We cannot treat God like a vending machine where if we put in one prayer, we expect to get a miracle out of it.
Do we do this to our friends? Do we just hand them money and expect them to do the task we need?
No, because friendship is not based on the foundation of exchanges. Friends are not people we just exchange things with.
Friends are people we hang out with, grow together with, confide to, help out when needed, trust, and many other things that go beyond just a simple exchange of goods.
Then how can we treat God just a vending machine, something or someone that will give us good if we do good.
Friendship is not that simple. So, we need to grow our prayer life beyond simply asking for an exchange. We need to prayer as if we know and love God and He knows and loves us.
Where is God's helping hands? Where is He?
One thing that many Christians should begin to realize is that God works within physical acts including human beings.
If you look to evolution, some Christians get afraid of the idea of evolution, because they looked to Genesis and wanted God to create the creatures.
But, evolution in itself can be a paintbrush of God. Yes, evolution is a visible, yes, evolution is credible.
However, we must realize that evolution also isn't as simple as people wish to make it.
But there are certain events where this seems impossible like the Cambrian Explosion where simple, similar organisms evolved into complex and varied organisms in a relatively short time with no fossil evidence in-between.
Does this mean God's hand came out of nowhere is did something?
No, it could have been a series volcanic explosions that caused nutrients to flood the waters for this water-born organisms. However, these 'miraculous' coincidences could point to the guided of the Holy Spirit in the process.
That is what Christians mean when they say: "Just look at how complex human beings are in comparison to other animals."
It is not denial of evolutionary or even anthropologic evidence, but it is pointing out the series of incredibles events that brought this modern human being as if it was almost guided.
In prayer, Christ is listening. In prayer, Christ will respond in three ways, 'Yes.' 'Wait.' 'I have something better for you.'
Do not give up on prayer. Sometimes when Christ makes us wait, it can be so hard and so difficult, but know that He is listening and He is doing what is best for you.
Do not stop praying.
There are times where we do not understand God. But, just think of Christ, think of what He went through.
Christ, God Himself, came down to His own creation and watched His own creation, the own people He loved entirely, torture and put him to death.
Not only this, but He was God, who said that creation was Good and then came down to the world He created and watched as thousands of sick, disabled, despairing and hungry people flock to Him for mercy.
He watched His own creation in pain. Imagine your own child returning to you in complete pain and desperation. God Himself watched His creation suffer, He personally saw it.
This reality is ununderstandable. What went through Christ's mind seeing His own creation suffer and then turn to Him and put Him to death is unimaginable.
But someday hopefully we will understand.
Have hope in Christ!
Sometimes as Christians we get to the point where we start asking: "Who is this God, this judge that supposedly judges our life?"
Shouldn't we be the judges of God's creation... we look at the world and we seeing suffering, despair and so much pain. There can be tendency to think that how can God judge us, when His creation is so painful. If we were the judge, would we consider God a good God looking at His creation?
However, we must remember that this world is not what it originally was created as. It is a fallen world. A world in need of redemption, a world that will be renewed in the Second Coming of Christ.
Not only this, but there is an untainted product of God that still reigns beautifully in this world and that is love. A self sacrificial love demonstrated by Jesus Christ Himself.
This love is the taste of God. This love is the representation of God. So, if you wish to judge God, do not judge Him on fallen nature, but on the divine essence of love.
Love is the taste of divine in a world that often reflects the corrupted.
Pray, then trust that God has heard your prayers!
Then act on that trust. Act in such a way that you know that God has your back. That God will not let you stay fallen.
You may fall on journey, even Christ Himself fell three times on His way to be crucified, but He got back up.
Pray, trust, act.
A lot of people like to say: "Be careful what you pray for" as if God is a genie attempted to make your wishes terrible.
God loves us and does not want us to be tricked.
However, we must remember that God is calling us to grow closer in holiness and sometimes the answers He gives are not at all what we expect.
So, when you pray allow for God's freedom and be on the look out for blessings that we did not expect.
We are living in an age where many parents and grandparents have to face the reality that their children are not practicing Christians.
Many parents and grandparents feel guilty for this, as this guilt is often times caused or at least encouraged by the pastor who blames the parents and lay people for the small numbers in their Church.
