Troublesome Topic: What Has God Bound Himself To?
God is not obligated to answer requests for favors. If God does grant a request for a favor it is because He is good and He loves to bless our socks off when we least expect it. So here is the conclusion about requests for favors: If He grants our request for a favor it is because He loves us; if He does not grant our request for a favor it is because He loves us. He knows what is best for us and we should be glad that He does not answer every request we make and call prayer. If He did we would become spoiled brats!
But God has bound Himself to forgive sins, to receive our expressions of thanks, to accept our commitment of self, to hear our intercession for Him to draw others to Himself, and to answer the kind of prayer prayed for His glory and according to His known will, in faith and with perseverance. What does this mean? This means that God has bound Himself to include us in His great plan, to use us somehow in this cosmic battle against evil. He has made us participants, not spectators in this epic struggle. Amazing! He sees something in us worth taking that risk. We will not do our part perfectly, but He wants to include us anyway. This is mind-blowing stuff!
This is the last lesson in Why Some Prayer Are Answered and Some Are Not. Thanks for reading.