“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16 NKJV)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NIV)
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT)
There are two major areas in my life that fall far short of my desires. I definitely need breakthroughs in both areas. It would be one thing if these shortfalls were due to circumstances and/or situations outside of my control. However, in both areas I am where I am today based on the choices I have made up to this point. While that is humbling, and at times highly frustrating, it is what it is. If you know me then you probably already know what these areas are. I may identify them later, but for the moment that is not the purpose for writing this.
I have found that for many (myself included) it is very difficult to ask for help with self-inflicted problems. If you are anything like me, there is a voice within that proclaims, “Hey buddy, you got yourself into this, it’s up to you to get yourself out.” There is this feeling that asking for help is the wrong thing to do. It seems like that voice is bent on keeping me from reaching out. I hear this inner voice asking me questions like…
…”How could you even think of burdening someone else with something you brought on yourself?
Or if that doesn’t stop me there is another question…
…”What will they think of you if you let them know that you are still struggling?”
Here.s a whopper…
…“You have helped others, what’s wrong with you?”
Then there are the “Chicken Little” or “Crying Wolf” elements. When an area of weakness in need of breakthrough has been shared with others on many occasions without any lasting change, asking starts to lose its effectiveness as inside that hindering voice says, “Here you go again, running around like Chicken Little making your problem sound like the sky is falling. No one believes that you actually take this seriously.” If that doesn’t work the voice plainly states, “You’ve cried wolf so many times no one believes you any more. They aren’t even listening. Even God has stopped listening.””
There are 2 major barriers to receiving a breakthrough. They are clearly identified by James…
“…you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-3 NKJV)…
Barrier #1: I don’t ask.
Barrier #2: I ask for selfish purposes.
It’s just that simple. If I don’t ask for help I won’t get any. If I ask for obviously selfish reasons my selfishness will drive off the needed help.
James did not say that I do not have because I brought this on myself. He did not say that since I got into this on my own I need to get out of it on my own. He didn’t say, you don’t have because everyone, including God, has stopped listening to you. Actually just the opposite is true. Regardless of how I got into my current situation, or how many times I have been here, the answer is to run to Jesus just as fast as I can. He is my deliverer in any and all situations. Again I say…
…Run to Jesus!