Most of us try to be self-reliant. We want to be in control, keep things together, or, at the very least, keep up appearances to our family, friends, and neighbors. But what do you do when the rug gets pulled out from underneath you, or when everything spins out of control? Why is it we're too proud to ask God for help? I think the biggest issue we have in asking God or brothers or sisters in Christ for help is Pride. We have an innate little voice that either says "no one will help me," "no one could help me" or, "God/they have other things they're concerned with, other people are hurting more than me." When we let God and our church family in to our mess, so to speak, we allow for healing to begin. First and foremost, we need to give all things to God. Our submission is where God operates. He won't act in places we're not welcoming Him in (Revelation 3:20 Comes to mind). In the Bible, we're told to bear one another's burdens. God gave us the church so that we can meet one another's needs on His behalf (not that He can't do it, but He allows us to be a part of the blessing in being an answer to one another's prayers! See 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12). BY Letting God and others in to our prayers and needs, we're allowing God to work through our hurts, but also through the resourcefulness of our brothers and sisters to answer and supply our needs (You have not so you ask not)! Brothers and sisters, it's time for us to swallow our pride and submit all things, whether we deem them big or small, to God, and ask for help and prayer within our church communities. Don't let pride win out. Ask!
Matthew 7:7-14 English Standard Version (ESV)
Ask, and It Will Be Given
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The Golden Rule
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy[a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Footnotes:
Matthew 7:13 Some manuscripts For the way is wide and easy
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