Saying Yes to all that God has said Yes to

I missed the last part of this verse and I was reminded last night that this verse comes with a great message about how we should view the world. 
We are told by Christ himself that Blessed are the peacemakers, the poor in spirit, and the weak. That word blessed means happy.  Not just a fun time, but a contentment that comes from peace.  But there is a kind of peace that Christians should have that is content but at the same time it is not content with how things currently are.  We have been given all things we read in Eph 1, Eph 4 gives insight that we have strength to anything.  But are things here perfect?  Not now they aren't.  So we pray.  Prayer is the indication of a holy and desperate dissatisfaction. It means that you and I are dissatisfied with we are, the way I am and the way you are.  We are also dissatisfied with the world. We see the injustice, the immorality, and sin in the world and we are dissatisfied. So we pray.  The more satsified with the world you are the less you will pray.  If you think things are going well, you will pray little.  If you are not satisfied with you, your holiness, or the way you see the world the more you will pray.  The more you desire the fulness God the more you will pray.  If you desire to be righteous, holy, having godly wisdom, understanding, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, loving, perseverance, any of it you will pray.   Take a second and see how you passionate you are for God...

But I am not telling you this to make you feel bad.  I am telling you about this because we need to view ourselves through Christ and promises. 

The question our verse asks is are you saying yes to all of God's yes's in you?  Is there anything where God has said yes to you but you are saying maybe, or no, or not now.  I want you be able to say yes to all the things God has said yes to you.  I'll explain this in a second.  Stick with me. 
In the previous verses Paul says to the believers that he was not saying yes and no at the same time.  Instead, he says yes.  He says I was not just trying to take the shortest route or take a more comfortable route. No, Paul says  we live for you good, for your holiness, and for you joy!  To you it is YES< YES< YES!
Paul now is going to show us why his life is a yes to them.  It is because God has said his final YES to them in Christ.  So Paul is saying: My heart is not divided toward you because God's heart is not divided toward you. God has given you everything he could possibly give to you and he has deposited it your account in Christ.   You hear the same answer at every point: Is this promise in my account? Yes. Is this promise in my account? Yes. Is this blessing in my account? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All the promises of God are YES in Christ

In Galatians 3:29 Paul wrote, "If you are Christ's then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." (See Ephesians 3:6; Galatians 3:14, 22; Hebrews 9:15; Romans 15:8.) All the promises of God for the good of his people focus in Christ. He confirms them and secures them and, as it were, purchases them for all who belong to him—for all who believe (Galatians 3:22). Every sinner who comes to God in Christ, with all his needs, finds God coming to him in Christ, with all his promises. When a sinful person meets the holy God IN CHRIST, what he hears is YES. Do you love me? YES. Will you forgive me? YES. Will you accept me? YES. YES. Will you help me change? YES. Will you give me power to serve you? YES. Will you keep me? YES. Will you show me your glory? YES.

All the promises of God—all the blessings of God in the heavenly places—are YES in Christ Jesus. Jesus is God's decisive YES to all who believe.

So here is the connection to Prayer. Vs 20 says that we say our AMEN.  That word is HEbrew but is also found in Greek and it means a strong affirmation.  Or simply it means a loud YES!  So if Amen means YES then the verse says In Jesus Christ God says his YES, his AMEN, to us through his promises; and in Christ we say our YES, our AMEN, back to God, through prayer.

So we pray in Christ.  In Christ we have our Yes.  No one wants to hear NO so if God's yes comes to us in Christ then we must go to God through Christ. 
We also Pray to Glorify God.  Saying amen we are saying to God YOU ALONE are giver, you alone are to be glorified.  You alone are God.   So by saying Amen we say YES to God being glorified.
Prayer is laying hold of God's promises. We don't pray and hope that he hears.  We don't pray and hope that it lines up with his promises.  We pray to grab on to his promises we read throughout the bible.  Prayer is making a withdrawl on our Account of God's promises.
So when we say Amen it does not mean Yes, I said this prayer. It means YES God has made all of these promises.  Amen means YES the Lord can do it.  Yes, you are Powerful, wise, merciful, and Amen is an exclamation point of faith that prayer or in God's goodness and worthiness of Glory.
When we finish a prayer we say in Jesus' name and that is GOD'S YES(AMEN) and we say AMEN(YES) back to God.  We need to take that phrase seriously.

So that leads me back to he question are you saying yes to all of God's yes's?  Are you agreeing, are you saying yes to all the promises that God promises you?  Do you really believe it?  Not can you recite it or do you know it, but can you say YES to all of them, do you really believe God will or has said yes to all of his promises? Do you believe he has blessed you with everything you need?  Do you believe he loves, accepts, forgives, changes, protects, empowers you?  If not then I plead with you to be righteously dissatisfied and join me for the next few weeks for prayer. 

Will you quit saying no or maybe to God and say yes to his promises he has already said yes to?


  So now the ball is in your court... What are you going to do?