Who is King?

About that time David’s son Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, began boasting, “I will make myself king.” So he provided himself with chariots and charioteers and recruited fifty men to run in front of him. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, “Why are you doing that?” Adonijah had been born next after Absalom, and he was very handsome. – 1 Kings 1:5‭-‬6 NLT


What a commentary on our world today — prideful boasting, considering ourselves like kings, gathering people around us, being undisciplined, and valuing outward appearances. Also,  what a comment on the things in my own life that led me into deep troubles. 
Pride, cunning, manipulation, rebellion – these things look beautiful to the worldly,  because they are ways by which they feel a false sense of personal power. They can find themselves drink on the wine of wickedness when living in these ways, and it is a dangerous trap.
Can’t we each remember a time when we’ve set our eyes on something that isn’t ours and claimed it as our own as if we had the right to have it just because we wanted it? Haven’t we each found those moments where we slipped out of “godliness with contentment” to suffer loss instead of gain in the end? 

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. – 1 Timothy 6:6‭-‬8 NLT


In my old life, if I had money in my pocket,  or credit available,  and I saw something I wanted, I got it. I would tell myself that I had worked hard and deserved it. I might even foolishly tell myself that I would find a way to pay for it, that I should trust doors to open. And all of that was self centered,  not God centered. It was acting as if I were the King, master, and Lord of my own life – sounds horribly similar to the pride that got someone cast down our of heaven. 
But I’m learning a new way. It involves someone different sitting upon the throne of my life. It involves me submitting myself to His will and dying to self. It involves me being a generous giver,  a mindful steward, a careful planner, a hard worker — but most importantly, a man in touch and drawing close to God.
When we got ready to build our house, I didn’t know whether we should build something small and minimalist just big enough for ourselves – or if we should build something big enough to provide ministry, Christian housing, housing for friends/family in need, etc from a dedicated portion of our home. I had read Habakkuk and didn’t want the beams and stones crying out to testify against me. I had read that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than ac rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. I truly wanted to do the will of God. So instead of charging ahead on my own because “we can afford it”, I went into the woods on our farmland and I prayed about it. When I came out from praying, there was, a double rainbow over the place where the house was to be built,  and it was made clear to me.
Yes, I surrendered it all to Him that day in prayer. If He had said no, that’s where we would go. Since He said yes, we are stepping into His will expecting His success. My point is that we can either be like Solomon who felt like a child unprepared to lead that has to rely on God’s wisdom and instruction – or we can be like Adonijah who thought that his manipulation would get him what he wanted. 
God’s will is going to be done. Doesn’t it make sense to check ourselves,  to examine our true motives and desires against the Word of God – to test all of our thoughts, feelings, and opinions against the truth of the Word of God if we believe? Even David and Solomon fell short in many ways,  but they repented,  they sought God’s will, they didn’t just listen, but they obeyed. 

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. – James 1:22 NLT

Are you willing?

And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8:2-3 NKJV

Over and over in the Bible, I see people asking and pleading for help from the Lord. I see people asking,  “If you are willing, you can”.

But today, I hear many talking about God as if He “has to”. It’s almost an attitude of,  “Okay, God, I did X, so you have to do Y – because you did it back in the day for that other guy in the Bible.” Yes, the narcissism of this world religion everyone what they “deserve” has crept into the religious gatherings to the point that people are told to pray the same lie over and over until God makes it true and that it is their own lack of faith in the life that is making it not true. Seriously? The Father of lies and author of confusion is selling this, and people are buying it up on the best seller last hoping for their best life now.

Can’t we see the issue with this false teaching? Can’t we see that this is the way the false prophets of the false idol Baal were beside the prophet Elijah of the one true God?

And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
I Kings 18:27 NKJV

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord , if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NKJV

And these same ones who make false promises aren’t even offering people treasures of any value in their empty promises – they are offering worldliness to the masses of worldly, carnal people. They are selling vomit to the dogs and slop to the pigs – but I wonder if they are lying about who it is they serve? Can’t we tell by what it is that they truly seek?

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matthew 16:26 NKJV

If you have fallen victim to trying to use God as your genie and as your spare tire when you want something – hoping to convince Him into submitting to your will – I encourage you to instead pray as He instructed us. He instructed us to pray that the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Don’t just keep praying the same way, insisting on your will be done – instead of speaking so loudly and demanding, listen for His still quiet voice.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:3 NKJV