Be encouraged! For many in America, today, September 11, 2012, is a day for gratitude, memorial, mourning, and continued resolve against terrorism. As I considered what I might share with readers, I realized some might regard the questions I respond to as silly or stupid. They might think the persons who post them are childish and foolish. They might feel the questions are too basic, and that the person asking should already know. It remains that there may be many weak, and poor questions; however, every answer given must be clear, godly, mature, and righteous, serving as an evidence of things unseen.
Response to the often asked question on why prayers sometimes are not answered, and more on prophecy, prophets and Nostradamus are shared, today. The “Yahoo! Answers” writer using ID “Jake” (Level 1 with 1 point, a member since April 9, 2012) posted the following:
Is GOD real? My prayers don't always get answered?
Hi guys. Basically, I pray when I am unhappy with my life. To god. And ask him to make me happy and to help me out, and ask for things to happen which will make me happy, to be fair is has worked sometimes and he has answered my prayers, however how far can I go with asking him for things and to make me happy? I do believe in him but he doesn't always answer my questions, please give me some advice. Thanks
THE BATTLE AXE: Nostradamus (09/10/2012)—The name of Nostradamus is familiar to many now days from the bold headlines of tabloid newspapers they see in the supermarket that forecast Armageddon, and the end of the world. Almighty GOD, in fact, is visible by the Creation; and therefore, we are correct in thinking that the actions, feelings and thoughts of created beings and living creatures convey aspects of divine fullness. Where prophecy discloses a chain of sacred events, this is often primarily as a recurring pattern from operation of the GODhead. What “GOD will do” is “what GOD has done.” Divine Person is made accessible, alive, approachable, and knowable. Reality becomes constant, defined and stable. Exotic ideas, nonconformity, novelty, and strangeness are often experienced as excitement, freedom, energy, power, and release. To the extent this is so, mankind will continue to value fortune-tellers, magicians, seers, and soothsayers such as Nostradamus, despite their inability to provide the purest revelation of GOD. A genuine prophet is always a spokesperson for a god; and Nostradamus does not continue the line of prophets begun in Moses, continued in Samuel, and enhanced as apostles of Jesus. While the ideas and predictions of Nostradamus may continue to hold interest, Nostradamus should never be regarded as a true prophet; and for Christian believers, the detailed knowledge of Nostradamus will be an instance of “beer in my milk.”
THE GOLDEN ARROW: Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do. Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God. And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 42: 1-7, King James Version)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: Why Jesus Prayed (08/19/2012); The Content Of Prayer (01/29/2012); Dispatch 46: Effectual Fervent Prayer (09/25/2011); What To Pray? (02/24/2011); Why Ask? (02/23/2011); The Right Way? (10/26/2010); Prayer Futile? (10/25/2010)
As someone who does not claim to be perfect, and who depends upon the ministry from GOD to mankind through Jesus Christ and not my own righteousness, I ask you to consider the following ideas:
To the extent you are depending on material answers to prayer, you are not yet grounded in faith, and life in the Holy Spirit. Before the imparted, indwelling Spirit of GOD rules within the believer, the flesh (appetite such as hunger, thirst, sexual arousal; sensation such as hearing, seeing, smelling, touching; and faculties of mind such as desire, imagination, recall, thought) dominates human consciousness. Awareness of the certain reality for the truth of GOD that has been revealed through Jesus Christ results by the operation of spirit substance that must reside within a believer. Deposited directly from GOD are such aspects of divine person as faith, hope, humility, joy, righteousness, wisdom, and wrath against sin.
The Scriptures repeatedly show that the process of seeking counsel from GOD demands the spirit-content of discernment, longsuffering (i.e., willingness to endure hardship), meekness, obedience, patience, openness to change, and unselfishness. Response to a request made today may be delivered two weeks, a month, or ten years from now. Statements made to a believer, that have the force and value of a promise, may be fulfilled long after their death, and through divine provisions for their continuing generations (like the answer given Abraham). Most importantly, the response of GOD is likely to be on a divine scale, and address the needs of an entire congregation, the full assembly of believers (quick and dead), or all created beings and living creatures (like the answer given Daniel).
There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended. (For example, much of what we petition for is to be acquired through human efforts of practice, study and hard work. The expectation (i.e., hope) that GOD will intervene or supply whatever we ask is rightly regarded as a “vain hope.” We properly look to GOD for more of the sacred and holy, instead of more from mankind and the world.) Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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