The Purpose of the Church, Prayer Part 2
I want to talk about how God hears and answers prayers, all prayers. And the priority of the prayers.
Charles Spurgeon said, “I would rather teach one man to pray than 10 men to preach!”
Chuck Swindoll said, “prayer remains the most potent weapon in the church’s arsenal.” Did you get that the most potent powerful weapon in the church today Is prayer!
Tony Evans said, “you don’t have to pray perfectly to pray powerfully.”
So, prayer is an Important purpose of a believer and the church
I saw this story years ago and had to share it.
A missionary family in Africa years ago had 2 small children. The second being born after they arrived on the mission field. The youngest was sickly and needed much care.
It had to be wrapped in blankets most of the time to ensure that it stayed warm enough. The mother was heard to say, over and over, “I wish we had a hot water bottle.” Her thinking was that with a hot water bottle, she could place it next to the child and provide it with some heat. After a few weeks, a package arrived from England.
In that package were several items that were sent to the family anonymously to help them in their new location. Among the items, there was a hot water bottle. The mother thanked God, but couldn’t recall having prayed for it.
As the last of the items was taken out of the box, the oldest child came to her mother and said, “Where’s my new baby doll?” Her mother responded, “There isn’t a doll in here.” The little girl asked them to look again, and when they did, under all the packing material was a little, new baby doll.
The mother asked the girl how she knew there was a doll in there. She said, “Well, when I asked God to send a hot water bottle for the baby, I asked Him to send me a dolly.”
This story becomes even more remarkable when we consider that this package had to travel to Africa first by ship, then by pack animals, before it reached the family. It began its journey some 6 months before the baby was born and before the little girl had ever begun to pray for those things!
What a Mighty God we serve! God’s got this church under control. He knows what needs to be done. We need to quit rushing God, and we’ll get to that in a little bit
But why hadn’t he answered me? Maybe he has. And then again, maybe you stopped asking and believing He would!
Keep Asking
Matthew 7:7-12 (NKJV) 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
The word translated as “ask” is the Greek word aiteō “I-ta-oh” which does not describe a single request. It describes a continuous action that never stops.
Not just ask, but keep asking over and over without ceasing.
Pray without ceasing- heard that before, hadn’t you?
The way a child pulls on a parent’s sleeve and does not let go.
Jesus was not making a promise attached to a single prayer.
It was commanding a posture, a lifestyle of relentless, persistent asking that does not quit when the answer does not come immediately.
It is not just the word. Ask it is all three: The verb tense is a continuous action in ask, seek, and knock.
Every single one of them carries the same type of meaning in Greek: keep doing this continuously without stopping, and look at how they escalate,
Asking is verbal,
Seeking is active,
And Knocking is urgent.
Jesus was not giving three different options. He was describing one person who refuses to stop, who starts by asking, then gets up and seeks, then stands at the door and knocks until it opens
And then look at the door itself, and the door shall be opened!
In Greek, the word opened as passive; you do not open it.
It is opened for you from the other side by someone already standing there.
You cannot force it. You cannot knock hard enough or long enough to break it down yourself.
All you can do is keep knocking and trust that the one on the other side hears every knock.
Look at the prayers that you gave up on, the requests you made once and walked away from when nothing happened.
The door you knocked on one time and assumed was closed.
Jesus did not say to ask; He said to keep asking.
Unanswered prayer is not a closed door.
It is an invitation to keep knocking because someone is already on the other side.
Then he gives an example that we can understand in earthly form
9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The illustration Jesus used is that of a father giving what is good, not just what his children ask for.
The Greek word translated “ask” in verse seven is aiteō “I-ta-oh”
It doesn’t mean petition; it means to request a position of dependency. I can’t do this; I can’t accomplish this, but you can.
It’s not a customer replacing an order. It’s a child approaching a father with open hands.
The posture of aiteō “I-ta-oh” is: I don’t know what I need. You do give me what is good.
We’ve been reading ask, and it would be given to you as a formula for acquisition
But the father in the parable doesn’t give the child everything the child requests; He’s given the child what is good
Which means the promise of Matthew seven verse seven isn’t name it and claim it or receive it
It’s coming to God paying attention, and He will give you what a perfect Father gives, not everything you want, but everything you need
The ask is not an order. It’s an act of surrender.
When you pray, Lord, give me this with open hands. You’re not demanding an outcome. You’re trusting a Father.
