Matthew 6:8 tells us that God knows our needs before we even pray but He still tells us to pray. The Bible also tells us in 1 John 5:14,15 that if we pray according to God’s will, He hears us and answers us (see also Prov 15:29). However, when we have been
praying and believing God for something for months and even years with no physical manifestation, we could be tempted to get discouraged. The devil may be whispering in your ear that it is not working, but Jesus tells us in in Luke 18:1 (AMP) “to pray and not give up and lose heart.” He goes on to tell the story of the desperate widow and the unjust judge who finally gave her justice. Jesus, however is NOT unjust, He is just and not only that but the unjust judge responded out of aggravation, whereas Jesus responds to us in love. As Luke 18:7 says, “will not (our just) God defend and avenge His elect (His chosen ones) who cry out to Him day and night?” (AMP).
I encourage you to keep praying, no matter how long it is taking for the answer to manifest (see also Matt 7:7 and 1 Thess 5:17), but pray in faith. Mark tells us that, “whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mk 11:24; ESV). So, believe you have the answer when you first pray (not when you can see it physically) and keep thanking God for the victory. Don’t let the devil discourage you with his lies, keep speaking the promises in God’s word that your prayer is based on in faith!
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they mat have life and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10; NKJV). The thief is satan, whose primary interest is to rob everyone of all God has for them; the fulfilled life here on earth and eternal life after death. Satan will tempt us to sin and use circumstances, situations and the hostile opposition of people to distract us from God’s direction for us. However, don’t get depressed, Jesus through His death and resurrection defeated satan and all his demonic forces. “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:15; NKJV, see also Heb 2:14-15). Jesus delivered us from satan’s rule and influence and gave us authority over him (Col 1:13; Luke 10:19). We have been made part of Jesus’ kingdom (Col 1:13), we are God’s children (1 John 3:2) and are greatly loved (Rom 5:8). Satan will still try and disrupt our walk with God but will only succeed if we allow him to. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Notice it says, “like a roaring lion”; remember he is defeated and you are victorious over him as a child of God. In the epistle of James, we are told to resist satan and he will flee from us (James 4:7). How do we do that? Well, satan tempted Jesus three times before He began His ministry on earth (Matt 4:1-11). At each temptation Jesus replied with God’s word and would not sin, so satan departed from Him. (see also Eph 6:11-18). Walk in God’s victory today!
“You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected” (Matt 24:44; NLT). Jesus gave this exhortation after talking to His disciples about the end times. What did He want them to be ready for? The second coming of Jesus. Mark chapter 13 also deals with the end times and ends with the following
words of Jesus, “And what I say to you, I say to all: watch!” (Mark 13:37; NKJV). (See also the parable of the 10 virgins in Matt 25:1-13). Paul confirms this in 1 Thess 5:2, when he says that the return of Jesus will be unexpected, “like a thief in the night.”
From these passages we learn that we must be ready and prepared for the second coming. We should be thinking about it and be joyfully expectant, constantly reminding ourselves that it could happen any day. We don’t know when exactly because only God the Father knows that (Matt 24:36) but we do know that it will happen “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor 15:52; AMP). Peter cautions us that as we wait for the return of Jesus, we should be doing our best to live lives that are above reproach (2 Peter 3:14).
The hope of eternity with Jesus should motivate us all our days because the book of Revelation tells us a little bit of what we have to look forward to. We will see God face to face, (Rev 22:4), we will drink from the fountain of living water (Rev 21:6b), there will be no more sin, sickness, death, sorrow, crying or pain (Rev 21:3-4) and we will reign with God forever! (Rev 22:5). Now that’s something to shout about!
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jer 29:11; NIV). God’s greatest desire for each of us is that we would discover His plans for us, because in
those plans, we will find fulfillment and serve God mightily. Our job is to get to know God and to walk in His ways, this opens God’s hands to be able to reveal His plans for us, bless us and use us (Matt 6:33).
King David wrote that God delights in the man whose steps are directed by God (Ps 37:23). So often we try to help God and, in our minds, we come up with all sorts of plans and things God would surely want for us, then we ask Him to bless them! In Isaiah 55:8-9, the Lord tells us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts” and He goes on to say that His thoughts for us are way higher than ours.
I love Prov 16:3 in the Amplified Bible, “Roll your works upon the Lord (commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and) so shall your plans be established and succeed.” In other words, if we prayerfully give God our plans and aspirations, He will bring our thoughts into line with His and we will experience success and fulfilment. As we spend time in God’s word and prayer, growing in our relationship with Him, we will learn to discern His directions and our thoughts will be elevated to His thoughts, His plans will become our plans. Hallelujah, I want that, how about you?
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my lips” (Ps 141:3-4; NKJV). The Bible has so much to say about our speech, it is no wonder that King David, in the verse above, is asking God to help him in this area. The book of Proverbs is replete with wisdom on this subject; for example, kind words deflect anger (Prov 15:1), they are sweet and bring health (Prov 16:24) and wise words are more valuable than riches (Prov 3:14). In Ecclesiastes we are
admonished to think before we speak (Eccles 5:2a) and again in Proverbs warned that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov 18:21; NKJV) Wow, our words are very powerful!
Jesus also had something to say on this subject. He said that what we speak is a reflection of what is in our heart and He added that on judgment day we will have to explain all of our negative words, and our words will either acquit us or condemn us (Matt 12:33-37). The apostle Paul added to this admonition in Ephesians 4:29 (NLT), “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”
James the brother of Jesus, dedicated 12 verses on how to control the tongue in his epistle (James 3:1-12). In verse 2 of that passage, he says that if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and of course none of us are perfect because we are human. However, the Holy Spirit can help us in our endeavour to “guard our mouths” (Prov 13:3.) It is a lifelong process but the more we allow the Holy Spirit and the word to influence our lives, the more progress we make.