Avoiding disappointment when calling on God for help

What a person must do to be counted among Christ's chosen ones and, thus, have the right to call and pray to the Father in heaven.

By FELGEM EDWARD J. ELEVADO

WHEN GOING THROUGH hard times, it is natural for a person to ask for help from others—friends, family members, or powerful or influential persons—he thinks might be able to help him. While they might be able to extend some form of assistance, however, the help they can provide, as all people do, is limited. Moreover, there have been instances when people who asked help from their fellow human beings were met with disappointment.

If there is someone whom all should call for help especially in trying times, He is the Lord God Almighty (Gen. 35:11). But how can people expect not to be disappointed in praying to God, but, instead, receive what they pray for? Based on biblical teaching, they should have first the right to call to Him.

The ones who have the right to call

Who have the right to call to God? This was taught by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ:

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16 New King James Version)

Christ guaranteed that His chosen servants will receive the things they ask from the Father in heaven, which only shows that they are the ones who have the right to call to Him. Hence, it is important to belong to Christ’s chosen ones to have the right to pray to God.

However, to merely profess to be a Christian and have faith in Christ do not make one a chosen servant of God and of Christ. Apostle Peter described the chosen ones, thus:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (I Pet. 2:9 Amplified Bible)

God’s chosen people were called out of darkness and brought into His marvelous light. That marvelous light is in the kingdom of the Son into which they were brought and where redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sin, is found (Col. 1:12-14).

The ones whom Christ redeemed or purchased with His blood are the members of the Church Of Christ:

“Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.” (Acts 20:28 Lamsa Translation)

Hence, for a person to be counted among Christ’s chosen ones and, thus, have the right to call and pray to the Father in heaven, he must first become a member of the Church Of Christ.

How they will not be disappointed

Besides the right to pray, it is important to have trust in God when calling on Him for help, as the Bible states, thus:

“LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.” (Ps. 84:12 New International Version)

So they will not be disappointed when they pray to Him. God’s chosen are advised to trust Him at all times:

“So always trust the LORD because he is forever our mighty rock.” (Isa. 26:4 Contemporary English Version)

Hence, the chosen ones should use their right to call on God, especially in times of difficulty. But they must trust in Him so He will listen to and grant their prayers.

Furthermore, Apostle James made clear that those who trust God do not doubt for them to surely receive whatever they ask from Him:

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” (James 1:6-8 NIV)

However, one cannot prove that he trusts God or that he does not doubt by simply thinking or saying so. A servant of God who truly trusts Him can be recognized by the way he lives:

“For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.” (II Cor. 5:7 AMP)

God’s servants who truly trust Him walk or live by faith. They do not lose their fervor in living in holiness and obeying His commandments. That is why even in times of crisis, such as the current one caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Church Of Christ members continue to conduct their worship services even in their respective homes, share the true faith to others by any appropriate means possible, and perform other duties of theirs as these are commandments of God.

Moreover, God’s chosen people ought not to disobey His will because the prayers of those who are evil are useless:

“They cry for help, but God doesn't answer, for they are proud and evil. It is useless for them to cry out; Almighty God does not see or hear them.” (Job 35:12-13 Good News Bible)

God will certainly not listen to the supplications of those who are evil. That is why faithful members of the Church Of Christ strive to obey every commandment of God whatever their situation in life is so that when they cry out to Him in their time of need, He will bless them.

What they will receive

Those who will not be disappointed when they ask God for help are truly blessed because they will receive all that He has promised:

“So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” (Heb. 10:35-36 New Living Translation)

God’s true servants do not throw away their confident trust in Him whatever they encounter in life. They patiently endure the tribulations that they experience for them to continue to do His will. In this way, they will surely receive His promised guidance and protection in this life:

“The LORD guides us in the way we should go and protects those who please him. If they fall, they will not stay down, because the LORD will help them up.” (Ps. 37:23-24 GNB)

With the worsening condition of the world today, we all need God’s help, guidance, and protection. In the Church Of Christ, one is assured of these because of his right to call to Him as His chosen one.

