We met in a fellowship group the past week and prayed for breakthroughs in areas that needed hope restored and answers to prayer. Some prayers to The Lord have endured for a long time!
God can heal or provide solutions in a blink but at times we can go for long periods of time without seeing the answers to prayers. Some cases, we may not ever understand -at least, this side of heaven.
Still we are called to ask, seek, believe and never give up hope!
So I was on a woods trail this week and was MOTIVATED to call on God in prayer for those things we sought -to see His hand move.
We pray for relief and healing and we do not give up praying for the hard things we see and for relief of suffering of those we love.
Though we believe "all thing work for good" we are perplexed at times at circumstances and on how to pray and reconcile God's love for us and the reality we see.
A few of the people I spoke with this week needed cheering and heartening.
- Spouses who lost the love of their lives and it is so much harder than they ever thought -we encourage them--though words are hard to find. We reverently ask why Lord? Help !
- Sickness, and debilitating migraines in youth and do not understand -yet set our minds to pray to see healing and give wisdom.
- Accidents that lead to injury and loss of memory- we call out and look expectantly for restoration and recovery.
- Work relationships that require forgiveness and humility and trust to resolve.
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| Cape Otway Lighthouse around Melbourne Australia- Photo credit Matt and Cyndi |
"no affliction dims the luster of Thy Love"
In the wilderness or dry land He provides refreshing times.
"I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.
I am looking and waiting for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, I say, more than watchmen for the morning."
Psalm 130:5-6 (AMP)
An excerpt from
Evening October 31 (Charles Spurgeon)
"I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought."
Hosea 13:5
... but thou hast known my soul in adversities, for no affliction dims the luster of your love. Most gracious Lord, I magnify thee for all thy faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I deplore that I should at any time have forgotten thee and been exalted in heart, when I have owed all to thy gentleness and love. Have mercy upon thy servant in this thing!
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I keep a picture of the kids on a bookcase and recently caught a glimpse of it and thought- watching,waiting.
I got the picture down and looked on the back of the frame and I had forgotten that I had cut out words from a magazine about watching and waiting. For years we have had a Glimpse of watching and waiting in prayer and thankfulness! Not always easy things in life or does not always go as I planned but we trust.
My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning. Psalm 130:6 (The Message)
I can be impatient and many times delay can bring a struggle in my faith and I have to pray and recall the Bible verses that relay the truth I need in times of impatience, fear and shock.
So I need to Hope in the Word of God and stand against doubt and unbelief.
John Piper states in the sermon excerpt -
battling-the-unbelief-of-impatience
"I want you to see this relationship between the promises of God and the patience of the believer in Psalm 130:5. How does the psalmist battle against impatience in his heart?
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in his word I hope.
"Waiting for the Lord" is an Old Testament way of describing the opposite of impatience. Waiting for the Lord is the opposite of running ahead of the Lord and it's the opposite of bailing out on the Lord. It's staying at your appointed place while he says stay, or it's going at his appointed pace while he says go. It's not impetuous and it's not despairing.
Now how does the psalmist sustain his patience as he waits for the Lord to show him the next move? Verse 5 says, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and IN HIS WORD I HOPE." The strength that sustains you in patience is hope, and the source of hope is the Word of God. "In his word I hope!" And hope is just faith in the future tense. Hebrews says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for."
So what we have in Psalm 130:5 is a clear illustration that the way to battle impatience is to buttress your hope (or faith) in God, and the way to buttress your hope in God is to listen to his Word, especially his promises."
(http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/battling-the-unbelief-of-impatience)
So look up
"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." (Psalm 5:3 KJV)Keep watching and waiting...
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.Psalm 130:5 NIV
"Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8
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| Hurricane Ridge, WA |
