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What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? \u2014Matthew 7:9<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/iframe><br \/>\nThe illustration of prayer that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our relationship is to Him (see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+5:45\">Matthew 5:45<\/a>). Never say that it is not God\u2019s will to give you what you ask. Don\u2019t faint and give up, but find out the reason you have not received; increase the intensity of your search and examine the evidence. Is your relationship right with your spouse, your children, and your fellow students? Are you a \u201cgood child\u201d in those relationships? Do you have to say to the Lord, \u201cI have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings\u201d? You cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of a \u201cgood child.\u201dWe mistake defiance for devotion, arguing with God instead of surrendering. We refuse to look at the evidence that clearly indicates where we are wrong. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been living as God\u2019s child among my relatives and friends? (see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+7:12\">Matthew 7:12<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>I am a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I \u201cwalk in the light\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+John+1:7\">1 John 1:7<\/a>). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship with God. We are all good at producing spiritual fog that blinds our sight. But if we will search out and examine the evidence, we will see very clearly what is wrong\u2014 a friendship, an unpaid debt, or an improper attitude. There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then Jesus says, regarding His children, \u201cEveryone who asks receives\u2026\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+7:8\">Matthew 7:8<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>______________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>August 24, 2014<\/p>\n<p>Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n<p>Lord, is this really the way it works? You only hear our prayers when we \u201care good\u201d? Are we to go through self-examination as a step to finding out why our prayers have not been answered? Are we to examine ourselves whenever You do not respond to our prayers? Or is self-examination a good thing that comes out of surrender and connection? What about the scriptures that tell us that there is nothing good in us; that the very best we can do is not good enough? This sounds a little too much like the \u201cSanta Claus\u201d myth: if we are good, You will respond to our prayers, and if we are not \u201cgood\u201d You will not?<\/p>\n<p>And God says\u2026\u201d<em>When you seek your own ways and means, I cannot help you. When you take charge of your life, I am compelled to let you. However, when you surrender your life to Me, the Holy Spirit can operate in your life and you can live a life of abundance, even when I choose not to provide you with everything you ask. Your \u201cgoodness\u201d has nothing to do with how I see you and your requests. Your \u201cgoodness \u201cis provided by Jesus. Grace allows Me to see Jesus when I look at you.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Matthew 6:33The Message (MSG) 30-33 \u201cIf God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers\u2014most of which are never even seen\u2014don\u2019t you think he\u2019ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I\u2019m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God\u2019s giving. People who don\u2019t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don\u2019t worry about missing out. You\u2019ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? \u2014Matthew 7:9 The illustration of prayer that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13203"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13208,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions\/13208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}