This guilt often leads to desperate and obsessive behaviors either by pushing their children away from their life or by attempting to control them completely.
A parent may be drawn to not talk to their children using their communication and kindness as some form of battering chip that the children will only get if they practice their faith.
Others overwhelm their children by turning any conversation they have with their children into a conversation of faith, which is at best a desperate plea for their children to practice at faith and never really turns into an actual conversation.
Many parents face a lot of anxiety from this reality, but they must face reality that sometimes a child can only come to know Christianity from something other than their parents.
Sometimes one has to face the reality that all one can do is pray and trust in Jesus.
Remember the parable of the Prodigal Son where a son leaves his father and asks the father for his share of money. He uses that money to do whatever he wanted.
Look at the father who represents Christ. The father let the younger child go when the child asked for his share of money. The father did not trap him in the house, the father did not follow him and continue to scold him. No, the father waited for him to return.
We must trust that Christ is with our children even if may not seem like it.
The easiest response to this photo from an atheist here is to say, 'Why doesn't Christ actually do this, He lets people starve all over the world?"
This may even be a question for us Christians, because it is quite a difficult question.
But, we read in the Gospels that Christ Himself has put us in charge of helping the poor.
If anyone questions why Jesus doesn't help the poor now, ask them to read Matthew 25:31-46. It is the passage where Jesus ask people why they did not feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the sick.
He then says, "‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" (Matthew 25:40).
Jesus put us in charge to help those in poverty in this world. But, it always was not like that interestingly. In the OT, we learn that God did provide for everyone until, the Israelites wanted a king (1 Samuel 8:10-18).
God warned them that a king will bring poverty, but they still insisted in one.
This indicates a parallel belief between the New and Old Testament, that human freedom, and human's refusal to help others is what causes poverty.
Grow accustomed to asking Christ for help.
One of the surest ways of bringing Christ into center of your life is not reserving Him simply for worship on Sunday.
Recognize that Christ is with us not simply in the church we got to on Sunday, but rather realize that He is with us and is ready to hear our prayers.
If you are having trouble beginning to pray, start by just going over what is on your mind and offer the anxieties, worries and stresses of the day to Him asking for His help.
The plea for help will begin to help us see the presence of Christ in our life and get us out of the mindset of keeping our anxieties, worries and stresses in our mind constantly, but rather Christ Himself.
In John, Thomas says that he will only believe Jesus' resurrection if he can place his fingers in the wounds of Jesus.
However, interestingly, when Jesus does appear and tell Thomas to touch his wounds, Thomas proclaims, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).
Thomas is not depicting touching Jesus' wounds to believe, but instead Jesus' request brings belief to Thomas.
When it comes to the faith, we often make requests like Thomas. 'I will not believe in Christ unless I feel like I belong in that church.' 'I will stop this particular sin when Jesus gives me a clear signal.'
We are always after clear signs from Christ. Sometimes we will even look at the candle of the Church and as Christ to flicker the candle twice to help us make a decision. I have heard others say that they would spend hours looking at the crucifix, hoping that the statue of Christ would nod eventually.
Sometimes we get trapped in making a decision because we hope to find a visible sign of Christ. But, we really don't need these signs, all we need is faith that God as Jesus tells Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
"Jesus wept." John 11:35
The shortest verse in the Bible, just simple two words: Jesus wept.
This was during the death of Lazarus and He saw Mary and the others mourning for the death of Lazarus.
God Himself witnessed the sadness of death that day. He had not died for our sins yet, He had not defeated death yet, and He witnessed the toll of suffering first hand.
He witnessed His creation cursed by original sin and He witnessed the sadness and it has brought.
It would be as if our parent saw that what they did for their child actually brought them much suffering and even death.
Jesus, God, witnessed within His own creation, death destroying the lives of people.
I don't think we recognize this reality of Jesus when read about Him in the Gospels. We don't think that Jesus is witnessed his very own creation at work, and while cursed by original sin, it must have deeply wounded him to see all the illness and hunger.
When we let go and let God, this means that we let go of all fear and anxiety that me holding us back and to trust in God on our journey.
Does it mean that God will do all the work for us?
No, we have to put in the effort, however, it does mean that we can rest easy knowing that things will be okay even if we mess up.