When God Is Silent

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL MONDAY JUNE 17, 2002
(Luke 18:1-8)

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must keep praying until the answer comes.

"There was a city judge," he said, "a very godless man who had great contempt for everyone.

"A widow of that city came to him frequently to appeal for justice against a man who had harmed her. The judge ignored her for a while, but eventually she got on his nerves.

"'I fear neither God nor man,' he said to himself, 'but this woman bothers me. I'm going to see that she gets justice, for she is wearing me out with her constant coming!'"

Then the Lord said, "If even an evil judge can be worn down like that, don't you think that God will surely give justice to his people who plead with him day and night? Yes! He will answer them quickly! But the question is: When I, the Messiah return, how many will I find who have faith [and are praying]?"

When God is silent. One of the greatest tests of our faith is when we pray about an issue, and NOTHING happens. We pray some more, and still nothing happens. We pray until we simply can't pray any longer. Let me say up front, there are some schools of thought that praying for something more than once shows a lack of faith. I disagree with that conclusion since we have passages like today's scripture that shows us persistent prayer is encouraged. There is no RIGHT formula for prayer. It is not magic, or some sort of mystical formula. GOD IS NOT OUR PERSONAL GENIE IN A BOTTLE WHO IS SIMPLY WAITING TO RESPOND TO OUR WISHES!!!

The fact is, prayer is simply a conversation we have with our heavenly Father. It is like talking to our best friend, which He is. When we have a close relationship with someone, we may ask them to do something for us and it is done. We might only ask once, and it gets done. There are some things, especially when it comes to husbands and wives, or children, that we have to ask 5.. 10... 20... even 100 times to get it done. We have all been there I am sure. So it is with our relationship with God. We may share a need with God and almost immediately it is taken care of. However, there may be some issues we pray about over, and over, and over, for a long period of time before it is taken care of.

But there are also some issues that we pray about for long periods of time that are NEVER resolved. It is at these times that we must allow our faith to become real and trust God. While the Bible clearly tells us to ask God for the desires of our heart, and we SHOULD do that, we must always pray with the heart Jesus did. He said, "YET not my will, but thy will be done." Jesus understood that His life was totally surrendered to God. It was God's life to use as He saw fit. God's plans may not always be our plans. It is at those times, we MUST set-aside our desires for His. As we grow spiritually, we actually come to the place Jesus was when we understand each day that our life belongs totally to God and our desires must be His desires. Hear this one more time. OUR DESIRES, MUST BECOME HIS DESIRES!

I love you and care about you so much. I will be praying for you today. Praying that when you have to, you are like the widow and not be afraid to remind God over and over of the great needs that you have in your life. There is nothing wrong with reminding God. I will also pray that you come to the place in your walk with the Lord where you can say, "Lord, not my will, but thy will be done." That place where we trust God enough to not worry when He is "silent", but have a peace that what God wants is what we want. After all, God's plans are ALWAYS better than our plans. While our plans don't always work out the way we expect, God's plans ALWAYS work out perfectly.

The fact is, God is NEVER silent, or is NEVER ignoring our prayers. He is simply waiting for His perfect timing to show you the right plan to meet your needs.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com.

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