Trust in God's promises.
We have the tendency to break our promises. But the good news is, God never breaks His promises to us. As what Bro. Alvin Barcelona said, one of the Feast Builders, the promise came first and not the prayer.
In addition, Bro. Deuce Cosio said that while we are all being conceived, God's promise is already there. And God wants to fulfil this promise in our life that is why we have bold prayers. The problem is, we think the promise is limited, that is why we tend to look at other people, comparing their blessings with ours.
In James 1:17 it says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
All of God's promise is good, but not everything that is good is good for you. This is the reason why God answers our prayers in four different ways.
Four Ways That God Answers Our Prayers
1. You are not right, the timing is not right. God says NO, because He wants to give you something better. Sometimes that NO is saying "I love you so much, I do not want you to get hurt."
Sometimes, God's NO is the sweetest YES.
2. You are right, but the timing is not right. God says SLOW. Maybe what God is giving you now are still seeds, that needs time to grow. Waiting is good. Waiting for God's perfect time is always good.
3. You are not right, but the timing is right. God says GROW. Because sometimes we have to learn like letting go of other things that are less important.
4. You are right, and the timing is right. God says GO. It is a yes, and the secret with this "yes" is God saying, "Wait, there is more!"
Most importantly, we must remember that a BOLD PRAYER requires a BOLD TRUST in our PROVIDER.
The greatest promise that God gave us is love. If you want to receive more blessings in your life, keep praying bold prayers, but keep on trusting the Lord because God keeps on loving you every moment of your life.
Bro. Bo Sanchez's Talk
God answers our prayers in four ways with a NO, SLOW, GROW and GO. But we want God to answer our prayers with a YES, YES, YES and YES. But that is not the case because we have a God that says, "NO, I reserve the right to answer your prayer the way I want to answer it."
If only God is like a "vendo machine God" that if you put the right coin, or put the right prayer, or put the right scripture verse or put the right mantra, viola! Kling-klang-klang, and the beverage you want will drop.
We want that kind of a God. We are tempted to want God to be a "vendo machine God" because we want to control Him.
A friend of Bro. Bo is a devotee of Mother of Perpetual Help. She says that if you want to pass any kind of board exam, all you have to do is make a novena to the Mother of Perpetual Help for nine weeks in Baclaran and 100%, you will pass any board exam GUARANTEED.
Another friend believes in the intercession for lost things to St. Anthony de Padua. If you lose anything, just pray to St. Anthony de Padua and 100%, you will find it GUARANTEED.
And another friend says that if you want anything, pray the prayer of Jabez. In 1 Chronicles 4:10 it says, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.
Another friend says that you have to combine prayer and fasting, which is a lethal combination, and God cannot say no to you.
Bro. Bo says that he would be scared if God cannot say no to him. He wants that, in appropriate times, God reserves the right to say no because He knows so much better. The problem is we want a God who we can control that if we give a certain formula, He will give us what we want. But that is not God. If He is a God that we can control, then God ceases to be God.
Remember that it God who is in control of our lives.
Three Steps of Faith
Follow these three steps of faith and all of God's dreams for your life will come true.1. SEE
See your dream. Visualize and imagine it. Dream big dreams. The size of your vision determines the size of your victory. Remember that the moment you stop dreaming is the time you start dying.
2. SOW
Sow the seeds of your dream. You have to act to make your dreams happen.
3. SURRENDER
There is a prayer that is more powerful than the prayer of Jabez. It is the prayer of Jesus, "Lord, not my will, but Yours be done."
You pray bold prayers and you dream big dreams, but at the end of the day, you surrender, and you put your agenda in God's big hands where you have peace.
Don't forget the third step.
But you cannot jump to step 3 without going through steps 1 and 2. As St. Irinaeus said, "The glory of God is man fully alive." That is what step 1 and step 2 does. It makes you fully alive.
Remember that more important than the dream is the Dream-giver.