The outcome belongs to Him
The asking belongs to you
That’s the promise
Not that you’ll always get what you asked for
But you’ll never be ignored when you come
This reframes every prayer that felt unanswered
The bread you asked for, he looked at your hands, and decided that something better than bread was what you needed
The door you knocked on, He saw the hallway on the other side and let it stay closed until the right one opened
It will be given to you doesn’t mean your vision of what that is. It means His vision.
Which is always been better
Come to him
Not with a list, not with a demand, not with a condition
Come with open hands and a posture of aiteō “I-ta-oh”
Father, I need you I don’t know exactly what I need you do.
That’s the prayer Matthew seven verse seven is actually describing
And it never goes unanswered
No prayer ever, not one, not a single prayer ever goes unanswered
We’ll get to those answers in a little bit.
When it doesn’t happen, we sometimes question God. And it’s OK to question God.
I used to think questioning God meant you had weak faith.
But when you read Genesis 15, where Abraham finally stops pretending everything is fine and tells God directly that the promise that God himself had made years ago still has not shown up.
And God does not rebuke him. He does not tell Abraham he is doubting too much. Genesis 15:5-6 (NKJV) 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
nd then the Bible says God called Abraham righteous right there in that moment.
Not after Isaac was born.
Not after anything was proven.
Right there, while Abraham was still confused and still waiting and still asking hard questions.
And Abraham is not alone in this.
Moses questioned God.
David questioned God.
Job questioned God.
Mary questioned God.
The Bible is honestly full of people bringing their hardest questions straight to God.
Listen, I question God
The problem was never the question. The problem is when you stop bringing it to God at all.
That’s exactly what we do with prayer.
We bring our burdens, our heartaches, and even our questions to the Creator of the universe. And even at times I’m sorry to say even our anger at God you bring it to Him because He knows…
E.M. Bounds’ book, Power Through Prayer,
Chapter Men of Prayer Are Needed
WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the person or to sink the person in the plan or organization.
God’s plan is to make much of the person, far more of them than of anything else. People are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better people. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use-men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but people. People of prayer.
With all that said, now I want to tell you why you should pray and why a prayer should be a priority for you and this church!
- PRAYER SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR THE CHURCH BECAUSE…
1. Jesus was devoted to prayer.a. Jesus put a priority on prayer.
• Luke 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
- But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. When He was busy and tired.
Luke 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
- Matt 14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
- During His darkest hour, when He was about to be crucified, during His time of deepest need, Jesus made time to pray.
Luke 22:39-46 (NKJV) 39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Sound familiar Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the evil one 41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. (Even in agony, he prayed even harder. Don’t miss that when you’re going through something rough, get really serious with your prayers) Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
Whenever Jesus did something, or before He did something, He prayed to God. Raising of Lazarus.
John 11:41-44 (NKJV) 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Prayer. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, No. 5
How much prayer meant to Jesus! It was not only his regular habit, but is His recourse in every emergency, however slight or serious.
When perplexed, He prayed.
When hard-pressed by work, He prayed.
When hungry for fellowship, He found it in prayer.
He chose His associates and received His messages upon his knees.
When tempted, He prayed.
If criticized, He prayed.
If fatigued in body or wearied in spirit, He had remedy to His one unfailing habit of prayer.
Prayer brought him unmeasured power at the beginning and kept the flow unbroken and undiminished.
There was no emergency, no difficulty, no necessity, no temptation that would not yield to prayer. –
PRAYER SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR THE CHURCH BECAUSE…
The early church was devoted to prayer.
• Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Back to our text:
- Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
- The Leadership of the church was devoted to prayer also!
Acts 6:3-4 (NKJV) 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Romans 12:10-16 (NKJV)
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly (persistent) in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing; (Never stop!)
NT:89adialeiptos (ad-ee-al-ipe’-toce); adverb from NT:88; uninterruptedly, i.e., without omission Keep asking keep seeking Keep knocking
Prayer should be a priority because God hears us.
We said last time in Revelation how our prayers and how our loved ones who have gone on before us prayers are still in God’s ears. I love that.
Romans 8:26-28 (NKJV) 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
PRAYER SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR THE CHURCH BECAUSE…
Prayer is the channel from which blessings flow.
Mark 11:24 (NKJV) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Matthew 21:22 (NKJV) And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
John 16:24 (NKJV) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
You want joy. Seek God’s face, get to know God, get to know what He wants you to do when he wants His church to do. And the Bible is clear; it says that your joy may be full
Again, that goes back to God’s desire in our lives: are we praying for what God wants according to his will?
