#1 God responds to faith, not needs!
Yes! If God responded to needs, there wouldn't be a need in the world today! And that means no war, poverty, famine, drought, suicide no nothing! Does that mean God is not a compassionate God? Nope. It's just that we need faith for Him to move. Faith is like a raw material uses to work miracles in our lives. The less you have of it, the less likely God is going to work in your life!
In Mark 5:36 before Jesus brought the girl back to life, He says "Do not be afraid; only believe". Faith is essential for miracles! And that is exactly why He had to put all those who ridiculed Him outside the room of the girl (verse 40) before He raised the girl. Those people disbelieved in Him, they had no faith in Him. Then Jesus spoke, and the girl arose. When we have faith, miracles begin to take place as God speaks.
When we are down and out, when we really need God, how can we make it easier for Him to help us? The woman in Mark 5 had an affliction, but God did not respond to her need. When she heard about Jesus, she believed, she had faith! But did she get healed just because she had faith? No, she did not. How did she get healed then? When she touched Jesus' garment, immediately her flow of blood stopped (Mark 5:28-29) She decided to reach out to Jesus. She initiated contact. She sought God. The onus is on us. When we are in need, it really is up to us to reach out to God in faith.
#2 God has a reason for every decision He makes
When things don't go as expected, it can be easy to say that we trust God has His reasons. It's true that He does, but it isn't always easy to be convicted that He does. Especially when it happens to us and we don't know His reason for doing so.
Sometimes I just wonder why God did not plan for me to get saved when i first stepped into HoGC 4 years ago. That would mean 4 more years of growing and serving in God, almost 20% of my my time spent alive! Maybe "the time wasn't right", "maybe He wanted me to experience something else to prepare me for my walk with Him". All this time i had to comfort myself with many "maybe"s, never certain what His reason really was, but sometimes i really wished I was saved 4 years back.
But Sunday night made a difference. On Sunday night, God told me why. Pastor was sharing on the sacrificial levels which our senior leaders have been serving on since the early days of our church. Part of that sacrifice included being radically available for God to use us, so much so that people in the world start perceiving us as different from them and give us weird looks. Part of that sacrifice included risking our place among friends.
It was then that God showed me a flashback of the first 2 years of my university life, where i was heavily involved in network marketing. Everyone else in school was talking about using their free time to rack up nice credentials to fill their resumes with, as topping for their 4.5 GPA. But i was different. After school I'll usually rush home to change, attend meetings, go home and sleep around 1-2am, only to have to wake up early in the morning again for school. And the cycle went on and on. None of my friends understood why i was into network marketing. Some were concerned, some gave me weird looks, but I deep down I knew what I was doing, and I knew they didn't. I had grown immune.
Unknowingly, God had cultivated an attitude in me that allowed me to sacrifice and be radically available for whatever i believed in. That was what the 4 years was for. Today, I still retain that same attitude, only that it is now used for a purpose bigger than my own dreams and desires.. for a higher purpose.
I was moved to tears when i realised how God was painstakingly preparing me for what He has planned for me. I was touched. It was only then that i was truly convicted that He had a reason for waiting for 4 years. I am glad He did.
#3 What's stopping me?
In that same meeting, God spoke to me again when Pastor talked about the limits that we place on ourselves when it came to being available. Truthfully speaking, there's nothing more important in my life now than worshiping God with my life. Everything else pales in comparison. So i was perplexed. What could possibly place a limit on how much I would be available for God's purpose?
Then God showed me a vision of a beautiful garden with a little girl in it. The girl stood there crying and her parents came looking for her, asking her what had happened. To their horror, they saw a nail driven right through her right foot and into the ground. She was bleeding as profusely as her tears were flowing down from her eyes. Then she explained "I was just trying to understand what Jesus had gone through for me". The vision stopped there.
It was then that i realised what was stopping me from giving my absolute all to God. I am a young Christian that has yet to mature spiritually. God was asking me to seek His face more, get to know Him on a deeper level and share a more intimate relationship with Him. Only then, can I serve Him at my fullest potential and fulfill the vision which He has cast for my life. Amen
