Have you ever felt you had a situation covered and taken care of through vigorous praying and fasting only for some extraneous events to want to stop or hinder the answered prayers or expectations? I had a discussion on this thought with a couple of friends the other day and one in particular (for the sake of this discourse, we will call him Joe) was adamant that once a petition is laid before God, one should go to sleep and forget about the issue completely. According to Joe, going back to pray about such and any external force or events that may want to hinder or is hindering the answers amounts to being faithless. Joe had a valid point because the Bible tells us in 1John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”. Kate, one of us, on the other hand, remarked: ‘Does it mean the person had no faith when the issue is unresolved or resolved, then resurfaces again, but tougher?’ So many wonderful sons and daughters of God are plagued with this dilemma. Some believe there is something fundamentally wrong with their faith system because of the teachings they had received previously. Let’s look at this dilemma again.
Consider the peasant farmer, after sowing his seed, he goes to the farm regularly to weed and water the seeds until they grow into matured plants and ready for harvest. He does not go to sleep because he had sown the seeds, thinking since rain comes from God, the onus is on God to keep the plants safe until the time of harvest! His returning to the farm to weed and water his plants is not out of doubt that his seeds will germinate but to make sure that nothing interferes with the growth process of the plants. Same we must do spiritually. Once we pray, the fact that certain issues concerning our petition comes to mind is not a reminder for us to question our faith but for us to simply deal with the issue by telling it to the Lord: “…You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6b-7). Failing in this had resulted in many breakthrough shut down before they matured. The Bible clearly tells us to ask and keep asking, not in indolence but insistently. This we can do successfully when we watch and pray. For instance, you are asking God for a promotion, suddenly your organization comes up with a policy that lays embargo on promotions. You don’t keep silent and say ‘the issue is settled”, rather, you take on the policy prayerfully, either it is removed, suspended or an exceptional concession is given to you! There cannot be a claim of victory without a battle or war! Friend, it is your right to petition the King of kings when anything threatens what you have asked of Him. Jesus Christ, in buttressing this fact told the Disciples a parable in Matthew 13:26, “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left”. God is not telling us to worry about our petitions, neither has He forgotten what we asked Him for, but we must stand as watchmen on the tower to guard against whatever may constitute a threat or an obstacle to our answered prayers. Sons and daughters of God forget that the enemy has nothing better to do than to ‘mess up our parade’, and he will if we do not keep him at bay through our incessant watching (as watchmen) and ceaseless praying. If for instance you are seeking the blessing of the womb, God begins to show you areas to pray about and the actions to take. These instructions are not found outside of Him when we ‘go to sleep’, but in Him and can only be accessed if we are in constant communication with Him. God bless you.
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