Faith Claims

Be careful about declaring what God will do before He says it Himself.  The pretentious trend in Christian circles of deciding what God must do has wrecked the faith of too many childish believers.  The assumption that if God loves me he will do this or that is a psychological landmine.  God will do what He actually says He will do.  When He told Sarah in her old age that He would give her a child He did.  When He told Jehoshaphat that He would give Judah a resounding victory over the Moabites and Amonites, He did.  When He told Moses that He would give Israel freedom from Egyptian rule, He did.  He did not say He would give James a long life and He did not tell Peter He would keep him from a painful end.  What if James claimed a long life for himself and Peter knew his ministry would not close out on a cross?  Would they not have sounded like so many who post a claim and then assume the claim is vouched for by God with Him agreeing to the claim?  It is blasphemy to speak for God when He has said nothing about a matter.  Take your troubles and painful trials to the Lord and leave them with Him.  Faith is worked out in us not by assuming something will happen or won't but when we confidently trust the Lord to make everything in time work out for our good and for the good of those we love.  Habakkuk waited on the ramparts not because he demanded everything go well with Jerusalem but because He knew an eternal Kingdom was being established and he would be a part...the Lord had said this was so.  He never named the miracle and then like a puffed out child waited for it to happen.  His hope was in God alone, not in an outcome He demanded.  
But the just shall live by his faith...  Habakkuk 2:4 NIV

Wanting More

The difference between wanting and demanding is quite clear when you are dealing with your children but seems nebulous when it is found in your praying.  How can you be certain you have not run off the tracks as you make your way through your requests?  Hezekiah saw nothing wrong with begging God for added years when told he was about to die and Hannah is renowned for her spiritual fortitude in frantically crying out to God for a baby.  How can we know a desire is godly and not just a self-centered lust?  Hezekiah took his added fifteen years and fathered a son who became the most wicked of all the kings of Judah and Hannah took her boy Samuel and turned him back over to God to raise and mold into arguably the greatest of all priests not named Jesus.  We can pray for anything and feel quite justified in our praying.  After all, Christ Himself told us to ask and keep on asking.  God may grant our demands just as freely as our wants but as Israel regretted the longing she had for a king, we too may wish we never got what our fevered prayers demanded.  Our drive must always move in this one direction, that we become so close to God that our wants become His.  Then what we ask for in prayer will truly bless all it touches. Give the Holy Spirit space to reshape your wants into God given desires.

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap...  1 Timothy 6:9 NIV