God Is Able

 For people who have been around church for any length of time there are many cliches. Things people say that we all agree with theoretically, but may not experientially. Things like nothing is impossible with God. Only believe. Mustard seed faith can move a mountain. All things are possible with God. Believe and receive. 

There are many others, but I think you get the point. We talk big, but often pray small. I have made the study and practice and of prayer a focal point for forty years now. I have written numerous articles about it. I would say next to writing about how to be saved there is no other topic I have written more about than faith and prayer. I have written two books on prayer. After all of that, I think I understand prayer less than I did twenty years ago. I still struggle to distinguish the voice of God any other way except through scripture reading. There are things I have prayed for decades on end and still do not have the answer I hoped to get. There are even things that I believe God promised me that I have not received. Waiting on God has never been my strong suit. 

Abraham knew exactly what waiting on God felt like. The struggle is to keep asking for something God keeps delaying or denying. Sometimes it is hard to know the difference between when God is saying no to our prayers, and when He is just delaying answering until the timing is right. God promised Abraham an heir. A son to be more specific. Two and a half decades passed. Abraham kept praying. God kept delaying. 

[Romans 4:21] and being fully assured that what God had promised He was able also to perform. The word able means strong, mighty, and powerful. Abraham believed God was strong enough, mighty enough, and powerful enough to answer the prayer of his son through Sarah. He was tested though as was Sarah. As they both aged and their bodies began to change, did it become harder to believe? What their eyes told them and what God promised them seemed to be at odds. Do we ever experience the same type of thing? Our physical eyes can deceive us. We must learn to pray with spiritual eyes of faith. 

Abraham was fully assured God would come through. He didn't just think that God COULD do it, but he believed that God WOULD do it. There is big difference between the two. I am convinced that many of our prayers fall into the God could category. We believe God is capable of doing anything. We just do not always believe that He will do it. Abraham believed God would do it. 

Where did he get such assurance? Because God made a promise to Him. In other words, God made a proclamation. A declaration of honor. God gave His word. He made a vow. He made a covenant. He guaranteed Abraham that He would answer that prayer. If we really want to pray effectively, we need to pray scripture. Pray the promises of God. 

25 years is a long time to wait. Most would give up or least quit praying with assurance. People may mouth the words of a prayer after two and half decades, but are they still able to pray fervently. [James 5:16] After being denied and delayed that long, it is easy to accept the status quo. To stop really believing even if we do not stop praying. 

God is able. I have no idea what you are facing today. I do not know how long you have waited on God for an answer. What burden weighs you down? What pierces your soul with anguish as you cry out for God's help? What hopeless situation confronts you? What impossibility screams in your ears to give up? I challenge all of us to pray like Abraham. To be fully assured. To pray the promises of God. To pray believing God is able. We may have to wait a long time for the answer like Abraham did.  If we pray in God's will, pray long enough, and pray confidently enough, God will come through for us just like He did for the father of the nation of Israel. God is able.