Falling Apart or Falling Into Place?

Falling apart or falling into place? 

2 Chronicles 15:44 But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. When things are falling a part it is good to know we have a God greater than ourselves we can turn to. He can give us peace, comfort, understanding, and wisdom in the middle of our distress.

For Christians, I believe it is safe to say the following verse would be one that would bring a feeling of comfort. Psalm 50:15 states, "and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Although, I've noticed among certain social circles lately, after recent tragedies around the world, many are saying prayer doesn't work.  Bad things still happen. Sadly, those who believe that, are missing out on so much. They completely miss the point of prayer and the power it holds. 

How many wait until tragedy strikes before they call out to the Lord? How many already live a life honoring God and have the right to call out to the Lord? Does everyone have the right to call out to God the Father, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, in a time of need? The Lord is not a genie. He is not there at our beckoning and call. In fact if you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior it's like God never knew you at all. 

There are true and false disciples or believers who follow Jesus. Those who allow God to be Lord of their life and those who don't.  In Matthew 7 we're given an example of how we would be treated if we don't truly know the Lord and call out to Him. "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"

 Doing good things, being a good person won't get you to God. You have to let Him lead you to Him. Follow His lead, don't take the lead. Heaven isn't some far away place that we will one day experience, it is where ever God rules and reigns, where His presence is, He reigns. Through prayer you can be in His presence. You miss out on that if you aren't yielding your life to Him. That's a huge thing to miss out on!

If He never knew you, how could He hear and answer your prayer. 

We have our friend's phone numbers and we have our parents' phone number, right? If we were ever in trouble, we could call them because we love them and trust them to be there for us.  However, with out their number, we can't call them. With out knowing them, we'd never have their number. How much more would Jesus be able to do for us than our family and friends. He knows us and loves us more than our closest friends and family ever could. Can you call out to God? Do you have His tole free number; the salvation that connects you directly to Him?

There are also those other so called friends and family members in our lives.  Unlike those you have, who you can call and get great advice and support from, there are others you can't. Honestly, there are times, because you do know them so well, you wouldn't pick up the phone if they called because they are so needy and demanding. They only call when they need something. After a while that gets pretty old. 

How do you think God feels? He had so much love that he created us to have fellowship with Him. However, what if instead of fellowship, all we did was call  when we wanted Him, when it was convenient, or we needed something?  Why should He answer? When we fail to honor Him after a while He'll remove his hand of protection, let us go our own way, do our own thing, until we are ready to be in true fellowship with Him, not just spend time with Him when we want something.

Being out of fellowship with the Lord can be a scary place. As time passes you will feel like you're falling a part. You start getting attacked by the lies and fiery darts of Satan's wrath. Little things here and there start to build up: you're late for an appointment, you loose things, you're easily irritated or distracted, your thought life becomes negative or even dangerous and hopeless, and you have moments where nothing seems to be going right. It happens when you're feeling tired, low, it's late at night, or your  unprepared and unprotected. It's not all the time, it's when you least expect it, when your guard is down. I feel like that is where so many people are now. That's where our country is now. People are falling to pieces everywhere!  But, with God instead of just falling a part, those pieces could be falling into place, if we just give them over to Him. 

We can give the pieces of our broken life to the Lord just by praying to Him asking Him to put the pieces back together in the way He intended them to go, not how we thought they should fit. As many know from reading my past blog posts, I've had to do this more than once in my life. 

There have been too many times my life had began to fall a part, and each time I try on my own, to shove the pieces together and make them fit. The pieces become mangled and sometimes even more broken, some of the paint gets chopped off and some pieces seem to be lost forever. It isn't until I finally get tired of trying to force it all back together, making an ugly mess, give up, let go, and let God. Then, the pieces fit together effortlessly and the big picture takes shape. The light shines on it all and I begin to understand. One day I may learn to skip the mess of forcing the pieces to fit and just let God guide them to where they belong. 

What people need to understand about prayer is, praying is more than just giving all your worries and problems to the Lord, it's a way of communicating and having fellowship. It's something I'm still working on myself, and believe it will be a constant learning and growing process until I see the Lord face to face. It's not a one sided conversation, "thank you Lord for this, give me more of this, help me with that, bless those people..." If you can quiet the noise in your head and listen, really listen, seeking His will and guidance, His comfort and peace, you'll receive it. In Hebrews were told, to  come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.”  We can have such a relationships with the Lord as he is our heavily father, we can approach the throne. He knows us and loves us!

Colossians 3:16 reminds us that through prayer, His word will dwell in us. We will be able to better understand what His words in the Bible are telling us and how we are to apply it to our life, in order to keep the pieces from coming loose and falling out of place to begin with. It may not be in an audible voice, but you can receive feelings, impressions, and images. I can't say I understand how it all works, but I know it does from personal experience and the experience of fellow believers. We can hear and know what he wants for our lives. Not that I always get it, but as you (Or I ) grow in the Lord we'll hear and understand more.

When the world around you seems to be falling a part with an uncertain future. Your hope and peace can be found in the only one who can not only put the pieces in place, but hold them together. As you let go and let God the pieces of life will fall into place, your hope and future will be secure. Are you falling apart or into place?