The Cooling Stream

Ages ago the prophet Jonah saw it happen.

The population of the city of Nineveh (in the north of present day Iraq) repented from sin.

A radical change came because Jonah preached and God’s Spirit worked.

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Through church prayer and preaching, the difficult situations around us can change for the better. Life can be more tolerable.

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We must rejoice in the ability we have to take every issue we face to the Lord and trust Him for the answer.

God is concerned about even the small things in our lives.

Let us talk to Him about them.

Let us talk to God about every detail of our life and trust Him with the answers.

An important aspect of prayer is to pray patiently.

God meets our needs “at the proper time” (Galatians 6:9).

Too often Christians weary of praying, and give up. This is often justified on the basis that God's failure to answer means the request is not according to His will.

Remember, God can:

• Deliver whatever we ask in His name;
• Delay to fit His perfect timing (only He sees the end from the beginning);
• Deny and say ‘No’ because we ask amiss or give a
• Different and better answer.
  

Jesus urges us to be persistent in prayer (Luke 11:5-8).

This does not mean that God does not want to meet our needs and that we need to try to persuade Him.

It simply means that only God, who completely understands the whole situation, can know when and how to answer.

Only when we have assurance in our hearts from the Lord, should we remove a matter from our prayer list.

Many times Christians lose heart in prayer because they do not recognize when the Lord does answer their prayers.

Sometimes this is due to the fact that they did not pray specifically enough.

Sometimes because they have decided in advance how God must answer. Perhaps they think that only a great miracle can meet their need.

But the Lord may change the circumstances so that the need seems to be supplied naturally.

Mature believers will recognize that the events of everyday life also come from the Lord.

Our daily bread and safety are miracles of God in this troubled world.

Let us not presume to tell God how to answer, and let us praise Him for His daily care.

Let us acknowledge that God gives His best to those who leave the choices to Him.