You may have wondered if God has specific plans for your life and how you can know you're going in the right direction. Some are afraid of making decisions - whether big or small - for fear they will make the wrong one. Some can become so concerned about this that they feel the need to stop and pray before doing anything.
God has given us the freedom to make choices and will be with us every step of the way. Certainly He may impress some things upon the hearts of people, leading and guiding when we're often not even aware of it. Religion has often emphasized the idea of being a follower of God. But let's remember that God's Spirit is always following us as a helper in time of need.
In Matthew 18, Jesus makes a statement that is often quoted in religious circles:
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
This is usually plucked out and used in a church group setting where people are worshipping together, or it may be applied when "two or more" are gathered to pray, and that their prayers will be answered because there is more than one person present ... "power in numbers," they might say. Notice Jesus didn't say two or more, but was very specific about two or three ... and it was for a distinct reason based on what the law said.
In spite of our assumptions, Jesus was talking about something entirely different and it was from a law-based, Old Covenant perspective (now obsolete). It involved conflict resolution when one would sin against another. Jesus even quoted from the law within the passage. It's clear Jesus is not speaking to non-Jewish people and it's not a "Christian" passage with new instructions—but He was looking back at something from the Mosaic law which was still in place before His death.
The world system where we now live is a mess. It hasn’t been fully redeemed. Bad things happen and physical death still occurs, but it doesn’t change how good God truly is at all times. Yet there are times when we may feel like God is millions of miles away in a far off galaxy. We wonder if He is aware of what we’re going through or why we’re going through it.
It has been said that “God is just a prayer away.” This sounds encouraging on the surface, but on this week’s program, we’ll be taking it a step further to bring a reminder that the gospel provides even better news. Prayer or communion and fellowship with God doesn’t have to be like a type of long-distance phone call where you say good-bye (amen) at the end and hang up until the next time you dial the number. Hopefully we can help bring a new and fresh reality of just how connected you are to God in Christ … all the time. He created the original wireless—no password required.
