All in God's good time - Greg Laurie -
http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/all-in-gods-good-time/ Pastor Greg Laurie offers solution for believers enduring bleak situations
What is bothering you right now? What is troubling you? What is concerning you? What is your need? Pray about it. Don't underestimate the power of prayer. The Scriptures tell us to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" (Ephesians 6:18 NIV).A literal translation of the word pray in that verse means to "be sleepless to this end."
I want to tell you a story about a sleepless church that was in desperate and deep prayer. The church was coming under intense persecution, and it was facing what appeared to be a hopeless situation. A new wave of persecution was being led by King Herod, who had gone and murdered James, the brother of John. James was one of the earliest disciples of Jesus, and he was the first of the apostles to be martyred.
Herod, being the consummate politician, saw this pleased his constituents. So he had the undisputed leader of the church, Simon Peter, arrested. Pretty much everyone looked up to Peter. He was the spiritual leader. And it looked like Peter would be executed next. The situation looked pretty bleak.
So what did the church do? It unleashed its secret weapon. Acts 12 says "constant prayer was offered to God for [Peter] by the church" (Verse 5). Prayer is our secret weapon too, but we don't use it enough. Often it is the last resort. After we have tried everything else, after we have maxed out all of our credit cards and called all of our friends and exhausted all of our resources, we say, "Oh, right. God. 'Lord, help!'" The first thing we should do is pray about it.
All of the other doors may have been closed for Peter and the early church, but one door remained open: the door of prayer, the door into the presence of God. They brought their prayers before him.
But let's not miss the fact that their prayers were "offered to God." Isn't all prayer offered to God? Not necessarily. It is possible to say your prayers and not pray. We can go through ritualized requests and our little memorized prayers. Jesus said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:8 NLT). You can offer prayers to God and have no thought of God because you are thinking about yourself (or someone else).
Think about this: When you pray, you are talking to God Almighty. So if you have the luxury of a little time, slow down and contemplate the awesomeness of God. The prayer that changes things is prayer that is offered to God.
The church also prayed with passion and persistence: "constant prayer was offered to God." This was not a flippant, yawning kind of prayer: "Lord, please save Simon Peter ... or whatever." No, this was a storm-the-gates-of-heaven kind of prayer.
I wonder if they had prayed as fervently for James. Maybe they thought, He will get out of it. He is in prison. He got arrested. But he will get out. Then they get the news that James has been killed. And then Peter was arrested. They saw how desperate the situation was. They saw how much they needed God. They knew that if God didn't come through for them, there was no way.
Have you seen the urgency of your situation yet? Have you prayed like this for your marriage? For your family? For your children? For your husband? For your wife? Have you prayed like this for your church? Have you prayed like this for your nation? If we don't put any heart into our prayers, God won't put a lot of heart into answering them. God promised that his people will find him when they search for him with all their hearts (see Jeremiah 29:13).
Part of the problem is that we give up too soon. We think, It must not be God's will. I prayed four times for an awakening to come to America, and it didn't happen, so it must not be God's will. Keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep fasting. That is what the Bible tells us to do.
The church prayed and then continued to bring their needs before God. That is one of the reasons their prayers were answered. Peter wasn't released until the night before his impending execution. God could have answered the church's prayers straightaway. Instead, he took his time because it was his perfect time. That means the disciples prayed through the night. They had no guarantee their prayers would be answered in the affirmative. They didn't know whether Peter would be delivered. After all, James wasn't.
I don't know whether they prayed as hard for James. But if they did pray for his deliverance, God effectively said no. Sometimes we will pray for something, and God won't give us what we want. We'll say, "God didn't answer my prayer." Actually, He did. He said no.
And sometimes God says slow. That is essentially what he said to Moses, who wanted to deliver the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt. Let's just say that he was a little early. He took matters into his own hands and made a mess of things. So God sent him out to the wilderness to whip him into shape. It was there that God made him into the man he wanted Moses to be.
At other times God says grow. The apostle Paul had his thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was, but it was some kind of physical infirmity. Maybe it was the result of one of the stonings or shipwrecks he endured. Whatever it was, Paul prayed three times for God to take it away. But God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV). God was essentially saying, "Paul, I am going to leave it in your life because it will cause you to grow spiritually."
The chapter opened with James dead, Peter in prison, and Herod triumphing. But it ends with Herod dead, Peter free, and the Word of God triumphing. Maybe you're in the middle of your story right now. Maybe you're thinking, This isn't going to end well. I don't think anything is going to turn it around. Don't give up. Don't underestimate the power of prayer.
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