Porpor1234

Sometimes we don't even know what we want. It is like the reason we need to pray. God doesn't need to hear our prayers. We need to hear our prayers! When God asks us questions, it certainly isn't because He doesn't know the answer. Just as it is often beneficial to talk with a wise and trusted friend before an important decision, we need to talk to the Lord and listen to what He says. Sometimes He will open a new way of thinking with a question. Sometimes He will reveal a need or a desire in us that we weren't conscious of. Sometimes He will show us where we are in error, in sin, because we see His goodness, His will. Sometimes if we are confronted with that hard question, it will show us if the desires of our hearts are what we should be asking for or not. Without the mind of God, we cannot ask as we should. We must seek that in order to offer effective prayers or advice for others. If He doesn't choose to reveal His mind to us, we can be sure He will never lead us wrongly. He knows the desires of our hearts and if we truly desire His will in all things, He will honor that and use us as He can, as He will.

The invalid clearly didn't recognize Jesus or even expect anything from Him. Pastor Ralph thinks he was a whiner and complainer, ungrateful and graceless. He probably was but I wonder if I would have even gotten up after 38 years of disability just on Jesus' word to me. It is the grace of God alone that gives us the ability to respond to His goodness and love. It has taken me many years to lay aside cynicism and not react with a “glass half empty” mentality. I am being healed by His unfailing faithfulness and wooing. John doesn't tell us what happened to this man ultimately, whether he followed Jesus or not. I can only hope that he did but if he didn't, it was not for lack of Jesus' seeking him out and giving him his heart's desire. God, who knows the beginning and the end, always seeks those who are lost. 1Corinthians 13 says: “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ” God is not bound by time but He has chosen to interact with us in time. In this regard, I believe God “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” And so He seeks us out to save us from ourselves and from the designs of the evil one.

Hi all, I am a grandmother of nine living in northern Virginia. I have been richly blessed with a close and loving family, good health and many beautiful Christian sisters and brothers. But most of all, I am unaccountably, amazingly blessed to be a child of God, made pure and righteous by the shed blood of Jesus. I am not a new Christian but I have still so much to learn. I am very happy to be a part of this study. Thanks and blessings to you, Pastor Ralph, for making this possible. For His Sake and in His Love, Susan