December 13, 2010
Delayed
I try to be patient waiting for the Lord to respond to a prayer need, but there are times I’d like to put a footnote on a prayer saying, ‘Please respond within 48 hours’. I know God hears and answers prayer, but it never occurred to me that His answer to a prayer might be hindered by a force of evil. Daniel 10:1-14 records that God heard Daniel from the moment he began to pray and an angel was dispatched. However the angel was detained for 21 days by a mighty demon. It was only with the help of Michael the archangel that the angel sent to Daniel could resume his mission. I don’t know about you, but in this generation of instant everything, a possible 21 day delay is a little disconcerting.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Why do we seek God’s assistance through prayer? James offered the proposition that we do not receive when we ask because we ask to spend it on our own passions. (James 4:3) “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you,” he proposed. (4:10) Jesus laid the groundwork for this proposition when He said, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matt 6:31-33) And many Proverbs support this proposition, such as, “I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries,” (Prov 8:20-21), “A slothful man will not catch his prey, but the diligent man will get precious wealth,” (12:27), and “The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.” (22:4) These examples are not His Word’s establishment of a prosperity gospel, for wealth is not an end in the godly life, it is merely a possible aspect of it, “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be wise enough to desist.” (Prov 23:4) The point of such Scriptures is not that wealth and prosperity should be the enduring goal, but that the life of wisdom and understanding from the fear of the Lord and diligence and toil in humility before Him should always be your goal.
-----The moment Eve sunk her teeth into that forbidden fruit, man was destined to live in a physical world cut off from the physical presence of the Lord. The implications of His not being actually present in this physical situation are profound and many. The necessity of our survival did not cease when He withdrew His presence. The burden of it merely shifted to us. So also, we were not relieved of the necessity of participating in the affairs of His kingdom. It just became our responsibility to acknowledge and understand those affairs and to order them into our own lives. In both of these objectives mankind quickly and miserably failed. Because it became his nature to seek his own survival first, he lost mental sight of righteous concepts and carelessly plucked substitutes for God’s kingdom from his own imagination.
-----The Bible presents a history of God’s reintroduction to mankind of Himself, His kingdom, and the purposes for man’s collective life and individual lives. Although we have come to know God through Christ Jesus and live with His Spirit within each of us, just how accurately and fully do we know these purposes? How deeply insightful is any one of us regarding the interplay of the affairs of his own life with those of the kingdom of God? Considering the variety of suggestions amongst all the churches, either not very much, or somebody is deeply insightful, but we all just don’t know who it is, other than thinking it is ourselves. I certainly refrain from calling any of us evil, but I propose that we ourselves are the greatest force hindering the answers to our prayers. I believe the more our concept of His kingdom’s interplay in our own lives matches His concept, then the more our prayers are properly focused and quickly answered.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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