I hope you have been encouraged in your prayer life as we’ve studied the Bible verses on prayer the last few days.
Prayer is not a “genie in a bottle” experience. It’s not even Amazon delivery. It’s better!
Prayer is bigger than that. It is bringing our needs and our heart’s desires to the Father and leaving them in His capable hands. It’s allowing God to move on our behalf; inserting His power into our circumstances.
Sometimes we are tempted to give up or take things into our own hands, trying to make them work out how we think they should. Standing and believing God requires determination and fortitude. Expectation of God’s working; anticipation of how it’s all going to come to pass.
It’s hard to wait but that’s where the excitement of anticipation comes in.
Look at Abraham, he and Sarah waited 25 years to see God’s promise come to pass.
“ The Holy Writings say, ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ This promise is good because of Who God is. He makes the dead live again. He speaks, and something is made out of nothing. 18 Abraham believed he would be the father of many nations. He had no reason to hope for this, but he had been told, ‘Your children will become many nations.’ 19 Abraham was about one hundred years old. His body was about dead, but his faith in God was not weak when he thought of his body. His faith was not weak when he thought of his wife Sarah being past the age of having children. 20 Abraham did not doubt God’s promise. His faith in God was strong, and he gave thanks to God. 21 He was sure God was able to do what He had promised.” Romans 4:17-21 NLV
I can just imagine the excitement that Sarah felt when she first learned that God had said Abraham would be a father, she would be a mother. She had been barren. Did she start making baby clothes, did she have diapers folded neatly and waiting in a hamper? The anticipation of what God was going to do had to be thrilling.
Years passed and there was no child. Sarah thought she would help God out. Maybe the Lord meant that Abraham would be a father but not that she would be a mother. She did the customary thing, she found a surrogate, her handmaid.
As we stand, waiting to see the answer to our prayers we need double dogged determination not to waiver in our faith and stay focused on God’s infallible word.
When the handmaid gave birth to a son Sarah became jealous and bitter. God protected the handmaiden and her son, forgave Sarah for her intervention in His plan and He reaffirmed His promise.
“Because Sarah had faith, she was able to have a child long after she was past the age to have children. She had faith to believe that God would do what He promised. 12 Abraham was too old to have children. But from this one man came a family with as many in it as the stars in the sky and as many as the sand by the sea.” Hebrews 11:11-12 NLV
A good lesson for us all. God’s plan is better than ours.
The verses above from Romans say that Abraham was strong in faith and gave thanks to God.
A heart filled with thanksgiving is a wonderful booster to our faith. We get up each morning and say “Thank you Lord, I am one day closer to seeing the answer to my prayer.” Personally, I remember two specific instances when Dave and I had to wait over eight years to see the final answer to our prayers. Thanking God for working kept us strong.
“So don’t lose the courage that you had in the past. Your courage will be rewarded richly. 36 You must be patient. After you have done what God wants, you will get what he promised you.” Hebrews 10:35-36 ERV
Anticipate. Expect. Just don’t quit!
