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I did it!!!!!!

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Have you ever prayed over and over for something for so long, it seemed like it would never happen?  Your greatest desire to come true, your greatest stress to be taken from you, just something so big that it impacted each and every day?  Maybe you were waiting for a job offer or trying to ace a really hard class, but whatever it was, the stress was actually taking over your life.  If you've experienced long periods of prayer for something like this, I'm sure you remember the moment the stress was taken from you and whatever it was, finally worked out for the good.  Unfortunately, a lot of times the timeline looks a bit like this:

Me: "Please God, I really need your help"

Me: "God, I can't do this without you"

Me: "God, please give me the strength for this"

Me: *quotes Philippians 4:13 continuously*

God: *reveals His absolutely perfectly timed plan for the millionth time*

Me: "WHOOO yeah I did it!!! I'm so great!!!!!!!!!!! Go me!!!!!! Time to celebrate!!!"

Sound familiar, or is it just me? Why is it that we tend to pray whatever "magical" words we can think of that will convince God to deliver us, then take all the credit when He comes through?

I don't think any amount of begging or "pretty prayers" makes God listen to us more; He is far more concerned with prayers deep from the heart that are searching for His guidance, while fully trusting in His plan.  Even if our prayers are genuine, why do we still like to take all the credit for the things that before the success, we admitted were ultimately God's victories?

Before finishing this post, I would encourage you to read Mark 3:1-6.  (God's words are far better than my own, so I would recommend reading straight from the source.)

The reading is about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath.  Although He is performing an incredible miracle that will better the man's life, and should also amaze the viewers, the Pharisees instead had a reaction of anger.  Instead of being awed, the Pharisees were so confident (and had a bit of a holier-than-thou attitude going on) that they become angry that Jesus was performing this miracle on the Sabbath. Even when Jesus responded that it is more lawful to do good on the Sabbath than evil, the Pharisees were so prideful they made their own plans.  The last verse of the story says "Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus".

This is crazy.  Jesus healed someone, so they began to plot to kill Him?

While we probably aren't going to become angry about God answering our prayers on a Sunday, don't we do something just as crazy?  He answers our prayers, offers us our dream job, heals our sickness, helps us restore a relationship, and many times we don't spend as much time thanking Him as we should.

Too many times we congratulate ourselves before we thank our Lord.  I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of that big accomplishment, you should!  But we also can't forget whose Master Hand is ultimately responsible.  God time after time reveals His perfect timing to us, but how often do we take the credit?  How often is the moment God reveals part of His perfectly timed plan also the moment we tend to take our lives back into our own hands?  We start to think we are invincible and try to do life on our own until it crumbles and we need Him again.  He gives and He heals, and we pay Him back with the sins that put Him on the cross in the 1st place.  It may sound harsh, but our pride drove the nails just as deep into His palms as any other sin.

While the Pharisee's response seemed extreme, the pride that stood between them seeing the truth and being awestruck by Jesus' healing is the same pride that negatively effects our relationship with Christ.

Take joy in the exciting moments of life, and know that you are capable of doing INCREDIBLE things!  But don't forget the REASON that you are capable of those things along the way.  Life is much better when God is in control all of the time, not just specific moments.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17)


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