W.A. Torrey says, “Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God’s infinite grace and power. All that God is and all that God has are at the disposal of prayer.”
PRAYER SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR THE CHURCH BECAUSE…
Prayer is a way to express thanksgiving to God.
• It is probable that in most of us the spiritual life is needy and stunted because we give so little place to gratitude.
William Temple, from 3000 Quotations on Christian Themes. Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 17.
It is more important to thank God for blessings received than to pray for them beforehand.
For that forward-looking prayer, though right as an expression of dependence upon God, is still self-centered in part, at least, of its interest; there is something we hope to gain by our prayer.
But the backward-looking act of thanksgiving is quite free from this. In itself, it is quite selfless.
Thus, it is akin to love. All our love to God is in response to his love for us; it never starts on our side. “We love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Phil 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
1 Tim 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
Prayer with Thanksgiving
Why do you think the Bible only commands two things every single day?
Two things that’s every single day every single hour every single minute on repeat in the Bible actually promises that you will receive a gift from this, that surpasses anything you can imagine it tells you all the scriptures from the Old Testament from Psalm 94 to Jesus, most famous sermon On the mountain in Matthew chapter 6 to Philippians 4 it tells you the two things that the scriptures want you do.
What Jesus wants you to do is: number one, pray without stopping, and Number two, give thanks in all circumstances. Then, Jesus doubles down in Philippians 4, it says, have no anxiety about anything, but in everything through prayer with gratitude, and what happens?
Neuroscience now proves that when you pray, you are lifting the weight off of your brain.
And when you operate in gratitude, you are shifting your brain from the anxiety part of your brain to the gratitude part of your brain.
It is proven in the Bible that you can’t be anxious and grateful at the same time.
So, it’s like Jesus is giving you a promise.
He’s like I built your brain.
I know that if you want to live in peace.
Then there are two things you do: you lift all that junk off of you cause you’re not strong enough.
And you need to give it to Me (God).
I will trade it for peace that surpasses understanding; that’s the gift, but when you do it with gratitude because you’re not shifting your brain and lifting the weight, giving it to Jesus and operating in the peace of God, that’s your understanding.
If you wanna live in peace, just live in gratitude. It’s very simple.
I have watched a lot of videos on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook talking about all the Europeans, and even Australians, and the Oriental people from all over the world who came to America for the soccer stuff, and they say we are so overly blessed and unthankful.
PRAYER SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR THE CHURCH BECAUSE…
We can have inner peace from prayer. HOPE
Notice that when things go bad, most people respond with prayer.
We said last time, is it your steering wheel or is it your spare tire? You just call on God in times of need, then you’re missing such blessings
Phil 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Phil 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:15-17 (NKJV) 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
PRAYER SHOULD BE A PRIORITY BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE NEED PRAYER.
People with whom we do not get along need our prayers.
You cannot hate those you pray for. EXPOUND
The video that Brian showed a few weeks ago with Lester Roloff, attorney, he said, ask God to reveal in you what needs to be changed, and I promise you He will.
As I said before, Ben Bennett, when he calls, the first thing he says to me is Big fish, are you clean If you’re not clean, don’t worry about it, but if you’re clean, pray, and then he’ll tell me what he wants prayed for
Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV) 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Luke 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
The sick need our prayers.
JAMES 5: Spiritual and physical sickness.
James 5:13-18 (NKJV) 13Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 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. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Government and church leaders need our prayers.
• When Edward Everett Hale in 1903, he was appointed Chaplain to the United States Senate in Washington. While he was the chaplain, someone asked him, “Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?” He replied, “No, I look at the senators and pray for the country.”
Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
And we know the result. The gates opened, the chains fell off. The angel said be quiet, grab your shoes, and let’s get out of here And God hears and answers prayers
Heb 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
PRAY FOR THEM.
1 Tim 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
Other churches need our prayers.
2 Corinthians 9:12-15 (NKJV) 12For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Sometimes the spirit of jealousy and rivalry keeps us from praying for the other churches.
Daily, I pray for this church. And for New Brooklyn Baptist Church in Temple. And, I pray for the Praise Tabernacle over in Hiram, and I pray for West Ridge Church in Dallas. Daily, and then I pray for Cross Point City Church in Cartersville; we are not in a competition; we’re in this war together. We need to fight it together. Here is your word again, united!