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Becoming important to God

By ARNEL M. ARMENIA

DO YOU KNOW of VIPs or very important persons? Who are they? What did they do to make it on your list? Each of us have our own set of standards against which we measure the worth of individuals. More often than not, we use those standards in identifying the persons important to us. On the other hand, unlike man’s subjective standards or perception, righteous is the yardstick that God uses in counting people important to Him. Who are important to God? What makes them important to Him? Most importantly, why should people strive to be counted among those who are important to Him? And how tragic is it if one isn’t among such people?

Man’s condition

The Bible declares that man’s condition in the sight of God is deplorable—he is worthless:

“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one’ … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:10-12, 23 New International Version)

Based on the Bible, because man has sinned, he became worthless or unimportant to God. Worse, God decreed that man shall pay for his sins (Rom. 6:23)—the full payment of which is eternal punishment in the lake of fire:

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev. 21: 8 New King James Version)

No matter what one’s nationality is, no matter what he has acquired in this world, no matter how exalted he is in the sight of his peers, but in the eyes of God, man is worthless and condemned to eternal punishment. Since all people have sinned, it is imperative then that all seek to be extricated from the condition of being worthless, to being important God.

God’s “special treasure”

The people who are important to God are His chosen ones:

“You are a holy nation. The LORD your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be his people. The LORD chose you because he loved you very much. …” (Deut. 7:6-7 New International Reader’s Version)

The Israelites became God’s special treasure. They had ceased from being worthless when He set them apart and chose them to be His people. They deemed Him important because of their calling and election from Him. But when they turned their backs on God, He rejected them (Dan. 9:11). In time, God chose another people for Himself:

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (I Pet. 2:9 NKJV)

The ones referred to in the verses are God’s “own special people” in the Christian era. According to Apostle Peter, He called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Clearly then, as it was in the time of ancient Israel, in the Christian dispensation of time, being chosen by God—their divine calling and election—made people important to Him. Apostle Paul revealed who God’s people are in the Christian era:

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:12-14 NKJV)

Those whom God called from the darkness into the light are the ones redeemed with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. They have been forgiven of sins, so they have become important to God.

As to which was redeemed with the blood of Christ, this is what is recorded in the Bible:

The Lord Jesus Christ purchased or redeemed with His blood the “church of Christ.” Hence, in the Christian era, those whom God has chosen as His “own special people” are the members of the Church Of Christ. They are the ones who are important to Him because they have the divine election.

God’s chosen people today

Just like the ancient nation of Israel, the first-century Church Of Christ turned away from God. This fact is proven by the Bible and history. Knowing this, the Almighty God, long ago already spoke about His sons and daughters from the “ends of the earth:”

“Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants for the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isa. 43:5-6 NKJV)

The “east” that the Prophet Isaiah mentioned in his prophecy as the place where the children of God would come from is the “far east” (Isa. 43:5 Moffatt Translation). The time of their emergence is the “ends of the earth” or the time when the end of the world is “at the doors:”

“And as he sat at the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? … So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” (Matt. 24:3 & 33 King James Version)

The time “ends of the earth” began at the onset of the war that the Lord Jesus Christ foretold:

“And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:6-8 NKJV)

The fulfillment of the prophesied war is the First World War which broke out on July 27, 1914. On that day, the “ends of the earth” began, the time of the emergence of God’s children from the Far East.

That the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) emerged in the Philippines, a country in the Far East, and was registered with the government on the same day the First World War broke out proves that it is God’s nation in these last days. It is where the sons and daughters of God can be found. Being counted among God’s children is a proof in itself that one has ceased being worthless before His sight because they stand to inherit His promises:

“And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Rom. 8:17 NKJV)

Hence, all people should strive to join the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ). It is what people need so that they will become important to God and be spared from the eternal punishment He has foreordained for those who have sinned.

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