Christ’s Ambassador

Have you ever prayed and before you finished prayers the thing started happening such that you knew the processes must have commenced long before you began praying? At such moments do you wonder if God was just a step ahead of you? To throw more light, let’s consider the prayer of Eleazer, Abraham’s servant in Gen 24:12-15.

Abraham sent Eleazer back to his native country to go and pick a wife for Isaac among his family members. So Eleazer got to the outskirts of the city and stopped by a well of water to pray:

 …. O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand [here] by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: [let the same be] she [that] thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

Was Rebekah’s coming a quick response to Eleazer’s prayer? I think Rebekah’s timely appearance was God’s [exclusive] doing and He had meant to send her to the well at that particular time right from the foundation of the world. But the prayer was used by God to prepare Eleazer to recognize what God was about doing. Without that preparation, Eleazer might have missed it. This occurrence and such ones in our lives serve to teach us that God is love, and He is in absolute control of events and timing. If we draw close to God, He’d lay in our hearts His agenda and we’d pray more efficiently.  

The foregoing, of course, is not to say that all our prayers must have such automatic responses. There are occasions when we must pray hard and long. At such times we must allow the scripture to guide us lest we fall. God hears our groaning always. God is love. (1Jn4:8) Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing” (Ps34:10b) He makes all things to work for the good of all who love Him, whom he has called according to his good purpose. (Rom8:28) The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear but your iniquities have separated you from your God….(Is59:1,2) You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. (Jas 4:3) To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven(Eccl 3:1) I encourage you to check back on all the time you have had delays getting answers to your prayers, you might find a reason for such delays within these scriptures. We must of course note that though God may wait until we pray very hard for certain things before He responds, yet our prayers can neither make Him to change His will nor influence Him to do what He never wanted to do. When He waits, things must wait and we must wait on Him. His “No” is also an answered prayer.

Faith comes by hearing. The Bible is written so that we may know the invisible God. Quite often, especially when we are in hard times, we fail to acknowledge the fact that God has His own plans and agenda for running affairs in this universe and our individual personal affairs are just integral parts of this agenda. God is concerned with the present and eternity but we are aware of only the recent past and present. But as infinitesimal as you may be compared to all God have put together in the universe, He says: “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands….”(Isa49:16a) and so He cannot forget you. He has good plans for your life, and he is still at work on you.

Why are there so many ‘prayer contractors’ these days? My people perish for lack of knowledge. Many people believe the presence of God is more with certain people than others. This is a fallacy, spin-off of poor reasoning and teachings of men. (Mk 7:7) God’s presence is not fractionalized. God is not partial and he does not defer to man. He does whatever He wants. The criteria he listed for answered prayers are (1) Pray according to His will (2) Pray with faith (3) Abstain from sin, confess and repent if you have sinned (4) Forgive all who have offended you. (5)Pray in the name of Jesus. Whoever satisfies these will have the ears of God. I do not say this to discourage you from seeking prayer support of your Pastors or other brethren, we all need intercession of other brethren, but I want you to know that you have the same status with God (you are a child) as any Pastor, Bishop, Deacon or Evangelist. Don’t allow anyone to hoodwink and defraud you in the name of transferring anointing on you or helping you to seek the face of God. If you are paying somebody (in cash or kind) for prayers or anointing, you are selling your birthright.

You do well if you follow the example of the Bereans who, after listening to sermons and teachings, go back home to check their Scriptures prayerfully to confirm if these things are true or not. Don’t follow the footsteps of Esau. You are a redeemed child of God; not a beggar, so go to the throne of grace with faith and confidence.