Saw parts of a book which i really want to share with all of u.
How many times have you prayed, knowing full well that you have put the matter before God in faith, resting upon His word.. and then nothing happens?
Before long, a rash of possible explanations or procedures tempt u:
-Doubt--"Maybe God hasn't heard me."
-Fear--"Maybe He has heard me, but doesn't want to do anything about it."
-Uncertainty--"Perhaps it isn't God's will(except I was so sure when I prayed)."
-Condemnation--"It's probably because I don't deserve an answer. I've failed often enough that I can't blame God for turning away from me occasionally."
-Haste--"i've waited long enough, I guess God just wants me to be the answer. I'll just barge into the situation on my own and do my best."
-Presumption--"The key is to demonstrate my faith, so I'll act like everything has changed and treat the situation as though it were accomplished."
But the Word of God has a great deal to say about "waiting"...
Jack Hayford
Moments with Majesty
Indeed... I myself has had experienced all the above options... but as we grow in Him... we have confidence that He will remove them all. and in the meanwhile.. He will also grow another virtue in us: patience.
PS. Thank you to Sally and Kolin who gave nice and long comments 2 the prev post. ^0^
will prob discuss it in my next post.. but yeh... sally, the reason i wrote this post, is that I already think there is something wrong in how i feel about them...^^
the ABCDs of unanswered prayers
Posted by
YN
Thursday, December 16, 2004
2 comments:
hey yining... (have been wondering for so long where i can put my first comment!) thanx for sharing this... i think so many of us will relate to those feelings in response to prayers; sometimes i even feel that, perhaps God's already GIVEN me an answer or showed me in some way already - except i'm too slow or not alert enough to realise (maybe due to my own expectations of how God should answer me); so many times i've jus left an 'unanswered prayer issue' in the bk of mind, not praying nemore abt it... n jus taking for granted He'll do smth abt it when he likes (SIGH!). thanx for the important reminder yn - patience. -_- we hav a long long way to go... :) take care.
yah, how true ;p i've definitely had those thoughts before too about prayer...
i know tho, i used to pray when i didn't really understand Christianity, and that's when i really questioned God... i fully thought i was praying the right things... but God used those times to teach me that prayer isn't meant to be a wishlist for the selfish... - i won't share much about what i prayed for... but i never acknowledged God's will...
i think i noticed a similar pattern lately, where my prayer style is deficient in many ways... i know that God knows my thoughts fully, but vocalising my prayer really helps me keep focus on the right things, and keep my heart on God... - i decide to return to the basics, of following the Lord's prayer template again ;p because i think i kept forgetting to acknowledge my own sin and ask for forgiveness... as a result, i was getting pretty full of myself... and things... so that's really helping to humble me again...
we experience lots of hardships in life... i really like what someone said (can't remember who) - "God witholds that we may ask" - because God wants to be in communication with us... so remember that we are to plead with God, and so long as our hearts are fully for Him, then He will answer - not necessarily in the manner we expect, but He will answer!!!
dave
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