They Have Their Reward

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
The title to this posting are the words of our Lord Jesus. Matthew 6:5-7 says, "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." How many times have you (or I) prayed repetitiously when we have prayed. I don't know how many times I have berated myself for asking the same request of the Lord multiple times. But they were in the privacy of my home and not in public.

It nevertheless makes me wonder. If I believe that God can do the impossible, why do I ask time and again for the request? The Lord Jesus told the parable of the unjust judge and finished it with these words, "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (See Luke 18:7-8) When we pray do we really believe God will hear and do? the Bible says in 1st John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." Does that mean that we are not asking according to His will? Not at all! Once when we were going through a particularly painful time in our lives I thought that it was too late for God to intervene and told Him so. The preacher at Camp meeting the next night preached on the title, "The Significance of God's Delays." Then he went on to say that God was never too late. I am so thankful for God's delays, He is never too late.

The Lord Jesus said in John 16:24,  "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Whatever we ask,"...according to his will," we have confidence that He will hear us and He will give us our petitions that we ask. I want the will of God in my life. And the Bible says in 2nd Peter 3:9 that He is not willing that we perish but that we all, "...should come to repentance." The Bible says in Isaiah 55:6-9, "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." I don't want any rewards down here, I want to receive my reward in heaven. I want the Lord to have His way in my life, do you?