18 July 2011

The Problem of Answered Prayer

Happy Monday!

Well, it is Monday for many of my readers. Some of my international friends might be on Tuesday already. No matter – whatever day of the week it is where you are living, this word will meet you right where you are at. The subject? The problem of answered prayer.

Now, most people would not consider answered prayers a problem. In fact, if I were a betting woman [and I am not], I would consider it a safe wager to guess that many people are wishing more of their prayers would be answered. However, you might want to pause before praying one more prayer! You see, in the twenty-five years that I have been following the LORD, I have come to learn that He says ‘Yes!’ far more frequently than any of us realize … we just do not always recognize it.

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WE PRAY: Dear Lord, I want you to make me more like Jesus.
GOD RESPONDS: Yes!  
PROBLEM:
  • My friends have deserted me.
  • I feel like I am dying.
PERSPECTIVE:
  • ‘Then they all forsook Him [Jesus] and fled.’ Mark 14:30
  • ‘And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’” Having said this, He breathed His last.’ Luke 23:46
NOTE: To be like Jesus is to share in the sufferings that He endured while on this earth. Do you really want to be like Jesus? Are you ready for His walk?

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WE PRAY: Father God, I just want Your will to be done in my life.
GOD RESPONDS: Approved! Approved! Approved!  
PROBLEM: Everything seems to be going wrong. The enemy keeps attacking.
PERSPECTIVE: ‘But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in His hands.’ Isaiah 53:10
NOTE: The good LORD takes no pleasure in your suffering. He does, however, take great pleasure in His good plans becoming manifest in the earth … and if they can come only through the suffering of His faithful, He will permit it to be so in order to draw all men unto Himself.

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WE PRAY: Dear LORD, I truly want to lead Your people into the plans and purposes You have for them.
GOD RESPONDS: Absolutely!
PROBLEM: These people are driving me crazy! I don’t think this is what I asked for.
PERSPECTIVE: ‘And everyone in distress or in debt or discontented gathered to him [David], and he became a commander over them. And there were with him about 400 men.’ I Samuel 2:22 AMP
NOTE: Despise not the day of small beginnings. God loves to take what should be a losing team by all human reasoning and turn them into a band of mighty men. He is glorified in using the most unlikely vessels.

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WE PRAY: God I want to hear You speak to me.
GOD RESPONDS: OK!
PROBLEM: I got a prophetic word from You and now everything is going wrong.
PERSPECTIVE: ‘And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him [Jesus], and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.’ Luke 3:21-22 ‘Then Jesus[after the words of affirmation from the Father], returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…’ Luke 4:1-2
NOTE: Sometimes, challenging times will come, following His words of affirmation, at His direction, as part of His plan and purpose for your life.

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I could go on... However, for the sake of time and space, I will stop here. There are so many circumstances which cause us to become disillusioned and frustrated. However, upon closer inspection, we find that the challenge is simply 'the process of yes'.
     Understand, dear friend, that God's 'Yes!'often looks completely different than what you envisioned or expected. Yet, it is an affirmative answer to something we earnestly prayed for and part of God's very best for our lives. This is the problem, and the privilege, of answered prayer! 

Be careful what you wish for … ‘cause you just might get it all!

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