Meet Robert White

This is about the time our New Year resolutions start to crash. I do a great job starting, but staying the course is hard for me. The same was true in the early church. They started out by generously sharing with each other, but must have gotten caught up loving things and using people instead of using things and loving people. So far in our study of Jesus' message to His followers, we are reminded to be consumed in loving each other, rather than hoarding treasure, which gets eaten by moths, corroded by rust, or stolen by thieves. Jesus refers to this idea of loving people instead of things as storing up treasures in heaven. (Matthew 6:20) 

Sometimes, I get suckered by the enemy into believing my Heavenly Father won’t give good gifts despite Jesus’ clear teaching in our passage. When my prayers seem to be answered with “ request denied ” or “not yet” stamped on them, I get discouraged and stop knocking. God wants me to keep knocking with persistent prayer. James, the half brother of Jesus and a leader of the early church, exhorts: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? . . . You lust and do not have; . . . You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3)

I am thankful to be surrounded by others who will support me when I am down from the “no” or “not yet” answers. My biggest support comes from God's Holy Spirit who dwells inside me and works like a GPS. He tells me to turn around and urges me to go back to asking, seeking, and knocking about whatever it is that concerns me. May we continue pouring requests into His patient ear.