Remember

God has been teaching me so much lately, and I love it! And what better way to tell others than to tell you!
First of all, I want to say something that I always forget. Always. It's one of those "duh" moments because it's so simple, yet you never think of it. Simply put, if you want something, just ask. It's all throughout the Bible, and yet its never something I tend to remember. Matthew 7:7-11 says,    

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

God wants to bless us and give us things. Why are we just sitting there wishing, when we could just come to God and ask!

This simple fact is never brought to my mind  until I end up doing it accidentally. That's what happened last night. I was praying, and I asked God to teach me something through the sermon this morning. And sure enough, He did. I still am amazed that its so easy to forget such a simple concept. This is why Jesus says we are like sheep.

So what did I learn? Well my take away from this morning can be summed up in one word: Remember. Once again, a simple concept. It is so easy for us to get swept away by the busyness of life and make God just another relationship that exists in our crazy lives. We talk to him at the end of every day, and read a little from His book, and then start making our to do list for the next day in the next instant. But what would happen if we took time to just stop everything. Just sit in His presence. Remember all He has done in our lives. All He will do. Who He is. That's kind of what Thanksgiving is about. But how many of you thought more about what God has done in your life than the time it took to cook a turkey. I doubt many hands would be raised. I know I didn't.

The preacher this morning told a story that really hit his point home. He was talking about a man that went ahead of Billy Graham for his crusades to partner with local pastors in prayer. One particular week this man was very excited because several of the pastors were big name pastors that he was excited to pray with. The first night, these men started praying. A few big name pastors prayed, and then this Spanish pastor jumped in and just started thanking God. "Thank you, Lord for you mercies, that they are new every morning. Thank you that you sent your son to die for us. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your love..." The man went on thanking God for fifteen minutes, leaving little time left for other pastors to pray. The next night when they met to pray, it was the same thing. "Thank you, Lord for you mercies, that they are new every morning. Thank you that you sent your son to die for us. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your love..." and on and on. The third night the pastors came to the man in charge of the prayer meetings telling him he'd have to do something. This little Spanish man couldn't keep taking all the prayer time. So the man approached the Spanish pastor. "Sir, I'm sorry, but do you think you could not pray tonight? We really want to allow time for other pastors to pray specifically for the crusade itself." The Spanish pastor replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just can't even begin to pray to ask God for anything or hear him speaking to me until I have spent time reminding myself who He is."

Wow, that's powerful. Shouldn't that be what we all say? Instead we often say, "We need to pray for these specific things on this list. Forget God Himself." When was the last time you spent time just remembering? I would challenge you to take some time TODAY to do that. Don't wait. You won't be doing yourselves any favors.