2009: Have You Received What You Prayed For?

His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' – (NIV - Matt 25:21)

I made this article last Christmas 2009 for the year New Year 2010 article but I was unable to post it here and totally forgot to post it, so here it is. This is quite long, you can print it if you want to.

The year 2009 just passed and if we look back, how do we find the year 2009? I have two major questions for everyone who reads this article:

• In the year 2009, do you have a prayer that has not been answered?
• Have we ever wondered, why? Why did God NOT answered those prayers?
  

I have studied the main verse above (Matt 25:21) and here is my perspective of why we sometimes DON'T get what we have asked for.

UNFAITHFUL TO OUR BLESSINGS
Luke 16: 10 - He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

If we can be trusted with a few things God had given us then we can be trusted with more, if not then we can't trusted with much more either.

• In marriage, sometimes people fool around even when they're married. Even if we just think, we have already sinned. What more if we initiated or made our move. (Textmates, phonepals or any medium of communication) Waiting for some spark of hope that we could see.
• GOD, by having something in the middle of us instead of Him. Ex. Work, family, TV, friends, etc.. (Matt 6: 21 - For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.)

IRRESPONSIBLE TO OUR BLESSINGS
Malachi 2: 13-14 – [NIV] Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

In the example above found in the Bible, we often times ask why our offering to God is not acceptable. That is because we are irresponsible to our blessing, the example given above is the wife (Yes, wives are great blessings just like the husband to their wife)

• Finance, we don’t pay our responsibilities - debts, taxes, etc...
• Marriage, to husbands (we make our wife cry instead of her rejoicing the Lord, she is crying out for help) to wife (we provoke our husbands instead of submitting to them)
• A man’s responsibility is to LOVE his wife (Eph 5: 25-28)
• A wife’s responsibility is to SUBMIT to her wife. (Eph 5: 22-24). I know some of the wives reading this won't agree on this (What happened to equality?), well this is the word of God. Besides if the husband loves his wife so much, then the wife will be more than willing to submit)
• Like a parent giving toys to their children, how does a parent feel whenever they buy toys for their children and their children isn't responsible to their things?
• GOD, if you are given a responsibility – do it with your best and do it gladly. By giving, how much support do we give to God's church? Are we settled to give a few or our change? How responsible are we in supporting His church?

UNGRATEFUL OF OUR BLESSINGS
Matt 18:21 24 – The verses tell us of a King who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. There is one servant who owed him a lot and was asked to pay. The servant pleads for mercy and the King gave him mercy and blot out all his debts. But when this servant went outside and saw one of his fellow servant, he asked to settle the account but the other servant couldn’t pay so he asked for him to be imprisoned until he can pay his debt. The King knew of this and punished the servant who he gave mercy.

Are we as grateful as that servant who didn't give mercy when someone asked him?

• One good example is when we receive raises to our salary. Instead of saying thank you, we look and see how much the others got and complain why we only had that increase.
• Marriage, to husband and wife that is both working,  instead of the man putting the food on the table, the woman helps out because life isn't easy nowadays. Us men, instead of appreciating the help of our spouse – we expect more from our partners. To wives, how do you appreciate your hard-working husbands? .
• Being a housewife is also a big job, attending to our children’s needs, cleaning, cooking, etc.. Atleast, all we could do is ask how they’re doing and tell them thanks.
• GOD,  instead of thanking God for our blessings, we ask God for more and often times question why ONLY this.

DISTRUST TO OUR BLESSINGS
Numbers 20: 12 – [KJV] And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

In the earlier verses, Moses and the others are in a place where water is scarce and was asked by God to command the rock to give water for all the people. But when Moses came back to see the people, he got angry and strucked the rock twice. Moses failed but still he is saved.

• In marriage, TRUST is very important. They can’t do things as one if they don’t believe in each other. When trust has failed, marriage can’t survive. Imagine a husband and wife making their own decisions for themselves – can you call them husband and wife?
• GOD, if you don’t trust God then you have failed already like Moses did.

Now, what can happen if we DON’T have faith to our blessings? If we are irresponsible to our blessings? If we don’t appreciate our blessings? If we don’t trust our blessings?
Answer: God can take it away anytime He wants it.
Job says - Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. -  Job 1: 21

We are blessed since God don’t punish us like how he punished his unfaithful servants along time ago.
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. – Malachi 2:2

So how can we prove God we are worthy of more blessings?

Treasure your blessings by doing the following:

FAITHFUL TO OUR BLESSINGS - Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. [LUKE 16:10]

RESPONSIBLE TO OUR BLESSING – Everyone has been entrusted with a great responsibility. To our family which is also our blessing – take good care of them. And to God:
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. [Mark 16: 15] - SHARE THE WORD OF GOD.

GRATEFUL TO OUR BLESSING – To show our gratefulness. To our family, help each other, understand each other, support each other. And to God,
Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. [1 Chronicles 16: 8]

TRUST OUR BLESSING – do not doubt our blessings that came from God. God gave them to you for all the right reasons.

Do we trust God? When He says..
[NIV] - Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. – [Mal 3:10]
God said ("Test me on this"), so do we give our tithes (God's part) to the Lord?

How happy are we when we give to God?
[NIV] - Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. [2 Cor 9:7]

If we can do this to our blessings, will God be pleased? What will he say? I am most certain that he will say this words:

'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

God bless you all.