We all know these scenarios:
"What are you doing Lord, why have you not answered my prayer? I have been crying out to you for days, weeks or even years. And nothing has happened. When are you going to do something?"
"Right that is it Lord, you have not answered my prayer, so I am going to do something about it."
"I have been praying for my son or daughter who no longer go to church. I am afraid for them they just don't seem to care any more, please bring them back to church."
I hope I am not the only one who has behaved like this.
Firstly, God always answers our prayers. The reason we think he has not answered them, is because we have not got the answer we wanted nor expected. We may therefore have missed his answer!
Secondly, His answer may have been 'no' to our wants, because the outcome would not have been in our best interest. Sometimes we forget that God can see our whole life, not just the predicament we may be in right now. God always works for our good even through our tears.
Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Thirdly, when we decide to take matters into our own hands we are stepping out of 'trust' and following our own sinful nature. Doing something is what we do when we want control. Waiting on the Lord is what we need to do, if we want God to be in control of our lives. We go back again to the wonderful verse in Jeremiah 29:11.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Fourthly, being a Christian means trusting God with our lives and the lives of our family. When we look at the old lovely pictures of our children all dressed up and eager to please us, we wonder what happened to that trusting child. We wonder why they no longer go to church. We pray, 'bring them back', but do we really know if they have actually gone away from God? As in my previous post when I talked about 'eternity being in our hearts', eternity never leaves our hearts. God never leaves us. He has not left your son or daughter. They are still connected. They are a whisper away from eternity. They only need to say 'sorry' and reconnect. We as parents cannot see their hearts nor hear their whisper. God can and He knows if they have left Him or not. They may not 'go to Church' but church will still be in their hearts.
Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
34:6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
34:15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
34:17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The seeds we as parents planted do not die. Our prayers water them and God keeps them close to His Heart. They continue to grow in God's garden.
It may feel like our prayers and requests have been put on hold, but remember who you are connected to, who you are ringing. The line is never engaged, in fact it is always at the Heart of the matter.
We might be asked to hold and the following options will be given:
1. Wait
2. Trust
3. Believe
4. Be prepared
5. Accept the reward
You will be required to select all five options.
So when you choose this path you will have to:
Wait for God's answer
Trust in His answer
Believe your life will be changed for the better when and in His timing you receive his answer.
Be prepared for an 'outside the box' answer and to implement it into your life.
Accept the reward for waiting on God for the answer, because He rewards with eternal riches.
Phillippians 4:19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus
Important note:
If however, you slam the phone down because the wait is too long, and decide to take matters into your own hands, then that is your option, subject to the rules of this world. And the consequences will be determined by the world and not by God.
All is not lost:
Nonetheless when you get back onto the phone again, God will be there waiting to hear from you. Waiting for you to come into alignment with his answer.
Even if our waiting feels like years there is always Hope in the waiting.
I hope this has been helpful.
God bless
Margaret
(author of 'How to make Victoria Sponge - a journey of faith)
Labels: answers, church, eternity, God, hearts, Jeremiah 29:11, Phillippians 4:19, prayer, predicament, Psalm 34, Romans 8:28, tears, trust
