Unanswered Prayer?

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.  Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.  Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:11-13, AMP

There was a time when my husband and I were asking God to bless us with twins…okay…I know what some of you are thinking, but it was our hearts desire at that time. We diligently prayed for a double blessing, but our ultrasound made it clear that there was only one heartbeat within my womb. And although we were thankful for one healthy heartbeat, I will admit that for forty-eight hours, my husband and I moped around our home in disappointment due to what we considered “unanswered prayer.” Another time that comes to mind is with past boyfriends (a.k.a. “potential love interests”). I remember praying that a few of them would fall in love with me and choose me to be their wife – all the while – my prayers were lovingly answered with a “no” because God had good plans for my final outcome.

You see, my husband is the perfect one for me and the same is true concerning my daughter, although twins are a huge blessing, God knew what we could handle and once again we thank God for His way of answering our prayers.  God knew the desire of our heart to marry and have a family and He answered us with His plans for welfare and peace, to give us hope in our final outcome.

The scripture above tells us that God always hears our prayers and heeds each one. With some of our prayers requests He answers us with a “yes” (and boy do we love it when this happens!!), there are also times as in my examples above when God lovingly answers us with a “no” in order that our future outcome will be good, and other times He answers us with “wait.” Just recently I thought God answered “no” to a request of mine, only to find out a few months later that I needed to “wait” so that He could make a good situation even better!  Bottom, line, we can rest in that fact that God knows about our personal situation and He has good plans for our life.

How many times have we pouted and complained to God for not answering our prayers, when He was simply answering it His way out of His great love for us? God knows all things and He is the One who knows what we can handle. It comes down to knowing God’s will for our life and trusting that He has good plans for us. Our amazing God longs to bless us, heal us, restore us and prosper us.  We are promised in Isaiah 5:11 that when we pray God’s Word it will never return back void.

Prayer:

“Lord, thank you for always hearing my prayers.  I declare that You have good plans for me. Your plans are full of hope for my final outcome and I align myself up with Your Word today. I give you everything heavy on my heart and I ask that Your perfect will be done.  As I seek and inquire of You this day, I will rest in that fact that You gave your life to heal, restore and bless me.  I grab onto the Word of God and declare that it will not return back void, but will prosper in the thing for which You sent it (Isaiah 55:11).  Amen.”

Happiness versus Joy

“For His (God’s) anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime and in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5, Amplified

For years, I placed my hope in my circumstances. When things were going well, I would experience happiness, but when difficulties arose, I would give myself over to anxiety and discouragement. All the while, JOY was waiting for me.

At that time, I did not know the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is temporal, fleshly and dependent on “things” in the natural world how much money we have in our bank account, how many items of clothing we have in our closet, how we look, how well our children perform at school or how much acknowledgment we receive from our peers and the list goes on and on! Now, don’t get me wrong, all of these “things” can be wonderful and feel fabulous, but the happiness we receive from the things of this world are temporary, and can be taken away from us at any moment.

Joy on the other hand is stable, unmoving, and can stand solid in the most difficult of situations. While happiness is based on outward circumstances, joy is based upon our belief in God and the condition of our heart.

Nehemiah 8:10 states that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Another word for strength is endurance, which is the Greek word “hupomone.” “Hupo” literally means under and “mone” means to remain. Therefore, endurance can be defined as the capacity to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with a passive complacency, but with a hopeful (joyful) fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat!

Joy is supernatural, it gives us the strength we need to actively resists weariness and defeat.  Joy is always above what the world has to offer. You see, God’s joy is solely dependent on His Word and what He says about our situation. No matter what you are currently going through – you can experience joy as you wait expectantly for God to move on your behalf! I encourage you to take your eyes off of your situation and place them on the Solution – God. As you do this, God will fill you with His joy and you can rest assured that your victory is at hand.

Prayer:

“Lord, forgive me for allowing my circumstances to dictate how I feel. I ask for You to fill me with supernatural joy. I need endurance. I long to bear up under difficult circumstances with a hopeful fortitude. Help me to resist weariness and defeat and receive Your supernatural joy. I declare that as I fix my eyes on You, the Author and Finisher of my faith that you will perfect that which concerns me this day (Psalm 138:8). Amen.”

Copyright: This entire site © 2006-2009, Tracy Hurst

This Site is only for your personal use. You may not distribute, exchange, modify, sell or transmit anything you copy from this site, including but not limited to any text, images, audio and video, for any business, commercial or public purpose without permission