Wednesday’s Word – Presto Change-O!

Hello All,
How many times have you prayed to God to give you a Holy Hocus Pocus! An Anointed Abracadabra?
Okay, if it’s only me that has ever prayed that prayer, then so be it. I’ll live.
Sometimes we think the only way to make it through life’s struggles is that God would magically do something “miraculous”. And it’s not to say that Our Heavenly Father is not in the miracle business. He surely is. But how many stories do we find in the Bible where God “zapped” an individual who prayed for it. Or put the “whammy” on somebody else as an answer to prayer? Ever? I mean in Ezekiel, we read that God will put a “New” heart in us as believers, but is that what we’re talking about? Nebuchadnezzar and Paul got zapped but they surely didn’t pray for it. The father of the boy possessed with demons asked Jesus to “help” with his unbelief. Thing is, I’m not saying that God can’t, but I just don’t see it’s often that God quickly does things to change people. I honestly covet your feedback if you see that I’m missing something.

Here’s the Word:
Hosea 6:3(NIV) Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Philippians 3:12(NIV) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians 3:14(KJV) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

So is Cros saying “give up?” I surely hope that that’s not the message you take away from this. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16).On the contrary, I would that you would buckle into a sense of patient persistence in your prayers for people (didn’t see all those p’s coming) – And to NOT give up when you don’t see a ZAP happen in your life to make it all better. Remember, the sanctification process, the process of “becoming” is what’s really going on here (for you and others). We get so much more character refinement when we endure rather than having God “take it away”. Don’t believe me, ask the Apostle Paul. You’d think that if anyone was deserving of a “Presto Change-o”, he was. Our change-o is not a result of a “presto”, but more of a result of what we press to.

In Him,
Cros