Which do you choose, the world or God?

Have you ever noticed that God’s rules and way of living are completely opposite of what the world tells us to do?  Have you noticed that since you were a young child you have been taught to behave, react and treat other people a certain way, but when reading the Bible we find we are to do the opposite of what we have been conditioned to do? 

The world’s standards and God’s standards of living are at war with each other, and sometimes it’s very confusing to know which way to go.  When your flesh tells you to do one thing, but your heart tells you do something else, which one are you to believe.

I’ve heard it said a million times, to reference the word of God for your ultimate truth but when the ultimate truth goes against what everyone else is doing, and what you have been taught by your parents to do, it can be hard to follow the Bible.

We are taught not to hit, not be rude and cruel to people ,and animals, and these rules comply with the rules we see in the Bible, but we have also been taught to stand up for ourselves and protect ourselves against someone who is hurting us.  This is not the direction we see in the Bible, so which path do you choose?

This can be a very confusing thing to navigate as the conflicts become larger and more complex.   We are formed, conditioned, and shown to be independent thinkers, to use our rational brains when coming to a decision on something, but lately my rational brain and my relationship with God are not Seeing Eye to eye.  I have honestly been struggling with what direction to go.

Tonight I was reading from Matthew 6 1-13 and found myself once again questioning the path I am to take.  Now, honestly, this isn’t new for me, as I am a person who questions everything by nature, so when I am being taken in a direction that is completely foreign to who I am, naturally it becomes very difficult for me.  

This has been my life since November of 2013. 

Matthew 6: 1-13 Take care not to do your good deeds publicly or before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you will have no reward [reserved for and awaiting you] with and from your Father Who is in heaven. ² Thus, whenever you give to the poor, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets like to do, that they may be recognized and honored and praised by men. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.³ But when you give to charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,⁴ So that your deeds of charity may be in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you openly.⁵ Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.⁶ But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.⁷ And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking.⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.⁹ Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name.¹⁰ Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.¹³ And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Personally, I am not a person who needs to be rewarded constantly for their good deeds or performance.  I am very comfortable with slipping into the background and allowing my work to stand for itself.  This is one of the reason’s there is nothing personally attaching me with this blog.  I wanted it to stand on God’s word and His leading alone. 

I say all of that about myself since this chapter, or at least the beginning, is about how we should handle our good deeds and charitable contributions.  I agree with the verses, you shouldn’t be giving to get a puffed up ego or acknowledgment from your fellow man, we should be giving because that is what God has directed us to do, and because we are told to help the people in need around us.  This can come in many forms.  This can be in a monetary donation, a donation or items, or of your prayer and personal time.  You have to see how God leads you to fully see the harvest of your obedience to Him.

I love that the Bible goes out of the way to make sure the point is driven home that we should not let the left hand know what the right is doing.  We should not be boastful of our accomplishments or our abilities, since they were given to us by God.  We should always give the glory to God, for allowing us to be of service to Him and His people. 

In verse 5 we see a bit of a change in direction, as we are now being directed on how we should pray to God, and what not to do.  Prayer, I don’t know about you, but for me, has always been difficult. 

Not because I don’t have things to pray about, because trust me I surely do, but because I never can seem to find the right words, or the words, should I say to impress God.  I want to shower Him with my vocabulary and I guess if I am honest, give myself a God star for sounding eloquent when speaking to my God.

Prayer has been such a point of contention for me, I have found myself not wanting to do it.  I have shied away from it, and have made excuses to myself, to get out of praying.  Oh, I’ll do that later, or God knows what I am saying or what I need, I don’t need to pray about that.   Now, I still do pray and I am better with this than I was a year ago, but I have some road to still travel.

Verse five says, Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people.  Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already. (6) But when you pray, go into your (most) private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. (7) And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking.   (8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.  

As I am sure you can tell these verses were striking a chord with me, as I struggle with seven and eight.   I struggle with the fact that I am speaking to God and I need to impress Him.  I need to show Him He has picked a good servant, and that I am worthy enough of His love and time. 

