5548	Forums / Main Forum / Re: Question about prayer	on: February 12, 2009, 02:32:30 PM
I think you have struck a cord in me. I really feel led to examine this dark time. Usually if i am suffering some anxiety its because i feel helpless to do anything about the circumstances in my life. Now we are always told that there are things that God does and there are things that we do. But the reality is that most of our lives are impacted greatly by what others do. Pain comes as a result of living in this world. There is nothing in this world that can alleviate the pain unless God works in those people. Because men are always self absorbed. I mean in two ways. One is that there are people who will scheme to steal or take something from you. There are people who have gifts that will not think a second unless there is a quality in the receiver that meets certain expectations. On the other side there are people who want to bring you under their particular bondage for a price. Their whole philosophy is that God helps those who help themselves. Now this is what brings them to such an important position in this world and in the eyes of sinners.Who in this world doesnt need help in some way? So instead of scheming to take advantage they work up a scheme to encourage people to do certain things and then they will get a certain benefit after the work. The bring men into a scheme to forget God by their particular rules. Its not that they reject the idea that God is the judge, but their intent is to get you to think that their program is equal with what God thinks. So that in the end you have no thoughts of God but you are in bondage to a principle.  But with God a majority is us having Him as our only refuge. We could have armies surrounding us on every side and still be as bold as a lion with God. He is the majority. The problem is that we must have faith in order to apprehend this kind of protection. Our position is that we do not trust in our own horses, that is our dependence on our means in order to obtain the victory. Unless God starts from the foundation then the house is going to fall. So we need assurance. The means to obtaining is by simply asking. But the asking is asking in hope.... not hoping in the sense of wishing that it would happen .. but taking the desires that God has placed in our hearts and laying them before Him each day... morning by morning ... waiting in expectation. Why do we wait with that attitude? Because God works from one day to another. I mean each day with God is a totally different day than the one before. Not that God changes, but that He wants to increase our faith by challenging us to trust Him for our daily needs not our monthly needs not our yearly needs . Because He works in a morning cycle.  Its sorta like going to bed on christmas eve, then  we wake up and there is our answers, that is those things we have been asking for. God gives us new mornings. With God all things are possible in any minute. With us all things are impossible in the totality of our lives. So we learn to hope in God, that is having communications that the morning will have good news. And so we ask in faith. We plead in faith. We press God in faith.   5550  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Question about prayer on: February 12, 2009, 12:18:40 PM Quote from: madonna on February 12, 2009, 11:48:01 AM Another thing I wanted to add, while I am on a roll!!!  is I watch alot of television minister's as well as attending a good church.   My favorites are Charles Stanley, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen etc. . . and I hear what they are teaching, but I notice THEY always have loving Christian partners and someone to support THEM. . . it just makes me feel like maybe I am not important enough to God. . . . I really don't know anymore!!!!     any comments welcomed. . . . I feel led to answer you. I had a time in my life where is fell into clinical depression. It was awful. The circumstances in my life where not as bad as what was going on inside of me. I am not saying that you are depressed or anything. I am just saying that mental pain is the absolute worse thing in this world. I really do not understand what good it was for me to go through that. And maybe i should have done things differently but its not good to look back and have regrets. I mean some tiimes you cant help having a knowledge of the wrong, but  its not good to dwell on them. I think there was some intense anger, just from the struggle. I think any time we look at the things in our lives that we cannot understand then we are tempted to get angry at God. I dont think we can be completely free of this struggle and sometimes when things go really bad then its a fierce struggle. The question is if this stuff is going on then how come God doesnt intervene and change this situation? And if God is sitting on the side lines while i suffer then He must not be very good to me. It may surprise you that i believe that if God wanted you to have a husband you would have a husband. And God is always able to bring a man into your life. So that its always going to be... its just when He wants it to happen... then He will speak the word. I think when we are in darkness... i mean we havent seen Him move in the past... we look around now and there is nothing going on... so then there s only a certain amount of yrs on this earth... then we have no assurance that its going to change. Thats a darkness. When we are in the darkness of His providence, that is He seems to be silent then we must learn to hope... i mean not to wish for this to happen... but we give it to Him so that we are able to rejoice in Him without it happening. I could compare it to someone who has a physical defect. Now there is no way they are going to change their appearance. Its going to make them feel differently than the rest of the normal looking people. So then there is only one thing they can do to find a resolution. And its that God has made it this way for His glory and their good. I think i was depressed for a purpose. I still could fall into depression again. But then the only way to deal with the problem is through constant discipline of my mind. I am not saying that its to earn Gods acceptance, but its just to survive another day in sanity. I believe there are special times in our lives where we must go through the fire. In other words its like we feel like we are being picked on. So that we look out and say ," why are other people normal while i am so messed up?" And then we find ourselves kind of in a pit of despair.  Well we are there for a purpose. A lot of it is so that we can discipline ourselves like an athlete. Its so we can be stretched as a person. Feel the things we do not normally feel, deal with things we would never want to deal with if we could imagine something bad. So we got to make an effort to know HIm in a more intimate way by prayer, bible reading, and fellowship. We focus on the goal of becoming more like Christ and we remove those things that will tempt us to fall into despair. Those things that will cause us to be tempted to think that God is not good. I mean i have gone through darkness removing things that are bad news things. At some point when we ween ourselves off of these things that cause us extra distress, we begin to hear God loud and clear. I think this is what is needed when we become anxious, bitter, and unable to find our way out of this darkness. In these times i have been in His word more than normal.