Sunday, September 7, 2008

Prayer never expires.

Ever felt like your prayers have gone unanswered. Perhaps you have been praying for something for a while yet feel you are no where near a solution than when you fist started.

Maybe you feel that this kind of attitude is disrespectfull. After all, the Bible clearly teaches that God answers prayer. What we do not know is the when. Maybe you have even prayed about something then forgotten about it. Leaving it in Gods hands.

You cling to verses like 1Th 5:17  “Pray without ceasing.”, and Jas 5:16  “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”, and Mt 21:22  “And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

But when you feel that you do not have an answer, does it mean that God is not interested, that He has forgotten. The answer is a unequivocal No. God, who transcends time, will not forget. Our prayers do not fall on deaf ears, they do not go unanswered. They do not expire.

The difference is that we need to understand that all things are done in Gods timing. His will is not ours. God answers prayer according to His sovereign will and plan.

The other thing that we cannot grasp is that God is everlasting. He is not bound by time or space. So it stands to reason that our prayers will never have an expiry date on it. Because there is not time, there can be no expiry.

We prayed for a baby for 8 years. Finally our prayer was answered. We were blessed with a baby girl. Did God forget. No, our baby cam at the appointed time. Remember Hannah, 1Sa 1:27  “For this child I prayed; and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him:”.

So be encouraged, if you have prayed for something many years ago, remember that prayer does not expire. God will answer that prayer. He know the right time to do so.

Isa 59:1 “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:”

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert.

Ek skryf sommer in Afrikaans. As jy dit nie verstaan nie, laat weet my dan doen ek dit oor in Engels. Dit is net vir my makliker in afrikaans.

Ek hou van wat ek hier lees. Sal weer terugkom hierna. Goeie inskrywing.

John Noble said...

Thanks Robert for that encouraging Word.

Robert Bravery said...

Thanks John, if it was an encouragement to you, then its an encouragement to me.

Riaan, ek skrik nie vir afrikaans nie. Miskien praat of skry ek nie gooie afrikaans nie, mar ek kan dit verstaan. Dit plaa my nie dat jy in afrikaans skry.

DeanneSite said...

This morning I thought of all the unanswered prayers and wondered if I had forgotten something in the 48 years I have been praying for my children and unsaved Husband. Surely in those years I managed to pray the right words at one point. I wondered if my prayers expired. I typed into google....do prayers expire...and your blog popped up. You wrote this in 2008 and it brings me insight and hope in 2014, truly our God is timeless. I am from Canada, now in Mexico and I wonder where you were when you wrote this - HIS message travels all over the world now....Surely He is coming soon.