Is God Ignoring Your Prayers? | The Kirk Cameron Show Ep 121

Hey, welcome to the Kirkarmons Show. I love these morning coffee devotionals with you.

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Okay, let's jump into it. Question for you. Have you ever prayed for God's care and what

showed up seemed way more like additional trouble? Have you ever prayed for relief and what

God seems to deliver is more resistance? Have you ever prayed for peace and instead things

just seemed to get harder? And then you start to ask yourself, does God really care about

me? Is he even hearing my prayers? Why is he not answering them and giving me the thing

that I'm asking for? And then this leaves you wondering, if God really cares about me,

then why is this still so painful? Is he even hearing my prayers? What if the thing you're

asking God to take away from you is the very thing that he's giving you as part of his

care for you? What if the care you're looking for is actually something that is even more

important for you, even though it feels even violent? Because God's care for you, his concern

for you is so intense, sometimes he will do the thing that is painful in order to rescue you

and rip the evil and the unhealth away from you in order to care for you. When you think of God's

care for you, what images come to mind? Is it the loving father? Do you think of images of peace,

of comfort, of tranquility, of lack of anxiety and stress? Well, sometimes God's care for you comes

by intensifying the anxiety, by intensifying the stress so that you and I can see the danger

of the choices that we're making. Sometimes God's care doesn't look like compassion or release.

Sometimes it comes wrapped in tension. Sometimes it comes in the form of disruption and dysregulation

of your nervous system, leaving you restless and unable to find peace. Could it be that the care

that we're crying out for is actually not the care that we need? There's actually a very powerful

example of this in the scriptures, in the Old Testament. This is talking about the people of Israel

during the time of the judges and there's something remarkable here to see in chapter 2. The people of

Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the bales. They abandoned the Lord,

the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. Think about that. God

rescues them and they rebel again. God delivers them and they turn their backs on him again. They

did what was evil in the sight of the Lord even though he was rescuing them, caring for them,

bringing them back to safety. They were totally provoking God to anger and then listen to what happens.

The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers. That doesn't

sound like he delivered them from their plunderers. He gave them over to them. He actually made it

worse before it would ever get better. He says he sold them into the hands of their surrounding

armies. Man, that sounds so harsh. God sold them as slaves into the surrounding armies. It would be

so easy to lose your faith at a time like that. God, where is the rescue that you say you're going

to give me? But God and His wisdom knows what they actually need. So that he can deliver them,

not just from the armies, but from the sin that enslaves and imprisons them. That's what's most

important. But then look what happens next. The people begin to groan. They begin to cry out. They

are miserable. They are suffering. And what do they do? They turn back to God. And then the Bible

says that the Lord raised up judges who saved them and God delivers them. He delivers them again.

And he'll do it again. And then he does it again. But sometimes it's got to get worse

before it gets better. And when we keep reading, here's the tragic part. As soon as the judge

died, they went right back to their idols. The Bible says they turned back and were more corrupt

than their fathers going after other gods serving them and bowing down to them. So you see

the same pattern over and over and over. They sinned. God allowed them to. They cried out.

God rescued them and they go back to sin again. That pattern just keeps going until God chooses

a different path to break you out of it. You see the problem is that the people weren't really

interested in God. They just wanted to be free of their trouble. They just wanted relief. They

just wanted good times. They just wanted to have the things that they wanted. You see they just

wanted situational change. They just wanted the circumstances to shift to have what they want.

They wanted freedom from their enemies, but they didn't want to be free from their idols.

Okay, this is where it can get personal for us. When we pray to God, oh Lord, take this away from

me. Oh God, help with this. Make this thing work for me. We're often interested in situational

care. We just want our situation to change. Lord, I need a win. Bring this thing to me.

And so we pray, God, give me relief. God, solve this problem. Lord, make this happen for me. Take

away this pain. But God is always interested. More than your situation, he's interested in heart

care. He's interested in the orientation of your heart and who you worship. Because he knows

that our worst enemy is not outside of us. There are real enemies out there, but the worst

enemy is inside of us. If we have not been born again, then we have got an evil spirit of unbelief,

of pride, of selfishness, lust, wrath, and a nature that is at war with God that will take us

down a path of death and destruction. And he desires for us to have heart change. For those of us

who are believers, we still struggle to put down the old idols to break free from the chains of

addiction and the lures of temptation that still entangle us so that we can run the race of faith

and win the crown at the finish. And sometimes God allows what he hates in order to accomplish what

he loves. Think about that. Sometimes God allows you and me to feel the pain and the pressure

in order to rescue us from what's really destroying us, not because he's cruel, but because he cares.

