Have you ever prayed a prayer and didn’t hear an answer? If so, please read on. You are in good company. Abraham told God he wanted a son. God answered him and told him to look up at the stars. Then, he said, “That’s how many descendants you will have.” Abraham waited.
If Abraham had based his answer to the question, “Does God answer prayer?” on when he first saw his son and held him in his arms, he would have said, “No for a very long time.” You see, Abraham waited to see the answer to his prayer for twenty-five years!
For twenty-five years Abraham would’ve felt that God hadn’t heard him. But, that’s not what happened. You see, Abraham believed God for the answer to that prayer. Because he believed him, he was able to walk in faith with the Lord for those twenty-five years. When Isaac, his son, finally arrived, it was time to Praise the Lord for the fulfillment of the answer.
Daniel only had to wait three weeks. Yet, when the angel came he told Daniel that his prayer had been answered the moment he prayed it! The enemy held up the answer by three weeks. If Daniel had believed that God had not answered his prayer, he might have felt alone during that time. Daniel believed God. His faith in the Lord was strengthened during that three weeks that he waited.
John writes in the Gospels of the day Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 In John 14:13 Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Wow!
Faith is defined as complete trust; a firm belief when there is no proof.
The life of an intercessor is one that requires great faith. We truly must ‘live by faith and not by sight’. 2 Cor 5:7 But, here’s the good news. God makes this easier than one might think. Over and over I get to hear of the answers to prayers. I am blessed to witness the answer to prayers. Some of these are answered immediately. (Yes, that does really happen!) But, many are prayed and then we wait. In some cases, I may have prayed many times for the answer to that prayer. For some prayers, I am still waiting on the answer.
I know God answers prayer. I walk in faith and continue to pray knowing that it might take three weeks or even twenty-five years, but the answer will come. The answers to these prayers may look quite different than I imagined. The answers may bring about more blessings than I could’ve imagined.
We all make a choice. We either believe what Jesus said and walk by faith and not by sight or we doubt and spend way too much time worrying that the answer won’t come. It will come, friend. It will come in God’s way and in his timing. We have free will to believe. We do not have free will to attempt to control or bully God into doing what we want, just how we want it and when we want it. This is good! If we did, we would miss out on so many blessings. So, I urge you to join me and many other intercessors as we walk in faith, trusting God for the answers to prayer that we do not yet see.
By Jacqui - One of God's Intercessors
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