All In God’s Timing

“When Gods Delays Are a Blessing” – R. Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And therefore, will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you.” Isaiah 30:18

ENCOURAGING WORD:

Often times, we go to God in prayer and we expect our prayers to be heard and answered right away. But many times, the Lord will deliberately delay His response so that He may be more gracious to us. The problem with society today is that we all live in a “now world” where we want everything right away. Over the last few decades technology has expanded so quickly that we do get quick responses to our needs almost immediately. For example, we do not even need to get up from our couches to turn a channel on our television, a click of the button and we are there. We us to have to cook our meals if we wanted to eat, but now we just drive down to the nearest fast-food restaurant and order what we want and” bingo” there it is. When we are on the internet, we use to have to use a dial up system which sometimes took longer than we would like, but now we have satellites that bring up the internet in seconds. Even when, for some reason we have to wait a couple seconds longer than usual because of some interference, we get all bent out of shape because we have to wait a few extra seconds or even minutes. We can place orders on the internet, and they are at our doorstep the next moaning. We have become accustomed to getting everything we want right away. So, when we ask God for something, we expect an answer right away or we think that He does not hear us.

When Lazarus fell sick, his family sent for Jesus. Instead of coming immediately, Jesus waited. John 11:6; “So, when He (Jesus) heard that he (Lazarus) was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” He held back until Lazarus was dead. And then we read in John 11:15; “And I (Jesus) am glad for your (The Disciples) sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.” Jesus said, He was glad, because He had something greater in mind. We read John 11:43-44; “Now when He (Jesus) had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” It was a much greater thing to bring Lazarus back to life than to just heal Him in the first place. Because of His (Jesus) delay, He was able to show then a much bigger miracle which lead to a higher level of belief.

There may be many reasons why our prayer requests are delayed. We read in Daniel 10:12-13; “Then he (An Angel) said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.” The Angel that was sent to Daniel to bring him a message was held up by principalities of darkness. The “prince of the kingdom of Persia” is in reference to a demonic entity. In verse 2-3 in the same chapter, Daniel had this to say, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.” Daniel was in mourning for three weeks before He got an answer to his request.

These two Bible stories above are just a couple of examples of why our prayers may not be answered right away. Now we enter into the days in which we now live where a lot of people are asking a lot of questions. One big question that we hear that is permeating through our world is one that was prophesied thousands of years ago. We read in 2 Peter 3:4; “and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” The days in which we live are also fulfilling another prophecy of old which says, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,” The Apostle Paul is telling us that the second coming of Jesus Christ will not happen until the falling away from true biblical teaching comes first, and if you have been paying attention at all to the last few decades, you should have noticed that this has been happening at an alarming pace. The reason we are seeing all the lawlessness in America is because of our falling away from our Judicial Christian roots and have taken on a more fabricated version of God’s Word. God is not happy, and judgement is knocking at the door.

From the time that Adam and Eve fell from grace, God waited four thousand years to send the Lord Jesus Christ after He made the promise to do so. We read this in Galatians 4:4; “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, bornof a woman, born under the law,” He came in the fullness of time. Never late, never ahead of time, never in a hurry. God knows exactly what is in our future. He has a plan for each and every one of us. It is our choice whether we submit to His will or chose our own direction. If we submit to His will, we need to be patient and let God work out His precious plan for all those that submit their lives to Him. We may pray for something that we think we need, but God may have something much better for you than what you asked for. God loves you more than words can express; He will always take care of you. Here is a promise from God, Psalm 37:4; “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” We have to believe Gods Word. If we just pray and hope, our prayers will go unanswered. We read in Matthew 21:22; “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” You need to trust and obey for there is no other way! Here is a verse that may be a wakeup call to some, John 9:31; “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.”What is being said is this; we are all, of course sinners, but if you are saved by grace, then your sins are covered, and you are without sin. Also, if you are willfully living a sinful lifestyle, your prayers will go unheard and unanswered as well. You need total submission to the will of God, and like He said in Matthew 6:33; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” God’s Word is truth, so get your life right with God and let Him guide you through the remaining days ahead and know that you are saved. What a joy and comfort it is to be in the hands of the One who created you and has a plan for you that will go well beyond your wildest dreams.

So, if you are among those that have prayed and are waiting for an answer to your prayer, you need to ask yourself this question, “Am I born-again into the Holy Spirit, have I received and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior?” If your answer to these two questions is, “no, I haven’t,” then your prayers are being hindered. God hears from those that are His. So many people scoff at the term (born-again), but it is the Word of God that says in, John 3:3; “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” These are the Words right from the mouth of Jesus Christ. One more thing to keep in mind as you pray, we read in John 14:6; “Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We must pray to God in Jesus’ name because this is the only way God has approved for us to approach Him. So many prayers are not heard because they are not prayed in the name of Jesus Christ. We also read in James 4:3; when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” There are so many verses in the scriptures that explain why prayers are delayed or even worse, not heard at all. Here is another verse for you to ponder when reaching out to God in prayer, 1 Peter 3:12; “the eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” I could quote verse after verse from the scriptures that make this lesson very clear. If you want to search out some more scriptures, go to your browser and type in “why your prayers are not being answered” and it will bring up quite a few verses for you to read and understand.  

