From Prayer to Praise

We all wish that making a prayer request is like making a call and expecting someone to pick up the phone right away. That's not how it works though, God is listening to the message but we still have to wait on the answer. I had to learn this from a very young age because I understood the aspect of prayer but I had no patience to wait for the answer. When I was little my sister and I made the same prayer request every single day, without fail yet we still weren't getting an answer. Through that time however, we never lost faith that God would answer us. Two years later we got the answer that we had been looking for.

Why is it that when I was little it was so easy to trust God and wait on His timing, and now I want to rush God's timing and I get upset when He doesn't give me the answer exactly when I want it? We need to get back to that innocent faith, and a solid faith in the fact that God will answer our prayers.

Sometimes I wonder if things could get any worse, and then they do. I wonder what I am doing wrong in my prayer life. Once I ponder that for a while I cry out to God and ask Him why He's not listening to me, and whats taking Him so long. My thoughts always wander to the question "am I being punished?". There is a lot of pain that goes along with some situations and it feels like God isn't hearing you, but He is. Over the summer there was a family issue that arose suddenly, and we were devastated. I felt like everything was slipping through my hands and I couldn't catch it. The ONLY thing I could do, and needed to do was pray, and pray with a faith that God has a plan and we are waiting to see where He led us. I didn't even know how to form the words to make a prayer, or what it was exactly that I needed to pray for.

I found, yet again, instructions in The Word that gave me peace over the lack of words that I could express. "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God." Romans 8:26-27.

It has been about two months since we began praying over the situation. We have had a large group of people praying for God will to be done, and guidance for my family. No matter what I was feeling I couldn't stop praying and waiting for the day that my prayers would be answered. Today is the day that the Lord has answered this prayer. It was answered in a way that was not of our control but of God's. We waited on His timing and we have been given peace. So the only challenge I have for you today is to not give up on God. Pray without stopping, and pray with the faith that God will answer your request. I have proof that prayer changes things, and God will answer.