Waiting on the Lord

Even when I pray and fast, I must be reminded that my timing for the hoped-for answer to those prayers is not always the same as the Lord's. In the meantime, I must remain on course, placing my faith in God that he hears my prayers. If I pray with confidence that the Lord hears those prayers, then I should be able to proceed about my business (the Lord's business) with confidence that they will be answered according to His will. These answers may even come without my knowledge at some point in the distant future.

The Bible is full of promises that the Lord hears and answers our prayers. Two of those instances are particularly encouraging to me. They are:

Phillipians 1:3-6 "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

and

Romans 8:26-27 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

Let me try an analogy for this... a runner will train for a marathon for months at a time before the actual event. They don't run once and then expect they are ready for the marathon... they run and train through a well-planned routine that will prepare for them for success in the marathon. And even as they run the marathon, they must persevere and continue running until they cross the finish line. This is similar to the "waiting" that I am writing about here. Even as we wait on the Lord to answer prayers, we should continue with the training... through prayer and fasting, and living out our day, completing the tasks that the Lord has given us (family, job, school, etc.) to the best of our abilities even as we wait for those answered prayers.

Stay strong... keep praying...

-Andy G.