Reading your Bible for Today July 19

July 19: Psalm 66:16-20

KJV Key Verse: Psalm 66:18
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Devotion:
Too many times in our lives we get depressed about things not going our own way – we give in to failure just because we think we deserve it. But with God on our side, we had better make sure we are not excluding Him from our problems, or He may just let us endure them a bit longer to encourage us to turn to Him for the help which He continues to offer us! We often do this when helping out others, we allow them to get a bit deeper into trouble just so they may learn how to get out of that trouble the next time round.

But when God helps us out, we get more than just help with our current problem. He answers our prayers from the inside as well as visibly. When God has helped us out, we know physically as well as in our souls. We see adverts about a beer which reaches parts no other beer can, but God can reach everything – and He's free!

No matter how, when or where we cry out to God, He will hear our prayers. But there will be times when we think He is ignoring our prayers – those times are probably when our heart is not in it, or not in the right place. If we go to our parents and ask them for money to do a worthy cause – they will probably help us out if they can. If we go to them asking for money just so we can waste it on extravagances – they may well turn us down. It does not mean they have not heard our plea for money...

God hears our prayers as well as our thoughts which go along with those prayers. As long as we are genuine about our prayers and we are not being selfish with them, He is more than willing to answer all of them. If we are going to pray about something which will help us to show others about God, I'm sure He will answer before we realise it. If we are willing to show others just what God has done in our lives, He will be more than willing to continue doing great things in our lives. It's not about what we can do for God, it's about what we can do WITH God.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like helping others who are selfish?

How often do you ask God in desperation for selfish reasons?