Think about it this way. If a child is running into the street, right into traffic, a parent is not

going to gently touch them and gently say, sweetheart, come on back this way. I don't want you to be

stressed, but listen to my voice. No, they're going to grab them. They may grab them and yank them

out of the way. It might even be violent. It might even leave a bruise, but that's not because

the parents being cruel. It's because the parent cares and cares deeply. Sometimes it's like that

with God and the way he cares for you and me. He disrupts the path that we're on. He allows

consequences to hit and the pressure to rise, not because he is uncaring or abusive, but because

he cares deeply. So if you find yourself in a pattern of trouble and anxiety and pain and you're

crying out for relief over and over and over, there is a possibility that you need to do your own

kind of a heart check here because there's a couple of different categories of patterns of

sin. Habits of making wrong choices. The Bible uses some pretty blunt imagery like dogs returning

to their vomit. Have you read that? And pigs continuing to return to the filth and to the mud. Even

after they've been cleaned, they just go right back. Do you know people like that? Do you do that?

The reason pigs and dogs go back to the very thing that is making them filthy is because

they're creatures of instinct and they just follow their desires. They don't think too much about

it. It's just what they want. And as creatures of instinct, they just go get it. And some people

are like that, remaining creatures of instinct. But if you are a true believer, filled with the Holy

Spirit changed at the heart level through faith in the gospel, following Jesus Christ, you may

trip up and get stuck in the mud. But your desire is not to return to it. Your desire is to be free

from it. Like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress, you're stuck in the slough of despond. It's like

quicksand. But there's someone there to help you out and your greatest motivation is to get to

the celestial city, to honor the king and you want to be on the high road. That's a true believer.

There's a sanctification process and God may be working things out in you like your idolatry

of a relationship or the fact that you trust and rely and depend on other people and other things

to give you your identity, your purpose, your worth. And God's rooting that out of you. But your

desire is never to go back to those things. It is always to repent and be free to cast off the

sin that trips you up and get on that road to healthy and holy. And the reason a believer can do

that and a pig and a dog can't is because we have something the animals don't have. We have the

Holy Spirit. We meaning the family of faith. If we are a new creation in Christ, we've got the power

that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and he can raise you and me out of the vomit and out of

the mud. Where's the dog in the pig? Have no power to do that. Maybe you're in a season of your

life right now where you just don't understand how God is working or if he's working or if any of

this is actually true. Maybe you're experiencing a financial pressure that is just rocking your world

and it's making you super anxious about the future. Maybe you're experiencing something with your

own children that is breaking your heart. Maybe you're in a relationship right now that has left you

with so much uncertainty, so much anxiety. You just don't know what to do and you're just not

seeming to hear from God at all. Maybe it's a past failure that no one is to blame for but you

and you wish you could just erase it and make it go away but it continues to haunt you. Maybe it's

consequences from a choice you made that continues to make things challenging for you today.

Well, maybe ask yourself an even deeper question. What if what you're experiencing right now is a

deeper form of God's care for you? What could God be pointing out to you and wanting you to

deal with by allowing you to feel this way? Could he be caring for you in a very specific and

special way? Could he be caring for you by trying to rescue you from something so dangerous

that he will not let you continue in it but want you to open your eyes so that you can see it

and flee? So here's the question I want us to be left with today. When we pray to God for relief,

what kind of request are we really making? Are we just asking to be rescued from our circumstances

and our situation and our feelings or are we asking for heart change for real Holy Spirit transformation

that transforms us into a different kind of person going forward? Sometimes he humbles us. Sometimes

he says, you want that? Go ahead and have it until you choke on it. Sometimes he exposes our

hypocrisy and our sin. But we can be sure that because he's our Father in heaven, he's not doing

this to harm us, to hurt us. He's doing this to humble us and to rescue us and to bring us home.

So if you feel like you're in a place right now where you're just stuck and you're like, God,

I just can't ever seem to have you answer my prayers the way I want you to. I never get a win.

I need a win. Maybe instead of asking for God to change the circumstances of your life to what

you want, ask him for understanding. Ask him to expose what you might be valuing and even

worshiping more than God because when you and I stop looking to circumstances and other people

to make us happy and feel worthy or make us feel like we're enough to define for us who we are

and why we're here and our worth and instead look only to God for those things.

When we can do that, we will be filled with joy. We'll be filled with gratitude. We'll be filled

with confidence and wisdom and we will know how to make the most God-honoring choices

in any situation, any circumstances, just like Paul, just like Jesus, just like all the faithful

men and women throughout the ages who have gone before us. And that's the kind of peace,

that's the kind of relief that we really need to be content and strong in all circumstances.

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All right. I want to open up the mailbag and read your questions. Thanks for sending these in. If

you haven't sent in a question, please do so on our YouTube channel. Go right to the comments and

just put in a question. Okay. This one is from Joe. Hi, Kirk. Loved the video you did with James

on therapy question. Where can I find a Christian therapist? I didn't even know that existed until

your episode. Hey, Joe, I'm so glad that you like that episode. You know, I would first of all,

I would go to your church and I would look for the free resources that they have available. There

are plenty of marriage counselors, relationship counselors, financial counselors who would love to

help you as part of their gift and their service to a fellow believer. There is the Christian

counselors network. I'll provide a link to that in the description for this episode so you could tap

on that and find some counselors there who will be able to counsel you with biblical principles.

Okay. Next question is from Karina. Silly question. She says, why does James have a black background?

