MEMORY VERSE: Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:30
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Kings 16-20
God answers prayers. Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” He has answered prayers in the past, and He is still answering prayers. There are times you will receive answers to your prayers whilst praying - before you finish praying. A typical example can be found in 1 Samuel 7:7-10. The Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together and they came up against them. When Samuel heard this, he ran to God. Whilst he was praying, reporting the matter to God, the Lord responded. Verse 10 says, “And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.” Another example can be found in 1 Kings 18. Elijah had not finishing praying before He received an answer to his prayer; fire came down from heaven and consumed his sacrifice.
There are times you will receive answers to your prayer after praying - maybe an hour later or a day later or month later. For example, after Solomon had finished praying during the dedication of the temple, fire came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice (2 Chronicles 7:1). The early church was under threat and the disciples gathered one day to pray for boldness. After praying, they received an answer from God. Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
However, there are times the answer will not come until the very last minute. This was what at happened in the case of the three Hebrew boys. Nebuchadnezzar threatened that if they don't bow to his image of gold, they will be thrown into the fiery furnace. Because they refused, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. I believe whilst they were heating up the furnace, these boys must have been crying to God for deliverance but nothing happened. When they were being tied up about to be thrown into the fire, i believe, they must have intensified their prayers at this point and still nothing happened. The Lord waited until they were thrown into the burning furnace, before sending deliverance to them. At times, God will deliberately allow situations to get worse before intervening. He does this so that man will not be able to take glory over what He will do. Whenever God uses a life to demonstrate His awesomeness and power, He compensates the fellow. After God used the three Hebrew boys to demonstrate that He has control over fire, He compensated them by promoting them. I want to encourage you not to give up because you don't know what God is up to. Don’t backslide or lose hope because God has not forgotten you.
PRAYER POINT: Father, please use my life to demonstrate your awesomeness.
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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world
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