ACTION POINT:

Are you in a waiting game…praying days, weeks, months, even years, for something and God hasn’t answered? If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, be still and know that in the fullness of time, your request will be answered, but in His perfect timing. If we pray for certain blessings from God, we need to understand one thing that should be perfectly understood, if those blessings will bring glory to God, you will most likely see those blessings come to fruition, but in His timing. If they are just to bless you and are out of greed, you may get an answer, but it could very well be, “no” it is not something that you need at this time. God knows what is best for us and He will always give us what we need at a time when it will do the best. The last word of wisdom for today is this, “do not stop praying for a blessing, just because you haven’t seen it yet, does not mean it won’t happen, it may come at a time when you least expect it.” Stay active in your prayer life and keep Jesus Christ on the front line of everything that you do! Then you can be sure that all things are working out for the good for you as is promised in Romans 8:28; where we once again read, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” You can know for sure that God’s Word is true and faithful and will never return void. “Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!”

From our Chaplin—R. Fritz

When Gods Delay are a Blessing

Prayer is what changes the circumstances that are before you. If we are right with God, he will hear our prayer and answer them. God sees our heart and knows what we need. The problem is we think we need something when it is not a need but a want. 2Chronicles 7:14 says If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. We need to be humble, pray and seek him, turn from sin, then he will hear you. Seeking him is not necessarily a couple minute prayer. It means seriously praying for a long time asking the Lord to reveal more of him to you. Let me say this, when I seek him, I usually find him because I am serious about finding an answer and he knows it. Seeking is a serious look with God looking at your heart. The blessing comes when the Lord decides when and if you need it. There are issues that hinder our prayers. Disobedience is one of the sins of the flesh and Ephesians 2:2 says Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: This talks about the spirit of disobedience that comes from Satin. There was not any disobedience in the world until Satin thought he wanted to be God and disobeyed God. That is where we learned it from. There have been times I have not agreed with God and we had a conversation with God always winning. Trust and belief are what it takes to obey him. Other spirits such as fear come along helping you to disobey. Satin has an arsenal of spirits that he uses to get you to “not” trust in the Lord. Satin has his spirits and those that have the Holy Ghost indwelled in them have God’s Spirit. When we have the Holy Spirit and do something unpleasing to God, he convicts us meaning to convince us we have sinned or done something against him. He convicts us so we can repent or change our ways. It is not guilt, that is Satin’s tool to make you feel bad and accusing you of something. An example of conviction was in Acts 2:37-39 and says Now when they heard this, they were “pricked” in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Conviction came from the pricked heart and they knew that they were supposed to do something. They had to ask Peter what they needed to do. That was God commanding them to be baptized and the promise or gift for obeying was receiving the Holy Ghost indwelled in them. Not all the people obeyed and did not receive the Holy Ghost. That is always our choice. The thing that you learned was the disobedient spirit comes along from Satin. We listen to it thinking it is our thought, when actually it was Satin’s lie to you. Our secret weapon is the Holy Spirit, this is the only way to overcome the lies of the devil. The Holy Spirit comes upon people until we receive the Holy Ghost indwelled in us. Our God is a gentleman, and he does not decide to indwell in us without our permission and a cleansing process. Satin and his spirits do not ask and want a place to stay, we are like a Hotel to them. The problem is they never want to leave, and we do not know they are there. We have the authority to tell them to leave with the repenting of the sin. Most people do not know about spirits because it is not taught. I was taught about them by man, then the Holy Spirit told me that it would teach me because I started to know as much as my teacher. It was a hands-on teaching with people coming to a Bible study. I saw God do things that most people would not believe spiritually. We do not know sins sometimes turn into disease. I will talk about that at a different time.

The other spirit I want to talk about is a counterfeit spirit. It is a spirit Satin uses that looks and tries to copy what the Holy Spirit does. What most people do not know is that Satin knows God’s word. The problem is if we do not know God’s word, Satin will change or take words out of God’s word and we will believe God is speaking when Satin is speaking to us. My secret weapon was the Holy Spirit reminding me what the verse actually said. I would then tell Satin to shut up and leave. This counterfeit spirit or religious spirit has certain personality traits. 2Timothy 3:1-5,7-9 says This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. These are people who look, say, and believe they are saved and Born again and look like it to believers but it says studying but never able to come to the knowledge of what the truth is. They also use the word “grace” wrong to their advantage.

I am not here to scare anybody, but God shows me spirits that I wonder how we will ever make it to heaven. I also know that God is in control and earth is the testing place to see if we will choose and obey Jesus. I also know the arsenal of weapons (God’s word), prayer, and the Holy Spirit that at will, change a situation in seconds. Maybe you have not seen situations change, I have and until you do your part, you probably will not. The Holy Spirit changes situations if we obey it. The Lord said to me a couple of weeks ago, you can be a God pleaser or a man-pleaser. The Lord will say 1 of 2 things to you on judgment day in Matthew 7:23 and Jesus speaking “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” or he will say in Matthew 25:21 to you and this is Jesus speaking “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” My prayer is to let the Holy Spirit show everybody what spiritually they have been missing.