LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Did you like that? I typed the title in all caps like I was shouting. Oh. Well…anyway, this is what prompted this title and the following story. I was recently thinking about how we often forgo speaking up at times just because we just don’t want to bother, or don’t want to bother someone else, or just don’t want to go through the bother. I sound like Eeyore, huh? Anyway, I have done this many times myself. But I wonder what would happen sometimes if we would just speak up and take things one step further to let our request be heard.

I recently found myself thinking of a kind of unusual request. You see, I had this magazine I had bought on a flight back from Arizona. It had an interesting article in it where they interviewed Harrison Ford. And in this magazine he told a lot of his story and how he didn’t really see any success as an actor for a number of years. He talked about how he just never gave up and kept pursuing his dream even while he was working menial jobs. Then he finally got a few big breaks that really launched his career. Well, I found this story inspiring. The most inspiring part, though, was that the cover of the magazine had a picture of Harrison Ford and a large caption of him saying, “Never give up. No matter what!”

I then had a thought. I thought, “What if I got that magazine cover enlarged and hung it on my wall as just a reminder to keep going when times get tough?” So, I proceeded to a local copy center, with magazine in hand, and walked up to the counter. A lady came to the counter and I said to her (confident there was no conceivable reason she could refuse my request), “I was wondering if I could get this magazine cover enlarged and printed?” She then said, “Unless you have copyright approval we can’t print something like that.” My first thought was, “Duh, didn’t think of that.” I think I may have said something similar to her. Maybe without the ‘Duh’ part.

Anyway, I immediately after that thought, “Well, that’s the end of that. This isn’t a big deal and I’m not going to go to the trouble of getting copyright approval just for this.” So, a few days went by, but I was still thinking about that poster. And then I finally thought, “I wonder how hard it is to get copyright approval?” Then I thought, “How hard can it be just to write an email to the editor? And what’s the worst that could happen? Other than them saying, “No.” I already had the copy center lady say, “No.” So, I found the email information for the editor online. I then typed out a concisely worded email to the address. I stated my request that I was asking for permission to have the magazine cover enlarged just for personal use to hang on my wall. I tended to assume they would get back to me in a few days, if at all. To my surprise, she responded within a matter of minutes. In her email she stated, “Bradley, if it’s for personal use, go for it!” I was a little surprised. But, I thought, “Cool.”

After she sent me the appropriate consent, I proceeded to the copy center (a different one this time). I asked for the poster sized enlargement. They said it might take a couple days. I said that was fine. I then picked it up a few days later. So, that’s what happened when I decided to just take something one step further

So, now I have Harrison Ford hanging on my wall. And whenever I look at him, he’s saying, “Never give up. No matter what!” Thanks for the encouragement Harrison Ford.

…Let’s go deeper—LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Well this life lesson got me thinking about a couple Bible verses. One verse that came to mind was James 4:2-3: “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” Another was 1 John 3:22 where it says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” Also, Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Now, all of these verses talk about asking and receiving. There are contingencies, however, on the things we ask for from God. One of these is stated in the book of James. I like James. Now, James isn’t saying there’s anything wrong with asking. He’s just saying there are right and wrong motives for asking for things. I think a lot of this comes down to maturity as well. If you remember when Jesus was on the Earth with the Disciples, they came up with some rather immature requests. I do believe these things change as we grow in God and he works and changes our hearts. His desires become our desires. I think this is important to remember whenever we are in prayer petitioning God for a request. That’s also what part of the purpose of prayer is, for God to change our hearts. I believe God wants us to ask for things. I also believe, though, that God cares about our motives for asking.

The second verse, in 1 John, states another contingency when asking for something. That is keeping his commandments. It is saying that we can know we have what we ask of him because we keep his commandments and are pleasing to him. This gives us confidence in prayer. If we know our hearts are clean, we know we are in agreement with God. When we know we are in agreement with God and he’s in agreement with us we are in a position to receive from him. This makes us good candidates to receive from him.
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The last verse in Matthew talks about the process of asking. It says to ask, seek, and knock. I think God not only wants us to ask him, he wants us to seek him and I think he wants us to be persistent and steadfast. So, in other words, I think God wants us to seek him and not the things he can do for us. I think I have to add another verse in here: Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” This is pretty clear that seeking him is our first priority.

I believe when we do these things listed above God honors our hearts and our requests. He sees that we mean business. We’re not some immature Christian and we’re in alignment with his goals and purposes.

So, similar to my request for the poster on my wall, we may have to take our request one step further. We may have asked God for something: but is there maybe some impure motive in my heart, am I keeping his commandments and doing things that are pleasing to him, and am I seeking him and not things from him with steadfastness? Sometimes we aren’t receiving our requests in prayer. But, sometimes, it can be just something simple and we need to make an adjustment here or there. We can ask God to show us and he is readily available to do so. Kind of similar to copyright approval…..Huh.

James 4:2-3: “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

1 John 3:22 where it says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”