Focus for July - I'm confident God will answer!

I've been writing about where our most important focus should be, shared Psalm 86 and focused the month of June on depending on God and putting ourselves in His hands. This month my focus is on crying to God for help because I know I can call on Him and I'm confident He will answer! Today I want to think about how God answers, why we can be confident He will answer and how this confidence changes our lives! 

Let's look first at how God answers our prayers. Of course there is the obvious, clear answer from God to our prayers; such as when we pray for help and help clearly arrives! We all love this type of answer to our prayers. The old saying about answered prayer tells us the truth; sometimes God answers "yes", sometimes He answers "no" and other times He answers "wait". The "yes" answers are easy for us to see how God answers our prayers. The "no" answers sometimes are clear and other times they just require us coming to the realization God's answer is "no". The "wait" answers also may take some time for us to realize they are God's answer. If God doesn't answer our prayers with a "yes", it does not mean He has not answered our prayers.


We can be confident God will answer our prayers simply because God has told us repeatedly, He hears and answers our prayers. Just look at -

• Hebrews 4:16 - " So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help."  (CEV)
• Job 22:27 -  "God will answer your prayers and you will keep the promises
  you made to him."  (CEV)
• Jeremiah 29:12 - " You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers." (CEV)

These are just a few verses which tell us about God's promise to hear and answer our prayers. God has said He will hear and answer and so we can be confident about believing Him! 


Around the world there are people who pray to their gods who are dead people in their graves. This is so sad. Our God, however; is alive! He is God! He never lies! He has promised to hear and answer our prayers! This changes our lives! When we are faced with difficult and frightening situations, we can absolutely have confidence in knowing our God hears and answers our prayers! When we are blessed with good times, we can absolutely have confidence in knowing our God hears and answers our prayers! When we are faced with confusing times; we can absolutely have confidence in knowing our God hears and answers our prayers! This confidence gives us strength and brings joy to our lives!


Let's look at Psalm 86:4-7 again, - "I count on you from morning to night. Give your servant a happy life; I put myself in your hands! You're well-known as good and forgiving, bighearted to all who ask for help. Pay attention, God, to my prayer; bend down and listen to my cry for help. Every time I'm in trouble I call on you, confident that you'll answer." (the Message)

As you go though this month, please make this your prayer . . . "Dear God I pray today You will help me know I can count on You from morning to night and know I can put myself in Your merciful hands! Please help me know with confidence You pay attention to my prayers and listen to my cries for help. Please give me the confidence You will answer! Thank You, Amen!"