Stay Faithful In Prayer
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
For so many of us our day to day lives are consumed by busyness. We rush around from chore to chore, job to home and back again; school activities, being the kid’s taxi etc. It’s task after endless task. We begin to believe that everything we need changed, fixed, restored, and replaced should happen at the same speed it takes to get a fast food meal at the drive thru window. Then when it doesn’t happen, we get angry or despondent and feel like God has abandoned us. We believe that He doesn’t love us enough to listen to our prayers or that we are doing something wrong in our prayer life, but none of this is true!
God loves us dearly and He is listening to each and every prayer with intent. No matter how big or small, He knows the perfect time to respond. We just have to be open to the fact that our prayers are going to be answered in the way that God knows will work best for us. But, even more than this, we have to NEVER give up in actually praying that prayer again and again, and we have to fully believe that it will be answered. Two well-known promises in the Bible tell us that the Israelites had to wait forty years to reach the Promised Land and Abraham had to wait twenty-five years before his son, Isaac was finally born. Patience, perseverance, and faith is what it takes.
I know this sounds much easier said than done, and believe me, I struggle with wanting things done straight away too. But I am sure that as you reach out and talk to people, you will hear story after story of persistence and faith coming together in powerful ways. One such example in my life, is a personal struggle that I have been asking deliverance to for two years. I have been on a path where God has had me seeking Him and asking over and over again. Days of being in tears from not seeing answers straight away and having to struggle through the very hardship that I wanted so desperately to be gone from my life. So much has come out of this experience for me and I am sure it is something I will probably go through again in other areas. Through the journey it has taught me to lean into Him and on Him. It has taught me discipline, humility, patience, perseverance, endurance, and it has increased my faith. I believe I needed to learn all these things before He gave me the deliverance I wanted from my struggles. Not because He enjoyed seeing me suffer or struggle but because these are traits and characteristics that will help me to personally fulfill the plan that He set in motion for me from the very beginning of time.
Please remember that prayer is powerful, and we serve a God who will listen and deliver. Don’t give up on asking, and don’t ever lose faith in God and His promises. He will come through for you, and if you don’t see answers straight away, try looking for the lesson He is teaching you in the waiting.
Blessings,
Justine