None of these are true.  The truth is, as I believe was revealed to me, I am not worthy.  I am not worthy of anything from God, because I am a sinner and I sin every day.  I was born into sin and I will die a sinner, I had no choice on the matter, but I do have a choice to sin daily or not.  I struggle not with what we would consider the big sins.  I don’t struggle with not killing someone, stealing, or taking the Lords name in vain, but I do struggle with not having jealousy towards people who are living a life I wish I had.  I do struggle with having sexual thoughts and feelings, I struggle, like we all do, which makes us unworthy of God’s time, love, forgiveness and grace. 

But that’s why we have Jesus!!

I can stop beating myself up, and so can you, for not being perfect, for having made mistakes, and for the mistakes I will make in the future, because we have a perfect Savior, in Jesus Christ.

I can pray my imperfect, choppy, grammatically incorrect prayer, because I am not bringing to God who I am, I am bringing to God all that Jesus is.  I am coming before the throne of God, in the spirit and truth of Jesus Christ.  That is what makes me and everyone else worthy of God’s love, affection, blessings and everything else He has given to us.

I can stop being convicted of what I am doing wrong and allow Jesus, to fill in the spots and make them right.  I can allow Jesus to shine up my prayers and make them beautiful in the sight of God, because He goes before me.  He intercedes for us before God, all the time.  He represents our wants and needs to God and petitions Him on our behalf, along with the Holy Spirit, so that we can come as we are, and not be ruled by our faults.

The enemy, otherwise known as satan, will take advantage of this short coming you have, or the place where you feel inferior and he will enlarge it.  He will magnify it and make you feel even worse about your ability than how you felt before.  He will say to you, see your prayer was so mediocre, God will never listen to that.  God is not going to answer your prayer; He has other things going on.  

WRONG!! 

God will answer your prayer, and I am sure you will love this answer, because I surely do, (insert sarcasm).  He will answer your prayer in three ways, Yes, No or not yet.   Ugh, how I despise that response, and really can’t believe I am using it, but it is true. 

God will answer your prayers and petitions, no matter how juvenile, short or inadequate we think they are, but He might not answer them how we want Him to answer.  He might be telling you like He is telling me, hold on, there are other things we need to fix or change before I can give you the things you desire for… but the waiting can be so difficult.

Just because God doesn’t answer your prayer the way you want Him to answer it, doesn’t mean you should stop praying.  We should never stop having communication with God.  We should never stop contact or the open dialogue that God has with us, and we have with Him.  This is how we get to know God intimately, is by talking to Him.

Do as the Bible says and go into a place where you feel comfortable, less stressful, whether it’s your bedroom, office or even the shower, go where you have a moment alone, to spend time talking to God.   Speak to Him as you would speak to a friend, again, hard thing to do, because He’s God.  But do it.  Speak to Him like you would your best friend.  Ask Him for advice on your relationship, child, job, money or purchases, talk to God.

We are the ones who are making the relationship with God hard, not Him.  We are the ones who move, not God.  Remember that verse 8 says Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 

You may ask so what’s the point in praying if God already knows what I need? The answer is because we still have to ask Him, for Him to do it.  God won’t, for the most part, barge in on your life; we have to ask Him to come into our lives.  We have to bring everything from our lives to Him and ask Him for His help, and guidance on our lives.

God is waiting for you to say, hey, God, it’s me, and I need you to help me have more strength in this situation.  Or hey, God, it’s me, can you help me have a deeper desire to know you more intimately.   When we open the door that God is knocking on, through prayer, we give Him the ability to start to work in our lives. 

The world will tell you to go get what you want and what you need.  Do whatever you have to do to be successful and climb your way to the top.  The Bible tells us to go to God for what we want and what we need, because He already knows what we need, before we do.   We shouldn’t be living by the standards created in the world today, have we stopped to take a look at the world today?  We should be living by the standards that the Bible has given us, to accomplish the life that God has purposed for us. 

You make get some looks, you might feel awkward and you may even disappoint some people, but what you will get is a deeper connection with God and the peace of mind knowing you lived your life by the Book, being the Bible, not by the standards of the world!   You will be rewarded, in the open, for your adherence to the word of God.