It’s not over!

Have you ever been frustrated with praying about something for a long time, and feeling like you weren’t getting any answers or that the answers from God are vague? Have you ever gotten tired of hearing the answer, “wait,” instead  of a direct yes or no? Did you ever come to the point of giving up or deciding that it was too late for that prayer to be answered?
Have people discouraged you or given you worldly advice against your prayer requests?

Of course there are many times, when your prayers are out of God’s will, or not aligned with the word, that He Wil either give you a no, or change your heart’s desires to align with His plan-gradually, but surely. But there are some prayers for which we have no idea why the wait was so long and there haven’t been any responses. Like that degree you’ve been pursuing, that difficult situation at work, the dead end job which you need a change from, relationships or friendships that seem to be on the rocks, the marriage conflicts that seem like they cannot be fixed, the salvation of loved ones, or that health issue you’ve been struggling with. They are all prayers God has heard.

In church yesterday a pastor and his wife shared the testimony of all the trials and tribulations they had gone through for three years before finally adopting their young daughter. They mentioned in the testimony that even pastors were starting to discourage them saying that perhaps all the trials meant that it may not be God’s will. Surprisingly they were not moved by the negativity but continued to seek God regarding the matter through the storms, and 3 years later they just finally brought home their daughter.

As I listened God brought to mind the passage in Mark chapter 5, which I had read last week. There were two finality based situations presented in this passage. One is about the woman with the flow of blood, and the other is the death of Jairus’ daughter. The woman with the flow of blood, had had this condition for 12 years. She had prayed and gone to healers, spent her money on treatments and nothing had cured her. The frustrastion must have been unbearable and hope must have dwindled away after so long. But despite the length of the period of time she had suffered for, during which most of us would have given up, she dared to have faith. She reached out in the crowd and touched Jesus’ garment in hope of being healed, and immediately she was.

On the other hand, Jairus came asking Jesus to heal his dying 12 year old daughter. While Jesus turned to speak to the woman, one of Jairus’ servants came to tell them that the ill daughter had died and there would be no need to trouble Jesus. This was a dead end situation. It seemed like all hope was gone and nothing could be done, no one could fix it – not even God. But do we know how powerful our God is? Is there anything in the world that is too big for God?
Jesus went with Jairus anyway, saying that the girl was only sleeping. Of course like friends/family of yours and mine,  some ridiculed him because their carnal minds could not grasp that God can make the impossible happen. Jesus put everyone out of the room before waking up the girl.

Perhaps what you need to do is to hold onto your faith, and put the naysayers and unbelievers outside. Not everyone needs to know or hear what you pray for but everyone will be thrilled when your testimony is presented at the end. When life is brought back into that stale and dying relationship, when a promotion or new door opens in what seems like a dead end career,  when those loved ones have accepted Jesus, and even that impossible situation that you feel hopeless about, remember that God hears you. Although it may seem like it’s taking too long or that it’s too late, God is never late and nothing is impossible for Him. He shows up at the nick of time.

Read Mark 5: 21- 43