Author: Sodwana Bay

Have you ever felt like your prayers don’t reach God or that God is too far away for you to commune with Him? We all have at some point. We are told that God and sin cannot co-exist. As a result, many believers feel that God abandons them when they sin. Does God truly leave us when we sin and do we have to earn back the Holy Spirit’s in-filling every time we repent? The Bible makes it clear to us that although we may sometimes feel like God is far or that we no longer deserve God’s presence, our Father is with us. Psalm 94:14 says “For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.” Although it’s true that God and sin cannot co-exist, that’s the beauty and the power of the cross. When Jesus gave up His life for all, He gave us direct access to the Father and the power is made available through the Holy Spirit. So how about non-Christians? Does God forsake them? By all means, no! In fact, God pursues everyone, most especially the lost. He is always finding ways to make himself known to those whom He loves. Matthew 5:45 says that God “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” And when we refuse Christ’s saving knowledge, God is there grieving. God doesn’t give up on people. People give up on God. God in his ferocious love continues to pursue us and give His all to us. People often ask why the unbelieving still become rich and why criminals still continue to breathe life. There can be many reasons for those situations, but one of the most compelling explanations is because God loves them. God’s love is not swayed by our unbelief nor our inability to be holy. While we were (and still are) sinners, Christ gave Himself up for us because He has chosen to never leave nor forsake us. Although sin is powerful and can disqualify us from entering God’s presence, He found a way for us to commune with Him despite our flaws because nothing can separate us from the love of God. Does God hate sin? Yes, He does. Is He just? Yes, He is. But Jesus has paid the price in full so that we may have access to God at anytime and so that we would never be separated from the presence of God ever again.

Pastor Chip Ingram of Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California, knows that following rules can be difficult, but he reminds Christians that love is the driving force out of every rule and parameter set by God. Ingram says God made rules regarding love and sex because He wants His children to have nothing but the very best when it comes to love, sex, and relationships. The truth is every gift that flows out of love almost always has some rules and parameters that are set around it. “God knows that sex outside of marriage is second-rate sex – it’s sex with guilt and shame attached and some pretty devastating consequences,” he writes in an article for The Christian Post. A sexually immoral lifestyle, according to Ingram, is one where couples live together outside of marriage or engage in behaviour that would cause the partner to desire them sexually outside the bonds of marriage. “Even if someone doesn’t believe in God’s Word or follow His rules, it is undeniable that there are certain spiritual, physical and emotional price tags that go along with sex outside of marriage,” Ingram says. He cites statistics obtained by researchers from UCLA, who discovered that couples who live together prior to marriage have a 50 percent higher rate of divorce than those who do not. “They are also more likely to experience infidelity in marriage. Studies have also found that the introduction of sex into a dating relationship almost always ushers in the breakup of the relationship,” he says. This is why Ingram says it makes perfect sense for God to tell His children: “Keep the fire of sex in the fireplace of marriage. If you take it out and put it on the living room floor, it will burn the house down.” He explains that God isn’t “withholding” sex from those who are unmarried since His ultimate desire is to let Christians experience deep, intimate love that will last a lifetime. “The purpose of His rules is to maximise our relationships and pleasure in the long run,” Ingram says. “Real, loving relationships demand sexual purity. People that only want a one-night stand don’t need purity because their behaviour is about self-worship and not about truly loving another person. If we want a loving and lasting relationship, then sexual purity is a must.”

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us Romans 5:3-5 In the years that I have been in ministry, I have had the great privilege to pray for the members of our congregation on a regular basis. As I sift through prayer requests and intercede with them, I notice one thing about people’s prayer requests — that they could be broken down into three different categories. These categories are provision, protection and providence. Our members, and most likely every Christian, will often find themselves praying for material and financial provision, God’s hedge of protection from sickness and harm, and providence in their work, studies or family. Never have I seen anyone pray for more suffering and challenges. And who would? We don’t like the idea of challenges and suffering. In fact, many of us will pray for deliverance from suffering and challenges the moment they come. However, the Bible makes it clear that suffering is actually good, and as absurd as the concept may seem, the apostle Paul encourages us to rejoice in suffering. God wants us to throw parties and jump around in joy because of our sufferings! After all, that was always what the context of rejoicing was in Hebrew and Greek culture. The Bible implies that we are to be excited about sufferings because of the good that it brings to us. Romans 5:3-5 tells us that suffering produces endurance, character and hope. I am also not suggesting that praying for blessing and prosperity is bad. God also instructs us to pray for our daily bread and for his joy and goodness. God wants us to be blessed, but He also wants us to suffer. It doesn’t mean that God wants us to be sad and depressed. In fact, God calls us to “rejoice in suffering” because of the great things that suffering produces. Sure we can pray for more success and finances but when God offers to us suffering — whether we pray for it or not — it produces endurance, character and hope, which will always leads to more success and finances. We don’t have to ask our pastors to pray that we suffer. In fact, I urge you not to, but that’s the beauty of God’s grace: He gives us what we need and what makes us better even when we don’t want it. That’s what it means for God to make all things work together for our good. Suffering is a gift from God, and one that we must rejoice in and maximize. If you are suffering today, continue to allow God to grow perseverance, character and hope in you.