Author: ObtainingMercy

 

"Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayers as is the fulfillment when it comes." ~Streams in the Desert

 

"Daniel had fasted and prayed twenty-one days, and had a very hard time in prayer.  As far as we read the narrative, it was not because Daniel was not a good man, nor because his prayer was not right, but it was because of a special attack of Satan." Streams in the Desert

 

Daniel 10:12-13a "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days…"

 

Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

 

"The Lord will go through with His covenant engagements.  Whatever He takes in hand He will accomplish, hence past mercies are guarantees for the future and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto Him." ~ C. H. Spurgeon

 

Psalm 37:5 "Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

 

Have you prayed and prayed, and still no answer has come?

Are you tired from the waiting?

Do not give up hope, my friend!

Your answer is on its way, and God will keep His promises to you.

Continue on in prayer with the firm belief that all will be well.

In His perfect time, your answer will appear.

 

Psalm 77:6 "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search."

 

"Indeed it is extremely doubtful if a soul can really know the love of God in its richness and in its comforting, satisfying completeness until the skies are black and lowering." ~Malcolm J. McLeod

 

The Jews, historically, have considered the night to be the beginning of the day – rather than the end of the day.

In Genesis, by God's description, we see that the morning follows the night:

 

Genesis 1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

 

Our night must preceed our day.

 

"Light comes out of darkness, morning out of the womb of the night." ~Malcolm J. McLeod

 

Are you in darkness?

Is the night surrounding you?

Does it feel that the daylight will never come?

Have faith, my friend!

You are learning of God in that darkness.  It is the beginning of your new day, even though the sun is dark and the moon is only a reflection of its brightness.

This is your "cool of the day" when God will come to walk with you in the garden of your heart. (Genesis 3:8)

From this darkness, you will gain the strength to live when the sun rises in its heat during the day.

Do not wish the darkness away. 

Bask in the quietness and commune with your God. 

He will give you a song in the middle of the night that will sustain you in the coming light of day.

 

"The pressure of hard places makes us value life…" ~ A. B. Simson

 

II Corinthians 1:8-10 "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us"

 

"…Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man. 

The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with them…

The man or woman who has suffered much…is very tender and gentle and know what suffering really means…Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward…" ~ A. B. Simpson

 

"Pressed into knowing no helper by God;

Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.

Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;

Pressed into faith for impossible things."

~Streams in the Desert

 

We can celebrate LIFE today because we faced DEATH's dark valley yesterday.

Let us not despair.  We know the God that "doth deliver" and we believe that He will "yet deliver us" again!

 

 

This conversation happened in my head this morning.  (I hope this glimpse into my squirrelly thought processes is no too scary this early in the morning!!!)

 

"Oh, is my prayer ever going to be answered?!!

"I just have so many doubts!

"NO!  I won't doubt!  I'll just believe that it IS going to happen!

"Ah…but I have so little faith!

"I NEED more faith?"

"How can I get more faith?

"Does God just give me more faith?

"No…wait!

"'Faith cometh by hearing…'  Yeah!  I remember now!!!  And 'hearing by the Word of God', right?

"I'd better look that up."

 

So, I did look it up and this is what I found:

Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

 

Then I wondered, "What exactly does it mean by hearing?"

 

I looked that up too, and this is what I found:

HE'ARING, ppr. Perceiving by the ear, as sound.

1. Listening to; attending to; obeying; observing what is commanded.

 

Wow! So let me see if I've got this right:

I need a prayer answered.

I need faith to trust God to work out my need.

I get faith from hearing.

Hearing is listening, attending, obeying and observing what I have been commanded.

And what I have been commanded comes from the Word of God.

 

So, if I feel that my prayer is never going to be answered…

• Do I spend more time on my knees begging God for that answer? 
  
• Do I work and work and work to get the answer? 
  
• Do I find a ministry and serve laboriously, hoping God will deem me worth of an answer?

 

No.

I go to the Word of God and I listen to It.  I pay attention to It.  I obey It.  I keep the commandments in It.

Now, granted, as I read in the Word, I may find the instructions to spend more time in prayer, or to labor diligently in my church or community. 

But those actions are the results of my "hearing", not the method of obtaining my answers to my prayers.

 

Are you floundering in a sea of doubt this morning?  Are you waiting for answers that are just not coming?

At the risk of sounding redundant, Go To The Word!

Read it.  Learn from it.  Obey it. 

As you do this, you will find your faith growing by leaps and bounds, and you'll wonder how you ever doubted that God would meet your every need!