When God Answers

We pray.

We may pray about what we want – for what we dream of receiving. We may pray about what we need – for relief from stress, pain or threat. We may pray for ourselves, or someone that we love.

We do not pray to persuade God to act. Instead, prayer is our act – our act of faith. When we pray, we embrace our belief that God can and will help. That God has excellent and abundant things stored up for us. We reach out in readiness to receive those blessings. And we honor God, because our eager anticipation of His best expresses and reinforces our trust in His faithfulness.

It is God’s will to hear His people’s prayers of faith. It is His will to answer.  And when God answers our prayers, it is cause for great joy.

If you have prayed those prayers at length – maybe even for years – your joy is even greater when God answers. If you have prayed those prayers for years for someone you love … when God answers, only the scale of heaven itself can be used to measure your joy.

            God has revealed to us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 that He has a great purpose for His people to seek and share encouragement with each other.  I am excited to realize that when I share my hopes, and ask someone to pray to God about them, I am inspiring someone else to exercise faith.  I am excited that when we join to pray in His name, we are magnifying Him.

My needs and wants now become part of my ministry to other believers. And their needs and wants can minister to me. If a nonbeliever witnesses our fellowship, our ministry has also become a mission.  All in all, it is a wondrous invitation to faith – an opportunity to advance God’s kingdom here on earth.

I marvel at the power of God’s plan for the interaction of those who love Him. I am gladdened to realize this great blessing of sustaining and strengthening one another. Even more, more and more, I begin to see the outline of the body of Christ as we learn to fully fellowship. How glorious it is to see our God.

            When God answers our prayers, we see Him more and more.

When he says “wait,” we see that He is a God who nurtures us as we wait. As we pray, God responds with encouragement in His word, in the fellowship of believers, in His presence felt in ways beyond number. We learn to trust Him, thanking Him right here and right now. We learn that blessings not yet perceived can still be blessings received – received in our spirits.

            When He says “no,” we see that He is a God who comforts us in our disappointments and our grief. We learn to trust that God’s viewpoint and ways are above ours. We see that He is a God who inspires us, when we don’t know what to do next. We see that He is a God who restores us, when we call out as the anguished father in Mark 9:24 did, saying: Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. And God does.

            When He says “yes,” we see that He is a God whose delight is our delight. We see that He is a God who rejoices over us with singing, and invites us to join in the song. We are reminded of His amazing abundance.

When we pray over our wants and our needs, we begin to see that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, whatever He answers. And we begin to realize the joy in all of God’s answers. As we come to see God, we see that that joy is part of His very nature.

When we pray, this joy of the Lord has a cleansing effect. It may wash like a trickle, in a moment that revives and refreshes you, interrupting your day-to-day routine. It may wash like a wave, in an event that quickens your heartbeat and compellingly sways your soul away from the routine. It may wash like a flood, in an occasion that saturates and transforms you, and transforms your routine into worship. However it washes, His joy washes like the Living Water that it is.

We find a joy in knowing God as Father, who communicates His love for us in daily blessings. We find a joy in knowing Jesus as Savior, who made himself a living example for our  earthly journey and a sacrifice for our eternal life. We find a joy in knowing the Holy Spirit as our counsel and comfort, leading us lovingly every step of the way in life.

When God answers, we find a joy.

How to Count

By June Pulliam
Guest blogger

I was awake most of the night with arthritis-type joint pain. This was my opportunity to put into practice "counting it all joy".

I was thinking about my study of suffering, using a guide by Kay Arthur based on the book of Job. Job never tells us why people suffer, Arthur points out.

To cope with suffering, she says, we aren't to find the immediate cause but instead find out who God is: our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, with whom we need a deep, personal relationship. She references James 1:2-4 "Consider it all joy...".

My meditating started there – I’ve always realized that my understanding of what James' words meant was not as deep as I'd like – and I began writing my own thoughts:

In God's presence there is fullness of joy. As we focus upwardly on Him, we become more and more aware of His vibrant presence, and less focused on the trial. Being surrounded by His presence – His light, His love – moves our joy from being only a mental choice, to being a feeling and more – a full experience.

To "count it all joy" or "consider it all joy" (depending on the translation) means to mentally put suffering in the category of joy. We first need to see for what purpose we are doing this.

James’ verse says that the testing of our faith will lead to endurance. It furthermore says that we need to continue to endure, until our endurance has attained its "perfect result" – that we are "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing".

I meditated on this: We can't stop at endurance. God wants us to keep at it until it has its "perfect result". If we endure for a while, even a long while, but then stop, this verse tells us we will lack some things; we will not be perfect or complete.

So then the question is: Will we "count it all joy" when trials come? The thing is … we all count it as something when trials come. The alternative to counting it as joy when we have trials, is to do what most do – count it as disastrous defeat, or a reason to rage and seek revenge.

If we are inwardly focused, we probably count it as pain that makes us feel defeated, depressed, disillusioned, disappointed.

If we are outwardly focused, we probably count it as pain that leads to anger, rage and desire to blame and lash out at others – either those we think responsible, or those who we resent simply because they aren't suffering too.

But if we are upwardly focused, we wisely and courageously count it as joy. We do so in spite of our initial pain, because we are looking not at ourselves, and not at others, but at God, who is our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer. He has a covenant with us to never leave us, and to vindicate us in the end.

Why We Suffer
1. We are God's children, co-heirs with Christ, who first suffered for us. Romans 8:16-18
2. We suffer sometimes so others don't have to. Colossians 1:24
3. It’s evidence that we belong to God and He is refining us. 2 Thessalonians 1:3-8
4. It's sometimes God's will. 1 Peter 2:18-23
5. So we will rely not on ourselves (in our strength or wits to get out of
the problem), but instead, totally on God. 2 Corinthians 1:9

What to Do When Suffering
1. Don't jump to the conclusion God isn't on the job. 1 Peter 4:13
2. Trust God, don't fear. 1 Peter 4:19
3. Be glad you're in the thick of what Christ experienced. 1 Peter 4:14
4. Think of our suffering as a way to be weaned from the sinful habit of always expecting to get our way. 1 Peter 4:1
5. Like Jesus, don't threaten or retaliate. 1 Peter 3:17
6. Continue to do good 1 Peter 4:14
7. Be ready to tell people courteously why we have hope and are living the way we are. 1 Peter 3:17
8. Stand firm. Remember it's not just you, but also Christians all over the world who are suffering.
1 Peter 5: 8-10

Results of Suffering
1. God will restore you and make you strong,
firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10
2. You will be free to pursue what God wants instead of always being so driven to just pursue what we want. 1 Peter 4:2
3. You will be blessed. 1 Peter 3:14
4. You will receive justice later. 2 Thessalonians 1:8
5. You will share in Christ's glory. Romans 8:18