Answered Prayer

Read: Luke 1:23-25

In 2008, the Lord lead me to launch Into the Field. It has taken me around the world, including ten trips to China. As I go and serve, I have a particularly soft place in my heart for kids—millions of them longing for families of their own. I would pray for them, for their future families to come, knowing that they weren’t me.

Like Elizabeth, one of the deepest prayers of my heart was to be a mom, and I questioned if it would ever be my turn. I watched those around me having kids and more kids. Unlike Elizabeth, my dream of a husband has not yet been realized, so I figured the prospects of motherhood were approaching somewhere between slim and none.

But the Lord is faithful and good. His plans are so much better than anything we can imagine. In 2012, at the age of 41, I walked into a foster home in China to lead VBS. I picked up Olivia and knew something was different. He tapped me on my shoulder and…”In these days, he has shown his favor…” and I knew that instead of praying for her family, that I was her family.

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you have any unanswered prayers that have consistently poured out of your heart for years on end? Take a moment to pray again.

2. When was the last time you stood in awe of an answered prayer? Take a moment to thank the Lord.

PRAYER:

Thank You, Lord, for the perfect timing of answered prayers. Thank You that You sometimes answer in unexpected ways. Continue to grant us Your favor.

Jennifer Cameron

Love in Actions

Scripture Reading: 1 John 3: 11-18

“Let us not love with word or tongue, but in deed and truth (1 John 3:18).”

Some years ago, I moved to Minneapolis and in with a roommate whom I considered rigid and set in her ways (unaware of this before moving in).  Examples: She had a specific vacuum attachment she insisted must be used on the couch, when there were others that would work just as well (in my opinion!). Then there was the matter of her pots and pans – she wanted me to use Comet; I liked SOS. You get the picture – a real battle of wills. While we didn’t always argue verbally, we often had searing staring contests. This made a very uncomfortable living situation, and my attitude was anything but kind toward her. I prayed that God would help me love her, but nothing seemed to change.

Meanwhile, I was in a small group that began a study on Love. One point that was made, “Love is not merely a feeling, it’s an action,” led me to a decision to do a loving thing for her, even though I didn’t feel like it. We were in the midst of a typical Minnesota winter (snow, snow, snow! and cold, cold cold!), when each morning after a snowfall, I began clearing the snow from her car as I did my own while my car engine was warming for work.

God was teaching me about His love by showing me He loved me in order to solidify His words of love:

“But God shows [demonstrates] His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”

“This is how we know what love is: Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16).”

Because I know God’s love by His actions, I ought to show love to others (including those I have a difficult time liking). When I was being obedient to what God was saying to me, a strange but wonderful thing began happening:  The prayer regarding loving my roommate was being answered. My heart softened toward her, and I grew in ability to give grace to her.  I actually started to like her, and she knew it, not only because I cleaned off her car, but by virtue of the fact that I stopped my part in the staring match. Doing love helped me love in truth.

Thank you, Lord, that you answer prayer in strange and wonderful ways. Sometimes You ask me to do an act of obedience to set Your answer in motion. Keep me watchful for loving acts that I may do on your behalf. Amen.

Pray Through Opposition

Last Saturday was my son’s 11th birthday. Every year I look back at each year we have had with Evan and marvel at how amazing God is. You see, we almost didn’t become Evan’s parents. We were in the process of adopting him and received some terrifying news. It was the kind of news that makes you start seeing life happen in slow motion. Shocked from the horrifying information, Steve and I were driven to our knees.

As we prayed we begged God for answers. Pouring out our hearts to him we knew that only he could save us from what may lie ahead. And only as God can do he answered our prayers, and before we knew it we were in a court room filled with friends and family making Evan our son for real and forever!

Our scripture passage today shows Nehemiah in a desperate situation. Finding opposition all around as he and the Jews were rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah knew that the only solution to his problem would be found in prayer. Nehemiah constantly went to God while fulfilling the call He placed on Nehemiah's heart. Time and again we read about Nehemiah seeking God’s protection, guidance, and deliverance from his enemies.

That is exactly where God wants us, but not just in the hard times. He does not tire of our prayers. Just as I never tire of Evan coming to me for help, God wants us to seek him out. He is ready to do the impossible in our lives.

Read today passage here, Nehemiah 4:1-9

The Why of Answered Prayer.

As we read the text for today, we begin to examine just what it is that we each want, really want from God. We recognize that we can go to Him and ask for the desires of our hearts.  In the reading yesterday Bartimaeus didn't ask for anything holy and righteous, no, he asked for something very personal.  He asked Jesus, the Son of David, (as he referred to Jesus) to be able to see. And God granted that request.

This week we are to wrestling with the question, why?  Why do we want what we are asking for? Bartimaeus wanted to see so that his life could change, so he could be 'normal' and live as others did.

What is it we want to do once we receive that something we want.  Most preachers asked the question of each of us in the pews, "What do you want, really?"  Knowing your own response, how do you answer the "why" question.

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us. that we should be called children of God."

(1 John 3:1)

This is something to think about this week as you move through the texts leading up to Sunday's sermon.  You can access these daily readings here. Let's take this trip together and discover what it is we want to do with God's generous blessings on our lives; with the prayer request he is waiting to fulfill has already done so.

1 John 2:28-3:3

Asked and Answered

Psalm 92:1-2 (MSG)
A Sabbath song What a beautiful thing, GOD, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to you, the High God! To announce your love each daybreak, sing your faithful presence all through the night,

How often we ask God for help; we beg for Him to get us out of sticky situations.  This Psalm makes me pause and consider how often I neglect to stop and say thank you.  I know that my prayers are answered before I finished praying them.  Shouldn't my petition also include thanksgiving?

Psalm 92:4-5 (MSG)
You made me so happy, GOD. I saw your work and I shouted for joy. How magnificent your work, GOD! How profound your thoughts!

When I have the joy of experiencing answered prayer and recognize it as such, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.  I want to tell the world how my God loves and cares for me. Not because He answered my prayer, but that He heard it; He took the time to listen to me.  Amazing.

Psalm 92:15 (NIV)
"The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him." 

Thank you God for my life, for each breath I take.  Thank you for listening to my cries for help and my pleas for forgiveness.  Amen



Psalm 92

Prayer is Waiting

Psalm 134:1-3 (NIV)

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

We spend much of our life waiting...

We wait for traffic, we wait in line at the movies for our tickets, we wait for vacation to begin then we wait for it it end.  Waiting is so much a part of daily living and there are even waiting rooms set up where we can officially wait; for the doctor, dentist, or diagnosis.  We wait for someone to make the first move, we wait for our meal to be prepared and served.  On and on this list goes.

There are seasons in life where waiting is more prevalent than others.  Students wait to hear test results, athletes wait to learn if they made the team.  People who live on fixed incomes often wait for payday to roll around.

We also find ourselves waiting upon the Lord.  We pray, laying our petitions out in front of God, and we wait.  His timing is perfect...and we wait.  We pray and we wait.  Just what do we wait for?  Is it ever time to stop waiting?  I don't know the answer to this question, do you?

What do you do while you are waiting for God to answer a prayer?  Praise the LORD, some would say to praise and pray as if...as if your prayer has been answered.  Knowing that God always answers our pleas, do we move forward assuming God has paved the way?

Waiting is trusting...the line will get shorter, the results will be delivered, our name will be called.  Yes, waiting for our prayers to be answered is Trusting God.

Psalm 133, 134, 135