If
we spent as much time in prayer as we did worrying…!
People
often approach my Pastor saying, “Pastor, will you pray for me?” His concerned gentle response is usually,
“Are you praying for yourself?” Of
course he will pray for them but the reason he asks this is that they often do
not pray for themselves. They seek out
someone they perceive as more “spiritual” or someone they think has a stronger
connection with God. Friends, let me
encourage you, if you know Jesus as your Savoir then YOU have the strongest
connection there is to the Throne Room of the Heavenly Father! “Keep
on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on
knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives;
and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door]
will be opened.” Matt. 7:7-8 AMP
Of
course, just because we believers have direct access to the Creator of the
universe it does not mean that we can just ask for any thing we want. If your eight year old asked for the keys to
the car would you just give them to him?
We also have to consider with what desires or attitudes we come with to
our Heavenly Father in prayer. “What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and
how do conflicts (quarrels and fighting’s) originate among you? Do they not
arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily
members? You are jealous and covet [what
others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To
hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and
anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the
happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do
not ask. [Or] you do ask [God for them]
and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish
motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in
sensual pleasures.” -James 4:1-3 AMP
Prayer
does not always bring on instant results.
Daniel prayed and it took a while before the angel came with his answer
because of a spiritual battle with the evil “prince” over that area, but he
kept on praying until the answer arrived (Daniel 9-10). This was the way Daniel waiting on the Lord,
he prayed.
Sometimes
we have to wait for the answer, but even waiting can bring glorious results! “And
therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be
gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy
upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment:
blessed are all they that wait for him.” –Isaiah
30:18 AMP
Leon
Patillo once shared in a concert that waiting on God is not just sitting around waiting for
something to happen, but rather it is being like the athlete getting ready for
his race. He does not sit or stand around;
he gets set secure against the starting blocks, ready to pulse forward at the
sound of the starting pistol.
If
you have prayed for something and have not received your answer then wait on
the Lord. Wait is a verb and a verb is
an action. Be like Daniel and KEEP PRAYING! He WILL answer at just the right time. He will not allow any delay to deter His
answer.
“But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” –Isaiah
40:31 AMP
