Silent but Present 2

Joseph kept on using his God-given gift, he did not wait for Pharaoh's officers to come begging, he willingly used his gift of interpretation of dreams as an opportunity to point them to God and we should do that too- Read Genesis 40: 8.

To show that Joseph was just as human as you and I, he told the chief butler to "bring him out when it is well with him" Genesis 40: 14-15. Oftentimes, like Joseph, we forget that our help comes from God alone and that even though men may forget, like the chief butler forgot about Joseph, God never forgets, He always keeps His promises. 

God promises predates our problems

I'd like to share my testimony with you as the year draws to an end. I hope it encourages you. 

4 years ago, I blogged about having some unanswered prayers and how I believed that if we continue to pray, persevere and wait, someday we will look back and realize that the answers to our prayers came at the very right time because God always shows up on time (read it here "Unanswered prayers"). Today, I testify to the fact that God has answered those prayer requests of mine, in fact, He did exceedingly abundantly above all that I asked. 

As you know, I like to keep it real so I'm not going to make it sound like it was a walk in the park, it was far from that, in fact, there were days that I felt God had too much confidence in me for Him to trust me with such journey 😄 I cried, prayed, hoped, became restless and almost gave up hope but God kept me through it. 
From my experience, I can confidently tell you that if your promise is from God, He will surely fulfill it, so keep holding on to Him, after all, the Bible says that He always fulfills His promises of unfailing love to those who love Him and keep His commands (Daniel 9: 4).

Nothing but Faith and Hope

A lot of times in life, we have to take some risks and make tough decisions but the normal human reaction to change is resistance; we would rather have things the way we are used to, I mean, change can be very scary. The devil uses inertia to ruin a lot of projects, you don't want to know how many people die with their dreams simply because they didn't have courage enough to step out of their comfort zones and give it a trial. 

I came across a very nice motivational quote recently. It goes thus: "It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power." -Alan Cohen. I know you would agree with me that this quote is true. I have actually had moments when I didn't feel courageous and instead of facing my fears, I would make excuses and procastinate. With God's help, recently, I have become more courageous, I have learnt to procastinate less, focus my mind more on the things I want and less on the things I fear. By so doing, I have become a happier person.

Are you a permanent resident?

I bet we all know that permanent residents of countries that have such facility have almost, if not the same rights as citizens. But todays message is not about migrating to other countries, it is actually to tell you not to become a permanent resident, because it can be to your detriment.

Quite a number of Christians have become permanent residents in the "land of hope". We keep hoping things will get better, hoping to get a good job, hoping to get married, hoping to become an employer, hoping 'the mountain will be removed, hoping the Goliath of our lives will die, hoping the walls of Jericho will come crashing down someday. It's a good thing to be hopeful but is it not written in the Bible that "hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life"? Proverbs 13: 12. My Bible also tells me that He gave power to those who believe to become the sons of God John 1:12. As a son of your parents, when you were a child, you didn't just hope your parents would pay your school fees did you? Instead of just hoping, I believe, we got up in the mornings and got ready for school rest assured they already took care of the school fees. My question is, why do we find it difficult to put our faith to work when we ask our Heavenly Father for things? Why can't we simply exercise our authority as God's children?  

Unanswered prayers? I have some too.

First I have to apologise for going AWOL, I am truly sorry about that. I have been putting this together since Thursday though, but somehow, I didn't get to finish it.

So now, to our message for today; Have you ever felt like God is no longer interested in answering your prayers or has some more important things to deal with than your personal needs? Do you ever feel there’s no point praying because the prayers you said earlier had no effect whatsoever? Well, you are not alone on this, i've felt these ways too.

I woke up on Thursday mroning feeling so down, this was completely out of place as I had just one more day before my much talked about vacation began. Then I remembered how I was yet to receive answers to my prayer requests (the two I’ve had for over two years now), I immediately rebuked the devil but as we all know, the “opposer” doesn’t give up easily. As soon as i read one of my daily devotionals for the day, which was about how God gives good gifts to those who ask (Matthew 7: 11), I remembered how God was yet to give me these ‘good gifts’ I have been asking Him. Then I read my second devotional (I normally read two of them) and this was also reminding me that the Almighty God hears me when I pray.

That did it, I sat down and thought to myself, why has God not answered these my prayers?  My devotional time for that day was quite different from what I used to do, instead of kneeling down with my head bowed and eyes closed like I normally do, I sat down and talked to God like He was sitting right in front of me, I reminded Him how He told me to "call to Him, and He would answer me, and show me great and mighty things that I do not know" Jeremiah 33: 3, how He is my gold and precious silver, so why has He not answered my prayers? (Job 22: 25 - 28), how I try as best to obey His commands, so why does it seem His ears are not open to my prayers like 1 Peter 3: 12 says? How my parents have been serving Him even before I was born, so when will that verse that says "we are for signs and wonders" (Isaiah 8: 18) come true in our lives? How the Bible says I should ask and I will receive (Matthew 7: 7 -11, Luke 11: 9 - 13),  so why was I yet to receive those two things I have been asking for over two years now? Do not get me wrong, I have no doubts whatsoever that God answers prayers neither was I questioning Him, I was just having a one-on-one discussion with “my Father” and wanted to know why these prayers were not answered as I am convinced they are part of God’s plans for me.

As God would have it, He gave me answers to my questions before that day ended, during my blog round, I read about a man who was contemplating on taking his own life because he felt God doesn’t answer his prayers anymore, and I found myself sending a message of faith and encouragement to this person I have never met, one special thing about it though is that God used this opportunity to speak to me too, I got reassured (in trying to assure someone), that God is still in the business of answering prayers, and faith in Him also means faith in His timing. All I just have to do is “cast my cares upon Him and He will sustain me” Psalm 55: 22 knowing that "when He has tried me, I will come forth as gold". Job 23: 10.

While saying my prayers that night, I casted my mind back and counted my blessings, I rememebered how God always shows Himself strong for me, I remembered a song I learnt many years ago (Alleluyah anyhow, I’ll never let my trials get me down, whatever problems life may bring, i’ll hold my head up high singing Alleluyah anyhow). The fact that some Liberians who had just gone through the terrible experience of war taught my family this song made me thank God much more, I thanked Him because though, I don’t have answers to my two prayer requests yet, I have the assurance that He is greater than all my trials and I am certain that He cannot forget me. Infact, I am inscribed on the palms of the Almighty's hand and that is worth rejoicing over because that means I am continually before Him. Isaiah 49: 14 – 16. So by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving I will keep asking (Philippians 4:6) in His name till my joy is full (John 16:24) and I implore that you keep doing that too. Someday, we will look back and realise that the answers to our prayers came at the very right time, like I read sometime ago, God always shows up on time.

I leave you with these words from Stormie Omartian, one of my favorite authors. “Don’t give place to impatience, seeing answers to your prayers can take time, be patient to persevere and wait. Look to God as the source of all you want to happen and don’t worry about how it will happen. It’s your responsibility to pray, it’s God job to answer. Leave it in His hands” and wait on the Lord, don't lose heart but believe that you would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living (Psalm 27: 13 - 14)