Prayer

I've been reading different blogs and a lot of people ask for prayer.

I get the impression that most people think God only answers prayers the way we want them to be answered. In many cases, God does just that.

But not always. If God chooses a different answer than the one we're looking for, we consider it an unanswered prayer. Nothing can be further from the truth! God ALWAYS answers our prayers. God is not on our time schedule. Just because our answer doesn't come in our time, we think He's not answering. See, everything is done in God's due season. That's what the Bible says.

I think of the story of Joseph starting in Genesis 37. God gave Joseph the ability to interpret dreams. Joseph was hated by all of his brothers. They hated him so much so that they wanted to kill him. They decided instead of killing him, they would sell him to a company of Ishmeelites and make a profit from the sale. Joseph was carried away captive into Egypt. I can only imagine the prayers Joseph was praying during all of this. Once he was in Egypt, he was sold to a man named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.

"And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured." Genesis 39:2-6

God was still with Joseph even though his brothers meant him harm.

Later on, Potiphar's wife tries to seduce Joseph. Joseph refuses and she concocts a story against Joseph. He ends up in prison because of it.

But the Lord was still with him. "But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper." Genesis 39:21-23

Soon after that, Pharaoh's butler and baker are thrown into the prison in the same area Joseph was. Both the butler and baker dream dreams that they don't understand. God uses Joseph to interpret both man's dreams. The baker would die and the butler would be restored to his position in Pharaoh's house. Joseph says to the butler in Genesis 40:14-15, "But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." The butler forgets about Joseph for 2 years.

Pharaoh dreams a dream that cannot be interpreted by anyone. The butler then remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh. Joseph is brought before Pharaoh and he interprets the dream. Pharaoh ends up making Joseph his #1 man.

I know this is long. But my point is this. God is not on our time schedule. Think of how many prayers Joseph lifted up to the Lord for those 2 years while he was in prison. I wonder if Joseph thought God had forsaken him. God didn't and still doesn't forsake us today. Joseph's brothers meant to do him harm by selling him to the Ishmeelites. But God allowed it to bring about His will. God heard Joseph and I believe He heard every single one of his prayers. God answered Joseph in His 'due season.'

I got a phone call the other day from a very good friend. She's been gloriously saved for 27 years. For all of those 27 years she has prayed for the salvation of her mother. This past Saturday, her mother was wonderfully saved by the blood of Jesus Christ! Now, don't get me wrong. I don't believe God wants ANYBODY to wait 27 years to get saved, but that IS an answered prayer! God wants everybody to be saved right now! We must not give up.

God used Joseph to save his family from the drought. They left Canaan and journeyed into Egypt in search of food. Joseph was reunited with his family and they were saved from starving but the reunion happened many years after Joseph was sold to the company of Ishmeelites.

My husband and I have been wondering why God had given us a 'no' answer to one of our prayers. We had concluded we might never know the answer. However, just the other day, God showed us the reason He said 'no.' He was protecting us from something that would have been very damaging.

My husband and I prayed for 4 years for our second child (there are 6 1/2 years between our first and second child). We couldn't understand why God was not allowing our family to grow at that time. However, God has shown us the answer and everything was meant for our good and His will for our lives.

Every answer we get, whether it's the one we want or not, is "God answered." Every trial we find ourselves in, whether we've caused it or not, is "Father filtered." God means everything for our good. Every trial is designed so that we might grow in our spiritual walk with God and at the end of the trial, God uses us to help someone else that's going through the same or very similiar trial. Don't give up on God. Keep praying! He's listening to each and every prayer and He will answer at just the right time in just the right way!