Why Should God Answer You?

Bible Text: Mark 1:29-31 “And immediately they left the synagogue and went into the house of Simon [Peter] and Andrew, accompanied by James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they told Him about her. Jesus went to her, and taking her by the hand, raised her up; and the fever left her, and she began to serve them [as her guests].”

Memory Verse: Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”.  

I have been to a few and likewise conducted a great number of interviews and one question that always pop up is “Why should we give you this job?”. Often this question is asked by interviewers to capture the mindset of a potential employee and analyse their vision and fit for and into the organization’s vision, mission and goals. This question at times could be the deciding factor for the interviewee getting the job or not. The responses are sometimes prepared for and helps interviews give a comprehensive answer of how they fit into the whole organizational chat or if their skills are just generic hence their contribution is limited.

At times when a rejection or refusal comes through the email, post or telephone, they come with feedbacks explaining why they think you’re not fit for the role and if you truly settle down and think it through, sometimes I see why those decisions were made. Though a part I understand but never seem to agree with is not getting the answer you are looking for as an applicant and feedback follows about being overqualified for a role hence the decline. An interviewer may have tried to examine your skills and state of mind in order to make a decision and you may be saying anything you think an interviewer wants to hear in order help you secure the job, but God is not your interviewer hence the same trick cannot work with Him.

Being your creator, He has always specialised in dealing with your heart and intentions so when God sees you, he’s not looking at the shell(body), He is always looking at your state of mind because often we find out that the heart and the mouth may be on a totally different page. Psalm 24:3-5.

When God instructed Prophet Samuel to anoint a king for Israel after He rejected King Saul, the prophet of God like everyone qualified and was about to appoint Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, as he seem to fit the position of a king, but God had finessed everything before Samuel got to Jesse’s house, He hereby told the prophet that for the appearance and eloquence. Eliab looked fit for the position but he wasn’t God’s appointed man, hence was unfit for the throne. God made those decisions not based on Eliab’s outward show of strength, but based on David’s heart, 1Samuel 16:7.

In today’s bible text according to Mark 1:29-31, our point of concentration is Simon’s mother in law. Jesus came to their house at a time she needed healing. We are not certain of the woman’s relationship with God but we can almost guess she had her heart in the right place with God. Jesus didn’t ask any question, He just healed her but what happened next is our point of concentration, as soon as the fever left her, she started serving them. 

Many of us want to be saved from one thing or another yet there is no justification for why we should be saved hence the question “why should God answer us?”. Unfortunately, you cannot talk your way through with God to get answers as He cannot be manipulated but fortunately you can work on your heart to be in the right place with him, an action which gracefully gives you a strong resume and a good chance of obtaining favorable answers from God. Somethings might never happen unless your mindset changes; else you will just be one in the crowd.

We are all asking God for one thing or one another, even the richest in the world have a need they are dependent on God for, but have you tried asking yourself what you will do once God has answered those prayers? Is it for your glory or His glory? While some of your prayer responses might be delayed because God is waiting for the right time, sometimes you may be hindering your own prayers from being answered because your heart is far away from Him.

Let’s add a bit of practicality to our request going forward as we wait on the Lord for various thing. Let’s start rechanneling our hearts toward glorifying God when those Positive responses start to come in. Because you alone know the state of your heart with God and the question “Why should God really answer you?” can only genuinely be answered by you!

PRAYERS:

• Father I bless you for another wonderful time as this
• Thank you for creating me and being my God
• Father help me to be an imitator of you, live right for you and let my heart be consecrated for you
• I receive the ability to live a genuine life of Christlikeness, to remain in your presence always
• Forgive my iniquities Lord and let your mercy prevail over judgement
• Thank you Father and in Jesus Name I Pray, Amen.

I’m reading the YouVersion plan ‘Bible in One Year 2020 With Nicky Gumbel’. Check it out by clicking on the caption below.