Looking For Hope: A New Perspective Based On Truth
Right now, God is teaching me to seek a new perspective. Instead of looking at my situation and determining that He didn’t answer my prayers, maybe I should look for how He did answer my prayers.
Our Common Perspective In Prayer
The problem with our perspective when it comes to God answering our prayers, I believe, is based on our preconceived expectations. We go into prayer asking God to work and to do what only He can do, but what we really mean is, God, work in the way I want You to.
Sometimes God answers our prayers in the way we hoped, and even, thought He should, but sometimes He does not. When He does, we are good! God is on our side and we’ve got proof. When He answers them differently, it often appears that He didn’t answer them at all, because we only wanted Him to answer us the way we wanted Him to answer us.
Looking For A New Perspective
Recently God started changing my perspective of situations where I didn’t get exactly what I prayed. I began looking at situations where things turned out different than I expected and asking questions like:
WHAT IF,
God did answer my prayers?
He knew details of the situation that I could not know or see, and He protected me?
My expectation of how He should answer my prayers would have taken me in a direction that wasn’t my best or even taken me from fulfilling His true calling for my life?
God is working behind the scenes of my life and preparing something beyond what my imagination can even fathom?
The reason, I thought He did not answer me or held something back from me was because I was like Eve and deceived?
“God Is Holding Out On You”
The message, “God is holding out on you” is a message the spiritual enemy of our soul has been using against us and against our trust in God from the beginning.
Why does this message that God is holding out on us, trip us up so bad?
I really believe it is more about what we think it says about us than God. Most of us believe that God is in control. We believe He is well able and all-powerful. So when our answers to our prayers look different than our expected outcome, we determine that it reflects on us.
AND we think thoughts like:
Maybe God doesn’t love me enough.
Maybe He thinks I am still bad even after I changed.
Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong all along and God is not as close to me as I thought.
Or could it be that He is close to other people, special people, and I am not one of them?
I realize as God continues to point my thoughts toward a different view of my situation, that to some degree, I have been deceived. Because “God is holding out on you” and the ‘maybe” list are both based on lies.
This realization compels me to pray,
Lord, help me change my perspective! Help me stop looking for where You are holding out and see where You are giving. Illuminate my mind and my thoughts with truth!
I wonder if you can identify with me in any way? Have you wondered if God was holding out on you? And have you gone so far as to wonder how your situation and your perceived unanswered prayers reflect on you?
I guess the question we must first ask ourselves is,
“Am I willing to start looking for something different?”
When life or people disappoint us, as Christians who believe that God is in control, well-able, and all-powerful, we often come around to the belief that God did not come through for us. I say that because I have been there.
However, even disappointment could not shake my foundation and core belief that my hope is in Jesus. So, I seek Him and I seek Him again. The more I seek Him, the more He shows me my wrong perspective and opens my heart and mind to perceive life circumstances through the lens of truth.
If you find yourself with questions about “unanswered prayer” maybe it is time for a new perspective. Let’s go back to my “Maybe” list and replace the enemy’s taunting lies with truth.
Maybe God doesn’t love me enough. NOT TRUE!
Greater love has no one than this:
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13
See what great love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1a
Maybe He thinks I am still bad even after we changed. NOT TRUE!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3
Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong all along and God is not as close to me as I thought. NOT TRUE!
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
James 4:8a
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Psalm 145:18
“…I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20b
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5b
Or could it be that He is close to other people, special people, and I am not them? NOT TRUE!
Then Peter opened his mouth and said:
“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.”
Acts 10:34
For there is no partiality with God.
Romans 2:11
Knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
Ephesians 6:9b
I don’t want to live life buying into even the tiniest portion of the devil’s deception. But I understand that to do that, I must choose to look for a new perspective rather than disappointment in my situations.
Dear Sister, the struggle with doubt and defeat in our thoughts is real. And, while we improve the more we grow in our closeness with God and our knowledge of the truth, this struggle is part of the human existence. Each time we recognize thoughts that cause us to question God or our importance to Him, we must seek a new perspective.
Ultimately, we each get to choose what we believe and how we view life.
As for me, I choose to live believing truth and look for hope!
