Hostility Toward Unbelief is a GOOD Thing!

In what shall forevermore be referred to as "Lessons From the Dogs" the Lord continues to teach me about us and about Him by watching them.
The weather has been so unbelievably cool for July, especially in the mornings that I have been having my prayer times outside. Naturally I take the dogs with me. This means I have to walk around and pray in order to keep track of them at all times and see where they are breaching the wall, so to speak. It is a huge distraction to my prayers and I feel like I have to keep putting God on hold while I make sure I know where they are.
Here's what boggles the mind. They are obsessed with getting out! Hobbes particularly runs the entire perimeter of the yard looking, poking, pawing, trying to climb over or push his way under whatever is blocking his exit. At one point he almost climbed over the chicken wire we have stretched over the iron fence so I had to go get some of those plastic thingys that you thread through an eye and ratchet closed.
I immediately thought of the talk I give where I recount what the Lord says in the book of Proverbs about the state of the human heart. It is described in various verses as being, "wicked, cunning, perverse, deceitful, evil, unwashed, disloyal, straying, stubborn, dull, foolish, proud, crooked, raging, envious, destructive, heavy, hard and as a heart of madness."
Yikes! These are the words the King of all Creation uses to describe the crowning glory of His creation. If a medical doctor used similar terms to describe our physical hearts, it would, no doubt, be during an autopsy!
Now I don't want to take the dog analogy too far, because I know they aren't moral beings, and our dogs in particular aren't all that bright. (I figure you can't expect too much from anything with the brain the size of a walnut.) But still, it shocks me that they are so determined to leave the suitable confines of safety to venture into places of unknown dangers that could easily end in their painful and untimely demise.
So I was thinking about that this morning, but remember, I was praying too and I have been praying a lot about the additional provision I need to place a larger book order. And I started wondering where the devil began to create the idea in people's minds that instead of being our gracious heavenly Father who wants to meet every need, God is some angry old man with a club in one hand and a rule book in the other.
So I started thinking about who God says He is. He is a Spirit (John 4:24); who dwells in unapproachable light (1Tim. 6:16); who alone possesses immortality (same verse); whose throne is a chariot ablaze with flames, it's wheels burning fire (Dan.7:9) and around which proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder (Rev. 4:5); who has named all the stars (Isa. 40:26) yet sees every sparrow who falls (Matt. 10:29); who IS love (1 Jn. 4:8).
I thought about the angels who, right at this very moment, are declaring the holiness of God (Isa 6:3, Rev. 4:8). About how they never take a smoke break or ask for a vacation or sigh and look at their watches wondering when they can go home for the night. No! They have spent eons singing God's praise and they delight in the privilege of continually declaring His uniqueness and unending goodness! It's inconceivable!
That made me start thinking about how He redeemed us when He could have, and should have, annihilated us, and the many times He implores us over and over to trust Him, to believe Him, to rely on Him, to ask Him for all that we need.
I realized afresh how much He longs to prove Himself faithful, to pour out His love and power and provision and deliverance if we would simply look to Him and ask Him for it.
And then I laughed out loud at how stupid and ridiculous unbelief is! The evil one has blinded us to the truth!
God, our God, the great and mighty God of the universe who radiates shekinah glory, longs for us to ask Him for what we need.
Salvation? Done. Forgiveness? Sure. Provision? Coming. Protection? There. Understanding? No problem. Revelation? Listen. Wisdom? Ask. Emotional healing? Of course. Deliverance? Lay hands. Comfort? In abundance.
What does He say? "Ask and it shall be given to you." (Matt. 7:7, Jn. 14:13-14, Jn. 15:7 and 16).
I know, I hear you and I see you wagging your finger saying, "But remember, we have to ask according to His will..."
Right. I know that. Which of those things listed above are not His will?
Exactly.
God is taking me to new places of faith and trust in Him and it is an exciting journey. But I want you to join me because it is always more fun to go places with friends!
So let's change our thinking and begin to believe God for all the good things He longs to give to us, His precious children!
What are you waiting for? ASK!!