your life that you wondered if God were ever going to answer your prayer? I feel assured that we all can answer with a resounding, “Yes!” The significance is not how long, where, or when we pray; it is that we pray and it is done according to James 5:16 (KJV): “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” God hears our prayers and will deliver, but He is going to do it in His time, for Jesus said in John 18:36 (KJV): “… My kingdom is not of this world…” Therefore, He is an on-time God, not an “our-time” God!
Pastor Rick Warren (www.pastorrick.com) says there are four ways in which God answers our prayers. There is no doubt that God is going to answer in His time, but it is also going to be in His perfect will and way.
• “When the request is not right, God says, ‘No.’
• “When the timing is not right, God says, ‘Slow.’ There’s a big difference between a delay and a denial.
• “When the request and timing are right, but you’re not right, God says, ‘Grow.’
• “When the request is right and the timing’s right and you’re right, then God says, ‘Go.’ Therefore, when we make our petitions known to God, while we are waiting on Him to deliver, remember this method of ‘No-Slow-Grow-Go’!”
There are so many instances in the Word that reveal He is an on-time God. Within these situations, you will see that there was no specific time limit that God answered these petitioners, but when He delivered, it was right on time. Read and study these amazing stories about God’s delivering on time!
• Daniel in the Lions’ Den—Daniel 6
• The Three Hebrew Boys in the Fiery Furnace—Daniel 3
• Jonah in the Belly of the Fish (Whale)—Jonah 1-3
• Rahab ( the Prostitute) and the Spies—Joshua 2
• The Parting of the Red Sea—Exodus 14
• Paul and Silas in Prison—Acts 16:16-40
In closing, I invite you to go to YouTube and enjoy Gospel singer Dottie Peoples’ version of “On Time God”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF7IdcaltiY. Always abound in the faith, and never leave home without Him!