One of my mentors and dear friends is Tommy Chapman, pastor of Praise Tabernacle Congregational Methodist Church. I doubt I’d ever have started preaching or stood in a pulpit if it weren’t for Tommy Chapman.
My mother said in Alabama, where she was raised they had a Methodist church on one side of the road and a Baptist church on the other side and you could stand in the road and listen on Sunday mornings and the Methodist Church would be singing Will there be Any stars in my Crown And on the other side of the street in the Baptist church they were singing no not one no not one
We have to be united as a church body as a whole with other church bodies. I keep telling you we need to be united in this church with each other and with the leaders who are leading right now. Back them up, support them, even when people on the outside are saying other things, you support the people here who are in the war. Right now and the ones that are staying faithful in this fight. They’re the ones that matter, not the outside voices.
The lost need our prayers. This should be the main priority
Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NKJV) 1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
I believe that if we pray for those who are lost, we will make an even greater effort to reach them.
Prayer is an important function of the church. I do not know how many times I would tell a person who did not think they could do much that they could have a prayer ministry, but usually, the response is not very enthusiastic.
Claudia Darby has a prayer ministry. She can’t get out; she can’t do a whole lot; she can’t go help people. She’s even having a hard time seeing her visions gone, but she can pray and call out to God and seek his face and trust that God hears her for you!
“Martin Luther–The Early Years,” Christian History, no. 34.
“No man should be alone when he opposes Satan. The church and the ministry of the Word were instituted for this purpose, that hands may be joined together and one may help another. If the prayer of one doesn’t help, the prayer of another will.”
That’s what it means when the Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, and that’s what we’re supposed to do: help each other pick each other up, be there for each other, and pray for each other, and God will hear and answer your prayer.
Sometimes it’s not the way you want it. But God answers all prayers.
Some are yes. Like we’ve heard, and they’re just answered right away, even before we ask, God answers. I’ll be honest with you: that’s always my favorite.
Are all my prayers answered? They most certainly are because, as much as I hate to break it to you, no is an answer.
We don’t normally care for hearing the word “NO!”
A missionary at the end of the 1800s, wrote this poem:
Isn’t “No” an Answer?
Just a tiny little child, three years old,
And a mother with a heart all of gold.
Often did that mother say,
Jesus hears us when we pray,
For He’s never far away
And He always answers.
Now, that tiny little child had brown eyes,
And she wanted blue instead, like blue skies.
For her mother’s eyes were blue
Like forget-me-nots. She knew
All her mother said was true,
Jesus always answered.
So, she prayed for two blue eyes, Said “Good night,”
Went to sleep in deep content and delight.
Woke up early, climbed a chair
By a mirror. Where, O where
Could the blue eyes be? They are not there;
Jesus hadn’t answered.
Hadn’t answered her at all; Never more
Could she pray; her eyes were brown as before.
Did a little soft wind blow?
Came a whisper soft and low,
“Jesus answered. He said, No;
Isn’t No an answer?”
I’m like y’all. I’m just like a little kid. I don’t like the answer no, but sometimes it has to be the answer, and we have to trust His hand
That poem, written by Amy Carmichael, an Irish Christian missionary, was based on an incident that actually did occur in her life when she was three.
It turned out to be in the providence of God for her to have brown eyes.
She became a missionary to India in the late 1890s. At first, her ministry was primarily evangelistic.
But along the way, she became aware that some parents in India sold their daughters to the temple, where they were used for immoral purposes.
God led one such child to her, and through a series of events and a sense of the Lord’s leading, Amy took the child in.
Then more stories of other girls (and later, boys) surfaced, and more opportunities to rescue and provide homes for these children arose.
Amy had to struggle with this because the Lord had seemed to be blessing her evangelistic work.
Was it right to turn from that ministry to give herself to housing and raising children?
She concluded that it was indeed God’s will for her life.
The ministry grew exponentially and eventually became a whole compound, with housing for children of all ages, the workers who took care of them, and even had their own hospital.
As Amy went “undercover” to find details of these children, she would stain her arms with coffee and wear an Indian dress so that she could pass as an Indian woman and move freely in Indian society, where she never could have as an Irish missionary.
This she could not have done with blue eyes — her eyes would have given her away immediately.
Neither she nor her mother could have ever known, all those years ago, the Lord’s purpose for her brown eyes, but the lesson of faith stayed with her all her life.
We are where we are for a reason
Charles Stanley said, “Unanswered prayer isn’t always a no; sometimes it’s God closing a door long enough to say there’s something over here we need to deal with first.”
