Joyfully Expecting

6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.
11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

- Luke 1:6-17

Many devoted and faithful followers of GOD are going through what Zechariah and Elizabeth are going through. They are faithful servants of GOD, yet the one thing that any couple would want was to have a family they could not have because Elizabeth could not bear a child. They would have felt discouraged with their dilemma and they could have just lost faith in their GOD and rebelled against HIM. But patiently they waited on GOD, I bet they did not ask anymore to have a son since both of them were very old and that made it even more hard to conceive a child.

But one day, just like the many days Zechariah was in GOD's temple, faithfully doing what GOD had called Him to do. And suddenly! GOD shows up to Him by sending an Angel saying GOD has hear your prayer! Are you praying for a long time now for something that seems impossible and it feels like GOD may have already forgotten your prayers? Do not lose hope. For GOD has never forgotten you or the prayers of your heart. HE is just waiting for the right time to give it because HIS time is perfect causing HIM to be glorified when HE answers the impossible prayers of your heart. When HE answers, it will be a bang! Awesome and Amazing as HE is and that is how we should pray, joyfully expecting in faith.

Prayer and Fasting

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it:“Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spiritcried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

- Mark 9

When we ask things from GOD, we have to believe they will happen so that we will receive whatever we ask for in prayer. There are also prayers by which when we pray, instead of receiving what we ask for, our hearts are changed to accept and embrace whatever is happening. There are 3 ways GOD answers prayers: A Yes, A No and A Wait. So when we pray, we have to make sure in the first place that our prayers are aligned with GOD's will because when it is, our prayers will be answered for certain. When we know that our prayers are in alignment to His will, we should persistently pray for that one thing we believe will happen until we receive it.

When we pray and knock on heaven's doors with all our might but when it feels like nothing is happening, we should come to GOD and ask, what do I need to do? The disciples in this story were doing what they know is in line with GOD's will: they were casting out evil from a boy who was deaf and mute. It is GOD's will that everyone will be free from any evil spirit but why couldn't they take that evil spirit out? Yeshua privately revealed later to his disciples that this "kind" could be done only through prayer and fasting. When we ask things from GOD, some things really need time for more prayer and the harder things need to be fasted on so that when we pray we move the heart of GOD to answer our pleading. GOD will do His part if we do our part as well. 

Answered Prayers

13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. 14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

- 1 John 5:13-15

What or who is your center? Who or what is the basis of your existence? Each one of us has a reason why we get up in the morning, why we do what we do... Most of us do it for the ones we love, especially those that have children, parents are driven to sacrifice and work so hard to give their kids a bright future. But other than children and family, we also love something else that drive us to do what we do. We love certain things, girls love shoes, bags, mom's love homes, guys love cars and gadgets. We wish to have greater things, more wealth and we ask or work for what we want. 

Whether we are wordly or godly, all of us have the same needs in life, shelter, food, love, education, fulfillment and more. But those that believe and love Yeshua (Jesus) have different wants, dreams and desires. They want GOD's dream, they dream of GOD's vision and desire heavenly things. Other than their own selfish earthly drives and ambitions, children of GOD ask for the salvation of souls, and changing of lives. Their concerns are not just for themselves but they are concerned with the things of GOD. They are driven by the agenda of GOD and their ambition is to reflect GOD's glory in their lives. And so because they have the heart of GOD, whatever they ask GOD in prayer, they are confident that GOD hears them and will give to them whatever they ask for. Sometimes our prayers are not just heard and answered, sometimes our prayers to GOD are answered in the form of the transformation of our desires into the will of GOD so that when we ask, we ask according to the will of GOD and not by our own will. That is why those that really know and love GOD know the things of GOD and seek to follow GOD's will and have prayers that are GOD centered not self-centered. Their prayers are heard constantly and answered by GOD because their prayers please GOD first and foremost.