Last Thursday, we saw that no matter what the nature of the problem you are going through, the fix is the same: “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.” (James 5:13 NIV).
But what if you do pray, but you don’t see results?
The Bible teaches us: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt 21:22 NIV). This is a promise: Whatever we ask for in prayer, believing, we will receive!
But does this mean we will see the results we expect? The ones we desire? Does it mean that those results will always be, like the turn-around with my patient last week, immediate?
No, it doesn’t.
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, God promised me about 15 hours before I found the growth that He would heal me. I had no idea what He was referring to, until I found that odd “bump” later that same day; and then I just assumed that His promise meant He would remove the tumor before I ever got to see the doctor. When He didn’t, I was a bit annoyed. I decided then that He would wait until it was confirmed that I actually had cancer. Again, I was doomed for disappointment. God did not take the tumor away, and as a result, I had to go through the agony of the needle biopsy, I was required to have surgical intervention, and it was necessary to have long-term treatment.
When I look back, however, over the past four years, I realize that God did, indeed, keep His promise. He healed and re-established me 100%. He didn’t do it in my timeline. He didn’t even do it in the miraculous way I expected it to be done. Instead, He used modern medicine. Nonetheless, He kept His promise to heal me.
Why? Why was I healed in His way and not mine?
I don’t know the answer to that question. When I look back, I can see how God carried me so tenderly through those hard times. I can see His hand of mercy and grace on my life more times than I can count, and in the end, I have learned so many beautiful lessons about depending on Him. Perhaps the most important lesson learned, however, was that God loves me. No matter what I am going through, I never need to doubt that fact!
Have you prayed about your situation? Has God given you a promise of restoration, but you don’t see any results? Then consider the fact that God may be answering your prayer in a different way from what you expect. Rest in the promise that He will answer your prayer, and that He does, indeed, love you so very much; and then sit back and watch for His hand in your life and in your situation. I can guarantee you that you will be blessed beyond reason, and maybe, just maybe, at the end of it all, you will say, just as I did after cancer, “God, thank You for allowing me to take this ride through the valley of ______ –with You!”
Don’t forget to pray, don’t forget that God answers all of our prayers: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt 21:22 NIV); and especially don’t forget this vitally important fact: God loves you, and as long as you put your trust in Him, His perfect love will cast out your fear, for: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” (1 John 4:18 NIV)
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Let Them Pray” mini-series, please click here.)