“Even though you’ve been anointed on the way to your destiny, there will be times of testing, where you don’t see anything happening. Times where it doesn’t look like it’s ever going to change. That’s when you’ve got to stay in faith and keep believing” ~Joel Osteen~
I posted this quote on my 22
year old daughter’s Facebook page on Monday. I thought it would encourage her
in the many challenges she has faced her first year of teaching. But I wasn’t
able to stop thinking about it in the context of what it is saying if you are
older and it has been many years. What does that look like for some of us? What
has it looked like to me?
And sisters, this is how today’s
blog came to be!
The past couple of weeks
whenever I’ve had a conversation with my mentor and bible teacher, she has encouraged
me to join her in praying for the saints. I didn’t shrug her request off, but I
didn’t pick up her banner either, because the Holy Spirit has given me the task
to spend more time praying for the lost. And yet, when I read Joel Osteen’s
quote it helped me to better understand her request and the weight Jesus’ words
to Peter, hold. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift
all of you as wheat. 32 But I have
prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned
back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32 NIV)
Jesus saw the need to pray that Peter’s
faith not fail from the guilt he was going to experience for denying him. He had to step in and intercede
for him, or he wasn’t going to make it. But Christ also knew that when Peter’s
faith didn’t fail and he got his act together—he would leave behind a great
testimony that to this day is still helping us, “Fight the good fight of the faith!” (I Timothy 6:12a CJB)
Joel Osteen speaks about the times we don’t
see things changing. You’ve been praying for relief from pain in your body,
your finances, a bad marriage, the shenanigans of a teenager or a poor work
environment—and relief has yet to come. Your diligent prayers (for the past 5
years), for your husband’s salvation have gone unanswered. In fact, he seems to
be worse than ever. You have children who have denounced Jesus and openly
choose to practice sin—the 9 years of fasting and praying for them seems to be
of no avail. It looks as if satan has an even stronger hold on them.
Waiting on God, can chip away at ones faith.
And if we are not careful, it can also propel us into taking matters into our
own hands. So, what can we do about this?
For one—we must pray for one another. And
especially in the times we are being ushered into today. We are living in, “What is right is deemed as wrong. And what is wrong, is hailed as
right!”
But! We must also study the Bible. Because
if you have anything in your life you need faith to stand against, it will be
impossible to achieve based on someone else’s faith or what you’ve only been
told by others. That’s a foundation built on sand. Only a foundation built on
rock (Jesus is the Rock) can withstand the storms of life. Even in the natural
this is true. Build a house on sand versus rock and see what you will have left
after a violent storm. Rubble.
Knowing the God of the Bible (not the one we
have made up in our minds, or been told), is imperative if we are to stand to the
end. Our faith doesn’t stand a chance if we don’t keep feeding it.
Another stumbling block is the belief in “prayer warriors”. I have yet to see this
in the Bible—anywhere. It’s something man has come up with, because we have
such a hard time believing in the simplicity of God’s Word. If you are one who
is always calling on others to pray with you and for you—please question why?
Is it because you don’t believe God hears you? Is it because you think He hears
others better than He hears you? Or if
you get enough people to stand with you, He’s going to hear even better and be
moved?
Jesus prayed to the Father for Peter, all by
himself. The prophetess Anna spent years in the temple praying and fasting day
in and day out for the coming of our Lord, by herself.
Here’s a little story I want to share, which happened close to 20 years ago. One summer out of the blue, prostitutes started
sitting on the steps of my neighborhood high school, using it as a pickup spot.
When school reopened in the fall, I noticed
cars cruising by in the morning trying to pick up the young girls going to
school. And without fail the prostitutes would return every night.
I started walking around the school after
the last bell rang (an entire city block), praying out loud and taking
authority over that situation. (There is a much longer version to this story,
and especially how I finally got up the nerve and faith to get out there.) I
felt really foolish in the beginning, but by the end of it all—the prostitutes were
no longer out there and the cars stopped cruising and bothering the young girls.
There wasn’t a clean sweep by the police—it was the prayers of one.
This experience taught me how to better walk
in the authority that is given us, and removed any doubt I might have had about
God hearing my prayers. It made me bold.
There was only one person who knew what I
was doing (because the Lord used her to be the final push), you see I was
acting a lot like Moses. It was only years later I found out she was praying
for me every time I went out.
Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying
not to ask others to stand with you in prayer, or pray for you. It’s just that
we do it so frequently; I am admonishing you to check your motivation in
seeking the prayers of others. And remember there is not a special group (prayer
warriors) to do the job for us.
When a saint requests prayers of me, I often do not pray the way they have requested. If someone has been looking for
a job, I pray that God’s will be done and if this is not the job, that their
faith will not waver. People are rejected for employment every day.
Until I started writing this blog, I didn’t
realize how much I do pray for the saints that their faith not waver or fail. And as our Savior has shown us, there is a great need in the lives of Believers to
pray for one another’s faith stand.
Here’s a good example…if you know someone
who desires to be married and has been praying for a husband, don’t pray that
prayer with her—pray that her faith doesn’t fail and she take matters into her
own hands. Pray she stays strong in her faith in God, no matter what His answer
may be. God does not say, “Yes!” to every prayer. And it is when, “No,” or “Not
yet,” comes into play, we have a hard time. Same goes for one who wants to have a baby. Don't beg God with her, pray her faith not fail.
If you're feeling fainthearted because
you’ve been praying and it seems God has not moved—don’t give up! Call that
friend who will encourage you. If you feel like giving up, reach out to someone
to pray for you. But you don’t need 20 people, just one who knows you, loves
you and knows God.
With the New Year approaching many of us
will reflect on the past year and think about how we can make things better for
the upcoming year. I say, “Let us purpose to read and study our Bibles more.
Let us purpose to establish the best relationship we can with God.” Because my
dear sisters, there lies all your hope and strength to endure!
Continue to pray and believe. Amen!
I will see you next year! Merry Christmas and God bless!
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