WHY GOD DOESN’T SEEM TO WORK FOR YOU
I have talked with a few persons who think it no need to pray, it is a waste of time.
They said they’d better talk to a human being who is likely to proffer solutions to them.
I have also read stories where people feel betrayed by God. He didn’t show up when they needed him most. Some end up concluding God doesn’t exist while others see him as indifferent to the plight of humans.
Others rightly say there is no God.
While some who say they are believers do not know what to believe anymore. They know there is God but they don’t understand him and therefore don’t know what to expect from him.
They fall victim to anything or anyone posing in the name of God because they are not certain if ‘God’ works and maybe how to work God.
Whichever category you belong to, I hope to put the pieces of the puzzle together and give you a better understanding.
TWO CRITERIA TO ACCESS GOD
There are two ingredients every human being needs to be able to access God and both of them have their rights and privileges as well as protocols.
- You must believe that there is God.
- You must believe that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him
Where did I get these criteria?
Hebrews 11:6
“6 And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” NIV
For some of us, believing that there is God is not hard.
We grew up in Christian homes where we were indoctrinated and with our eyes, we could see the majesty of creation and would almost agree readily that there is intelligence behind life.
Things didn’t just be, someone made them.
But for those who do not believe in the existence of God, I would like to point a few things out to you.
- If you look at creation, you’d see intelligence and intentionality. The level of organization and system is second to none. Life has always been. If man evolved from animals why haven’t new human beings evolved from animals?
Romans 1:19 – 20
“19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
God’s invisible qualities and nature are seen and understood from creation.
Creation points to its creator as the creator leaves prints of his nature on them.
-
It takes foolishness to deny the existence of God.
Psalm 14:1
“The fool[a] says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
no one does good.”
This is because common sense agrees that there is God even though we cannot see him.
The focus of this discussion is not to prove the existence of God, it is for those who believe he exists but have been unable to make good use of his existence in their lives.
Why doesn’t God seem to work for you?
Let’s look at the second reason.
You must believe he cares enough to respond to those who diligently seek him.
Let’s look at this scripture using the following translations.
Hebrews 11:6
“6 And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” NIV
“5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know based on reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” MSG
The last part says the person must believe that God cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
“6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” KJV
The scripture says he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him
REWARD IS TIED TO SEEKING THE LORD
Some of us think that getting things from God is tied to being on our best behavior at all times, while God loves us to show forth our light and bear fruits in righteousness for the world to see, but that’s not how to access the things we have in God.
If we stop at the level of believing in God, we will not be able to access these rewards talked about here.
WHAT ARE THE REWARDS?
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” NIV
A look at this scripture, we will agree that things to be added include the following
- What to eat
- What to drink
- What to wear.
- Inheritance
These things are not to be sought, we are to seek the kingdom of God, and we will have them because our heavenly father knows we need them.
Permit me to say that Mathew 6:33 and Hebrews 11:6 talk about the same things.
- Believing that there is God.
- Seeking him
- Getting a reward for seeking him.
Hebrews 11:6 is explicit in telling us about believing in the existence of God and following through with seeking him.
Matthew talks about the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is one concept I know that has been grossly misinterpreted.
Some people believe the kingdom of God is physical while others believe it is heaven or that it is a space where God has rulership probably the church.
There is another thought line that people have so much bought into is that the kingdom of God is purpose.
Hence you are in the line of fulfilling purpose, you are seeking the kingdom first.
There is an element of truth in it but not the entire truth or misplaced priority in the appropriation of truth.
The truth is that the kingdom of God is not purpose.
Many people leave their jobs or another source of livelihood to go fulfill their purpose and they end up disappointed and beaten black and blue.
Things like this are synonymous with a lot of pastors who believe God has called them into pasturing and leaving everything behind doesn’t seem to work for God.
Is the scripture lying? God forbid. The word of God has been tried seven times and it works as always.
We are the ones who don’t understand the kingdom of God.
IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SAME AS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
One thing I know is that God doesn’t mince words; he says what he means and means what he says.
Lord and God are not the same thing, because you may see them together and think they mean the same thing, but they do not.
So, the kingdom of God is not the same as the kingdom of heaven and it is okay to understand the differences so we can use them appropriately.
The kingdom of heaven is where God lives
Matthew 7:21
“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” NIV
The kingdom of heaven is talking about heaven and all it represents.
Matthew 8:11
“11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” NIV
Heaven is a place where God lives and His angels and other members of the heavenly host.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The kingdom of God is a person, remember Matthew 6:33 said we should seek his righteousness?
Telling us that he is talking about a person. Let us look at other supportive scriptures that show us that the kingdom of God is a person.
Romans 14:17
“17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” NIV
The kingdom is not about eating and drinking but about righteousness, peace, and joy in a person.
Who is the person?
The Holy Spirit.
Luke 17:20 -21
20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” KJV
So, the kingdom of God is within us, who is in us?
Romans 8:9
“9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” KJV
The Holy Spirit is the one within us and He is the kingdom of God.
Let us examine more scriptures …
Mark 9:1
“And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” NIV
Jesus told them that some of them standing with Him will not experience death until the kingdom of God comes.
It’s been over 2,000 years since Jesus died on the cross for our sins and the people who stood with him have all died.
If he were talking about the kingdom of heaven, then the scripture may have another meaning, but he was talking about Pentecost which is the coming of the Holy Spirit and many of them were alive when the Holy Spirit arrived.
Matthew 12:24 – 28
“24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” NIV
This scripture shows Jesus replacing the Holy Spirit with the kingdom of God.
When we say A = B, we can also say that B = A, because they mean the same thing.
In Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, he said to them, if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Few lessons to glean from this.
- The kingdom of God means the working of the Spirit of God in driving out demons.
- The kingdom of God will not come, it has come and the sign that you will know it has come is that the Spirit of God will drive out demons.
- From this, it shows that the kingdom of God first rested on Jesus when he was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon him.
Matthew 3:16 – 17
“16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” NIV
The Holy Spirit is the kingdom of God and He first came on Jesus and helped him to do ministry.
When Jesus died and was resurrected, the Holy Spirit was commercialized and made open for every believer.
The kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit and if we match Mathew 6:33 side by side with Hebrew 11:6, we will make the following conclusions
- There is a person to be sought and that person is God.
- There is a reward for seeking him.
- There is a process we should take to seek him.
Mathew notes that we have to seek him first while the writer of Hebrews says we should seek him diligently.
Some people run off with purpose not seeking the person who gave the purpose and we think that they are seeking the kingdom first.
God wants you before what you will do for him.
It is worship before service as Jesus rightly told Satan when he (Satan) tempted him in the wilderness. Luke 4:8
We worship God before serving him.
Some of us do not even seek him, we run off thinking we are serving him. If we are not worshipping him, then we are not serving correctly.
Why we are not accessing the resources we have in God when we believe that there is God are the following.
-
We do not believe he rewards us for seeking him.
-
We do not seek according to pattern.
The only thing we access in the kingdom is what we believe and know. Until we are aware of something and believe it, we cannot access it even though it is ours.
This is why God is big on opening the eyes of our understanding so that we may know the hope of our calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe. Ephesians 1:18 – 19.
We have to know and believe to access them.
If you are not expecting anything from God, you won’t have anything because the expectation of the righteous shall not be caught off – Psalms 9:18.
Do you have expectations or have your expectations been shattered in the past that you are now worshipping God blandly?
Begin to build your expectations again.
The second problem is that we may not be seeking according to pattern because when we do, we will get rewarded.
God doesn’t mince words.
We will understudy how to seek the Lord to get rewards soon, kindly subscribe to our mailing list so you can be notified when we drop new content.
Until then, stay loved.
I love you
Find our article on How To Prevent Divorce via this link
.
Leave a Reply