What's hiding behind him? What is behind the curtain, James? Nothing. Actually, it's the

wizard of Oz. He's back there. Remember in the story with Dorothy and the scarecrow and the

lion and the tin man, he's back there pulling little levers. No, not really. There's just a bunch

of boxes and books back behind him. One day we're going to get him a real set and a real backdrop. Stay

tuned. Okay. This one is at Lucindy C. I have a question. What does the Bible say about being an

organ donor? Is it wrong? Hey, you know what? I'm actually looking for an organ or a piano. I like

either one. It's going to fit in my new house. Love music. I don't know what the Bible says about

being an organ donor. I think, you know, someone says, I mean, if the Bible says give your someone

ask for your cloak. Give them your tunic also. Go one mile, give them two miles. I don't know. Give

me your liver. Should we give that to them? Maybe that's the Christian thing to do. I'm not sure.

But I am an organ donor. I've got my little sticker on my driver's license. But I don't like what

the Chinese Communist Party is doing. That's bad. All right. This was from Mark. Hey, Kirk, good

meeting you until so Oklahoma this past weekend. What's up, Mark? I'm sure you travel around a lot

for work, speaking engagements. Do you enjoy it or is it tiring? Both. I enjoy it a lot. I love

meeting people like you. I love traveling to new places. I love hanging out with with my son,

James, who often comes with me or my son, Luke, who comes with me too. But it's also tiring.

Because planes, trains, automobiles, waking up early in the morning, lots of output, especially

mental output when we're talking about important topics like faith, education, politics,

government, that kind of thing. So I actually love it. Really, really grateful for my job.

Okay. This was from Hannah. Hi, Mr. Kirk. I think this might be a fan of Aegean, Mr. Kirk.

I'm wondering what action to take when I witness a friend participating in very self-destructive

behavior. I think it was wrong. I'm trying to figure out if I reach out to their loved ones,

so they're aware and can help, but also don't want to betray my friend's trust when they confide

it in me. It's a very difficult situation. I'm wondering if you have any advice. And I feel for you.

My honest advice, and I'm not a counselor on this, maybe you could find somebody more qualified

than me, is that if you really love your friend, you got to help them. I think that that takes

wisdom, too, to know when to keep confidence and to continue. But if someone's about to jump off

the bridge, you don't want to wait too long before you help them and you pull them back from the

edge. And that might mean confiding in somebody else who can help. So that's going to take real

wisdom. I would talk to someone that you know without betraying any trust and try to discern when

is the right time to bring somebody else into the situation. Okay, this is from Pete. Hello,

Kirk. Love the show with you and James. You talked briefly about boundaries in one of your episodes,

and I'm wondering if you can elaborate. How do we show full forgiveness, but also set boundaries

to distance yourself from that person. It feels somewhat contradictory. Well, there's really not

a contradiction, although I understand how it can feel like it. When we say we forgive somebody,

it's like saying, hey, you stole money from me. So I'm not going to give you my credit card anymore,

right? Or you have a criminal record dealing with abusing children. So I'm not going to let you

babysit my kids, right? That's perfectly legitimate, smart, wise, and essential for you to protect

what is yours to protect. But you can forgive someone for stealing money. Someone can be forgiven

for past wrongs that they've done, but there are consequences for those things, right? Someone

commits adultery. You can be forgiven of your sin of adultery, but there are still consequences

of a potential divorce that God doesn't like the divorce, but he permits it under those circumstances.

Right? So you get the idea is that you can be forgiven for breaking a crystal vase,

but the consequences is it's going to be shattered. And even if you glue it back together again,

it's never going to be quite the same. So boundaries help us to preserve what is still intact and what

is good. And forgiveness makes sure that we don't hold personal vendettas against other people,

just like God leaves consequences with us. And yet, there is always the opportunity for forgiveness.

Okay, this one's from Keras. Do you think that you can be a Christian and smoke weed?

Sometimes it seems to me like many Christians drink wine, but say if you smoke weed,

you're not a Christian. Just curious. Thanks. So it depends. If it's high grade weed,

I think it's okay. If it's the cheap stuff, then no. No, you know, James and I have gotten

this conversation before. So Jesus turns water into wine. Does he ever turn like

plants into, you know, hashish? Well, God did make plants. I guess the cannabis plant as well,

and people roll it up and smoke it. I don't think weed is ever a good idea to smoke. I understand

it may have some additional effects, but often people are smoking it for other stuff and it makes

some lazy and it demotivates them and all this and that. And I really can't get into all the details

of the arguments and the debates. I think Christians can do a lot of things that aren't necessarily

the smartest thing. There's things that we can do because we have liberty to do things that are

just not beneficial. They're just not wise. And we could be spending our time doing much,

much better things. And that's what I think we should always be striving for. So even though

smoking weed may not be illegal, I don't think that smoking weed is really going to help you

live a more satisfying and effective Christian life. Okay, thank you so much for your questions.

Please continue to write them in. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Share this video

and subscribe to our email newsletter. God bless you and have a great week.