So, then sometimes the answer is to wait.
Wait on His timing, because sometimes He, God, may have something better, or He is getting some hindrance out of the way.
Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
I read this recently. Still waiting
What if waiting for God has nothing to do with staying still
For years, I thought waiting for God meant putting my life on pause
I treated God’s timing like a waiting room where I was passive and unproductive
Maybe that’s why so many seasons feel frustrating
You pray, you trust, you try to be patient
But after a while, it can feel like life is happening somewhere else while you’re stuck standing still
I’ve spent seasons waiting for clarity, direction, and doors to open
Looking back, I realize I was so focused on what God might do next that I completely overlooked what he was doing right in front of me. Calvary, He is doing a work right here in front of you right now. Let Him.
The people who waited on God in scripture didn’t stop living while they waited
Ruth was gathering grain in a field
Nehemiah was rebuilding a wall
The disciples were following Jesus long before they understood where the journey would end
That’s when I started wondering if I misunderstood what biblical waiting actually means
In the middle of Lamentations, a book written during one of Israel’s darkest seasons, we are told that God is good to those who wait for Him
The Hebrew word for wait here is QAVAH
It’s a word that carries an idea of hopeful expectation and staying connected, like strands woven together into a single cord
Waiting on God doesn’t mean putting your life on hold until he gives you an answer
You must stay connected to him while taking the next step of faith
We aren’t meant to spend our lives waiting for God to do something
We are meant to walk with Him while He does it
I wonder how many seasons we’ve called waiting for God.
That God called preparation
How much of God’s work have we overlooked because we were so focused on the answer that we missed what He was doing before the Answer arrived
When we stop waiting for God and start waiting with God, everything can change
Where can you be faithful today, even if the answer you’re waiting for doesn’t arrive this week?
Lamentations 3:25-26 (NKJV) 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. 26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.
Alistair Begg. Said: Wait
Has the Church Forgotten How to Wait?
That grace comes to those “who wait for the LORD.”
Waiting here means resting in the assurance that the promises that God has made, He will fulfill.
How do we explain the apparent weakness of the church in much of the Western world today? One answer is the absence of waiting.
When a young man writes (or, these days, more likely texts) a young woman in the hope of winning and keeping her affection, he is hoping, yes—but he is also waiting. He is waiting in the expectation that the current undesirable circumstance of separation and singleness will come to a triumphant end.
In a similar way, it is often the expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises that is meant to keep us going. So again.
Our churches today need to understand that God is worth the wait.
We can wait upon Him, trust Him, rest on Him, and say in sincerity and conviction, “You can have the totality of me. I’ll go wherever You want me to go. I’ll stay there for as long as You tell me to stay. I’ll do whatever You want me to do. And as I do so, I forsake every idol that I have raised that stands between You and me.”
Today, we ought to remember that the awesome God has stepped down into time in the person of Jesus Christ and given Himself for us—so
Romans 8:32 (NKJV) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
If we will wait, God will keep us all the way to the end and through the end—because He’s promised to do so. And God keeps the promises He makes. We can trust Him.
This article was adapted from the sermon “‘Behold Your God!’ — Part Two” by Alistair Begg.
“Wait”
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said,
“Child, you must wait.”
“Wait? You say, wait!” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand so shortened?
Or have You not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and
YOU tell me to WAIT?
I’m needing a ’yes’, A go-ahead sign,
Or even a ’no’ to which I can resign.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
“I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!”
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate.
As my Master replied once again,
“You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, and grumbled to God,
“So, I’m waiting… for what?”
He seemed, then, to kneel, And His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, And Cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want –
But you would never know Me.
You would not know the depth of My love for a Saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the Faint;
You’d not learn to see through the clouds of Despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m There;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could See.
You’d never experience that fullness of Love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a Dove;
You’d know that I give and I save… for a Start
But You’d not know the depth of the beat of My Heart.
The glow of My comfort late into the Night,
The faith that I give when you walk without Sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.
You’d never know should your pain quickly Flee,
What it means that ’My Grace is sufficient for Thee.’
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come True,
But, Oh the loss! If I lost what I’m doing in You!
So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
The greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly Late,
My most precious answer of all is still, ’Wait.”
As I’ve said in the past, you’re where you are for a reason:
God’s preparing you for something big, and I believe that goes for this Church.
James 4:8(NKJV) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Pray
