In Jeremiah chapter 23 we see that Israel listened to the false prophets because those prophets tickled their ears. To have your ears tickled is to hear things that please and appeal to our carnal or fleshly nature. Jeremiah warned of God’s anger with sinful Israel but they would not listen. Do we take heed of God’s word, his whole word or are we selective, hearing only our favorite words? If we want to move on with God and be all he wants us to be he will need to change us and chasten (to discipline or instruct) us with his word (Rom 12:2; Heb 12:5-11).

Often, we pray but the results don’t come or we make decisions and they prove to be the wrong ones. We must hear from God with our spiritual ears not just our physical ears and minds and be changed (Matt 13:14-16; 1 Cor 2:14). We need to humble ourselves and repent (1 Peter 5:6), plough up the fallow ground of our hearts (soften our hearts toward God; Jer 4:3). God’s word can break and change us if we let it (Jer 23:29), but we have to allow this to happen. To fail to submit to God in this way assigns us to the status quo, mediocrity and frustration. To allow God to change us maybe painful, but it leads us on to his highest and best: “above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3: 20-21; KJV). Wow, I want that, what about you? Let’s press into God’s word and let him change us; nothing held back.

“Wait” in the Old Testament can mean waiting hopefully and expectantly. “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me and heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1; KJV). As you all know we often don’t get answers to our prayers immediately. Many times, there is a period of waiting between the amen and the receiving. It is during this time that we must maintain and develop our faith. That is why we need to wait expectantly and hopefully.

There are many verses in the Old Testament concerning waiting on the Lord. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:31). The prophet Jeremiah wrote in the book of Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 25 that Lord is good to those who wait for him. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Ps 37:7a); “My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning- Yes, more than those who watch for the Morning” (Ps 130: 6).

As we wait for the manifestation of answered prayer, we must be patient (Heb 6:12) and focused on God’s promises in his word. Staying in the word as we wait on the Lord helps you to focus on God and your answer rather than the problem that needs fixing. Waiting on the Lord will create calm in place of turmoil. Take a few minutes each day to wait on the Lord, praise and thank him for the answer to prayer and experience his peace (Isa 26:3).

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I think the only place in the New Testament where we are told to work is in John 6:29, where we read: “our work is to believe”. To believe is to have faith or trust in God. Faith is described in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1 (KJV) as: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

In Mark’s gospel he quoted Jesus as saying: "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24).

Faith is knowing that you know, that you know”. It’s believing in our hearts not just head knowledge. Jesus said that when we pray, we should believe that we have what we asked for. Paul said that our faith gives substance to our hopes and evidence to things not seen in the physical realm (Heb 11:1). In other words, when we pray in faith, we have what we ask for, we see it in the spiritual realm, in our hearts and if we stand in faith and patience (Heb 6:12), not doubting, no matter how the devil tries to convince us otherwise, we will see the manifestation of our faith in the physical realm.

A Sunday school Teacher told a group of youngsters that something they had all prayed for some time ago had come to pass. She expected jubilation in the class but the kids just stayed focused on their lessons with little or no reaction. She asked why they were not as excited as she was and they replied, well teacher, God answered our prayer when we first asked him and we have been thanking him, so we knew we would see the manifestation in the natural in due season.

Have faith as a little child (Luke 18:17) eh?

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The King of Syria laid siege to Jerusalem but Hezekiah, king of Judah and Jerusalem encouraged the people, as recorded in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 and verse 7 and 8 (KJV) saying: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and fight our battles”.

That good news caused the people to be at rest.  Praise the Lord. So, what is the "arm of flesh”? It is trusting in your own ability or resources to get things done and that is not what God wants us to do. God wants us, like the people of Jerusalem, to trust in him and let him fight our battles for us.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh FLESH his arm"(Jer 17:5). When the young shepherd David was fighting the giant Goliath, he said: Thou comest to me with a sword, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts". We all know how God honored David for that; David trusted God and God enabled David to kill the giant with a stone.

If you are going through some battles right now let the verses above encourage you and remember: "if God be for us, who can be against us" (Rom 8:31) and: "greater is he who is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). You may be fighting battles, but you are not doing it alone.

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“The joy of the Lord is your strength”, wrote the prophet Nehemiah (Neh 8:10; KJV). In Isaiah (Isa 61:3) we read that God gives us: “the oil of joy for mourning”. Nothing can take our joy from us (John 16:22) and we can have joy even in trials (James 1:2). In the world people have joy when circumstances dictate but for us, we can always have joy as it is a fruit of the Spirit in us (Gal 5:22).

How do we get and grow our joy? Well, just like everything else in our Christian walk. As we study his word the Holy Spirit brings revelation or understanding of God’s joy (John 15:11). This revelation allows our faith to grow (Rom 10:17) so that we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit and allow him to develop the fruit of Joy in our lives.

In the Bible we see that joy comes to the good man (Eccl 2:26), to the person of humility (Isa 29:19) and as we seek intimacy with God; “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for ever more” (Ps 16:11). Satan will try to steal our joy but he can’t if we cooperate with God (John 16:22). We may get down for a while but if we keep focused on God joy will well up in our spirits (Ps 30:5).

The joy of the Lord is my strength; sounds good to me.

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