July 16th — THE NOTION OF DIVINE CONTROL
July 16th.THE NOTION OF DIVINE CONTROL
"How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds fil ed with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember - Why, my Father knows al about it! It is not an effort, it comes natural y when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerful y in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle - God is my Father, He loves me, I shal never think of anything He wil forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God wil appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He wil appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He wil appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind al things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God's wil is behind it, therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it shal be given you."