I woke up in the wee hours one recent night and found my heart was heavy with a burden I had been praying about for years. With eyes barely open I began to once again lay my worn out plea for the Lord to “…perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle…” me according to 1 Peter 5:10, nkjv. As I prayed, suddenly the words, Lord,You promised, welling up within me poured from my heart like water breaking over a dam. As far as I can remember I had never prayed that way before.
Unbeknownst to me, my husband had awakened sometime that same night and had also prayed, Lord, You promised. This was no coincidence for there are no coincidences with God. In His kindness, the Lord wanted the impact of how we both had prayed to sink in and take root within our hearts.
With that revelation I began to realize that I had been praying as if the onus was on me to say the exact right thing that—like a key—would unlock God’s heart.
Through the words, God,You promised, the Lord was showing me that the burden of answering prayer was on Him. In all this God was/is saying that He IS the Lord. He IS the Promise Keeper. Not me.
What then is my part?
- To come to the Lord with childlike faith, trusting Him completely to know that even when I don’t understand why it looks as if my prayer is not being answered, that God is for me. That in His timing, He is working all things together for my good and His glory. (See Romans 8:28.)
- To lay the burdens of my heart at His feet. For only He can handle them.
- To praise Him no matter what because praising God in the midst of anything is a sure fire way of saying, I trust You, Lord.
- And finally, to wait patiently for the Lord to act. Even then, He works in our hearts to cause us to be still before Him. (See Philippians 2:13.)
As a Christian I know many times I have missed out on the blessings of the Lord’s peace because I didn’t understand what trusting the Lord actually and practically looked like.
- Trusting is beyond only believing that there is one true God. Even the demons do that and tremble. (See James 2:19, TLB.)
- Trusting in God means that when you are looking into the face of what appears to be hopelessly impossible, deep within the core of your heart you know that God is holding onto you and that He is in control.
Related Post: What Prayer Teaches Us About Trust
I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry.
He stooped down to lift me out of danger from the desolate pit I was in, out of the muddy mess I had fallen into. Now he’s lifted me up into a firm, secure place and steadied me while I walk along his ascending path.”
A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how he breaks through for me!
Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see his miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with him!
Psalms 40:31-3 TPT
May this Psalm which is a testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness take hold of our hearts causing us to put our complete trust in Him.
May we come “…to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
– Ephesians 3:19, nkjv
In His love,
Kimberly
Oh, how this speaks to me today! I am reading this in my own personal quiet time this morning, reaching out for God’s promises. He promised! To be found when we seek Him with all our hearts! To cleanse us from every sin! To lead us in the way everlasting! And like the Good Shepherd He is, to finally lead us all the way Home! Thank you for posting, Kimmie!