I believe in Holy Ghost timing. Our prayers will be answered, one way or another, in God’s own time. However, we are often afraid to submit our prayers to Holy Ghost scrutiny. Some of those prayers need to be purged because our faith can be misspent on requests that are not mature. We do not know how to pray “your will be done” (see Matthew 6:10). We don’t want his will as much as we want the things permitted by his will.
God gave our forefather Abraham the land of Canaan “as an everlasting possession…” (Genesis 17:8, NKJV). In Hebrew, the word everlasting means never-ending. You might think that Abraham had to rejoice over this. God promised his descendants a permanent homeland, as far as they could see, and it would last into eternity. However, the New Testament tells us the world will be destroyed by fire, burnt completely out of existence, after which the Lord will bring about a new heaven and earth.
Elijah, that great prophet, had become disheartened by the moral landslide his nation was experiencing and had fled from the threats of wicked Queen Jezebel. God found him hiding in a cave on Mount Horeb and asked, “Elijah, why are you hiding?”
With indignation, Elijah replied, “God, I've been jealous for your glory, but your people have forsaken your Word, and your ministers have been persecuted. I'm the only one left, and now they're out to get me too."
What is it going to take to get us out of our miserable lives of guilt and depression? Aren't you tired of living a life of fear and mental torture? Haven't you yet learned there is a better way? What will it take to make us see that a far more glorious life awaits us?
The apostle Paul says of God, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9, NKJV).
Every person who is ‘in Christ’ is called by the Lord. We all have the same mandate: to hear God’s voice, proclaim his Word, never fear man and trust the Lord in the face of every conceivable trial.
Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32, NKJV). God wants to give me a kingdom? Where is it?
“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is something you possess in your inner man. It is a liberated life!
Centuries before Christ was born, Isaiah prophesied that God would send a deliverer who would liberate mankind. Jesus himself stood in a Jewish synagogue one Sabbath and reminded the world of this prophecy.
Suppose one of my sons is caught in a bear trap in the woods and lies hurt and bleeding, crying for help. As his father, do I stop to analyze the quality of his faith? Do I ask myself the question, “Does my son have enough faith in me to trust that I'll come to his rescue?” A thousand times no! I would run to my boy's side, no questions asked, because I am motivated by a father's love for a hurting child. His faith doesn't motivate me. It is not anything he does at all; it is simply my love for him.
Today, I was impressed to speak to those who are emotionally and intellectually bending beneath a burden too heavy to bear. The promises of God do not seem to be working for you or your family. You have tried to please God; you pray; you truly love him, but you are right now at the end of your strength and endurance. Your trials increase as you hold on to your faith. It seems to you that God is silent toward you.
I have known of great Christians who have experienced a trial so dark and deep that life itself seemed almost not worth living. In his very darkest hour, Jeremiah discovered a glorious truth that brought new hope and assurance to his mind. It was something he already knew about God, but it hadn’t touched his soul until he came to the end of himself. He discovered that at the very bottom, God was there! The farther down he went, the more God was to be discovered. God was not to be discovered up there in some blissful soaring into untroubled skies but in the shadows of grief and despair.