, he forgets a lot of things. He would probably forget my birthday, but I make sure to begin dropping hints several weeks in advance. Oh, and highlighting the March 25th block on his Daytimer in bright yellow, with an orange outline, doesn’t hurt either. I don’t think much of his forgetfulness, he’s human, he’s man, enough said. However, I would be very concerned if he came in smoking a cigarette and upon seeing my shocked expression, look at me and shrug, “Oh. I forgot. I’m the temple of the Lord and a Pastor, I shouldn’t be doing this.” And then nonchalantly put out the cigarette. After my shock wore off, I think I would be angry, too.

Now we see Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, who performed the duties of the priest, offering strange fire before the Lord. In Exodus 24, we see that Nadab and Abihu were among only a handful of people who saw the God of Israel! Now that is amazing. They saw God, and lived to tell about it! Well, until they forgot about that and ended up disobeying Him.

According to the law, they were supposed to get the fire for the incense from the altar, which burned with fire sent from the Lord. Instead, they took fire from somewhere else, we don’t know where. I am sure their behavior did not shock God, but I am sure it made Him angry. They may have thought it to be a little thing, but a Holy God thought otherwise. He killed them for it.

I just read that and thought “If these men actually saw God, how in the world could they then turn around later and disobey Him?” Maybe they got lifted up in pride, because they had seen God. Maybe they were just careless and forgetful. I don’t know. I do know this, if they could forget, so could I! I haven’t seen God with human eyes, but I have seen Him up close through the eyes of faith. I have seen Him do amazing things in my life, and in the lives of those I love. He’s done miracles for me! I have seen Him, and I do not ever want to forget what I have seen.

Matthew 14:9-139And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.14When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
John the Baptist was dead. He was martyred for the cause of Christ. Jesus already knew it, He was God, He knew it would happen before it happened! The disciples told Him anyway. I wonder if they said “Lord You’ll never believe what happened!” because they momentarily forgot that He was God, or if they said “Lord, You already know this but we’re gonna tell ya anyway….” I don’t know how they did it. But whatever they said, the Bible says that when He heard about it, He departed to a desert place…He wanted to be alone. He grieved at the loss of John. Jesus says of John in Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: … That’s high praise. John was also Jesus’ cousin – they were family. Jesus was perfect, John was not. Yet Jesus felt sad at the loss of John from the Earth. He took time to go away to a desert place and mourn, but only for a while. The next verse goes on to tell us that Jesus was moved with compassion on the people that followed Him, and that He healed their sick. He went on with His work. He stopped, He grieved and then He kept going. But, He felt the sharp stabbing pain of loss within His heart. He understands how it feels. He’s a loving and compassionate Savior. He’s a wonderful Savior to me!

Sorry to be posting late today. I’ve changed up my schedule again! Now I’m exercising after my devotions, instead of blogging, because it seemed I was never able to squeeze that in late in the day! Blogging is a “quieter” activity that I can do easily while the girls are napping! Look for me late tomorrow, too. Until then, here’s what I’ve got to share. I hope this is a blessing.

Today I was reading Matthew 15. I came across the following verses:

22And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

The portion of scripture that I have placed in bold type is the part which puzzled me today. This comment that our Lord makes to this Syrophenician woman sounds so, I don’t know, condescending?! It sounds as though Jesus is being a “respecter of persons” even though the Bible clearly says that God is no such person. Because I have a fairly strong Bible foundation – thanks to the patient teaching of my parents, siblings, Pastor and husband – I know that being a respecter of persons, or favoring one person over another, is sin. Furthermore, I know that God incarnate – Jesus – knew no sin. So I must be looking at this wrong! I must not be seeing something correctly. Upon further inspection, and with guidance from the Lord, I saw what I was missing.
As we read on in the passage, we see that in the end, Jesus does heal this woman’s daughter. Jesus, in fact, is no respecter of persons. He willingly and lovingly answers this lady’s request, and also commends her for her faith. Why, then, did He tell her He was “not sent but unto the lost sheep of Israel”? Why did He call her a “dog”? I believe that this test or question of her faith was part of God’s plan to increase her faith. If nothing else, we see this woman’s love for her daughter put to the test. She was willing to be publicly humiliated by our Creator to see her daughter healed! What love! I would be shaking and quaking if I had approached Jesus! Once he said he was sent only for Jews, I believe I would have turned the brightest red you ever saw and burst into tears! Not this woman. She knew He could heal her daughter. She would do all she could to convince the “King of the Jews” to have mercy on her – a Gentile dog- because she wanted to see a miracle! We see her boldness, and her faith, as she replies to the Savior, “Truth, Lord: (I can hear her voice trembling) yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Wow. She proclaimed it to all listening: “I am nothing but a “dog” as the Jews refer to me, but You are my master, no matter what I am called.” Jesus said to her “O woman, great is thy faith:” Can you hear the admiration in His voice? Can you see the love for her in his eyes? Do you see the tears spilling out of her eyes, as the Savior of the world grants her request? I can. This isn’t in the Bible, but I picture her falling to her knees in tears, and thanking the Lord.
He’s so good to us. We are all “dogs”. None of us deserve Heaven, yet He’s made it available to us at great cost to only Himself. Not only that, friends, but He places a great value upon us! He loves us.
I believe Jesus could see her heart, and He knew her faith was great, without questioning her. But, when He questioned her faith, then all those watching could see her faith first-hand. She was a great testimony of what Jesus can do when we believe!
He is still the same today. What are you needing from the Lord? Do you need a miracle today? I sure could use one! Do you need to feel His loving arms embrace you today? He can do it, but you must believe. Is He testing you right now? If He is, then just proclaim your love and belief even louder! Are you too heart broken to even form the words of faith? That’s okay. I’ve got a verse for you, too. Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Just cry to Him. He promises to be close by when you do. Just keep believing and you’ll be sure to hear Him say “O woman! Great is thy faith!”