Latest / Generations Church / Prayers That God Didn't Answer (& The Ones He Did) | Stefanie Raj

Transcript

Prayers That God Didn't Answer (& The Ones He Did) | Stefanie Raj · Generations Church

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hello there, Welcome to Generations Church Podcasts. We're so glad
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you're listening to this message. We hope you'll be inspired
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to grow in your faith in God. Enjoy the message
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: godless now.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Because I work in marketing, here's my clickbig title for today.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Prayers that God didn't answer and some that he did.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: As a child, growing up in a Christian family, I
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: was taught to bring everything to God in prayer, right,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: and that's what all of us do, right, That's what
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: all of us Christians are supposed to do and sometimes don't.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Christians will do that. You know, when you're stuck in
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: trouble the God, please help me. I need to pass
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: an important exam. Dear God, I'm so sorry I didn't
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: study the last three months, but please help me pass
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: this important exam I have tomorrow. I really need to
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: get a good job offered. Dear God, please give me
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the job offer. Stuck trying to find parking in some
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: way pyramid more for the last twenty minutes, you pray.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Dear God, please give me a pucking lot next to
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the lives so I don't need walk so far. Stand
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: a chatter kre Marlton tomorrow and we really don't want
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: it to rain. Dear God, please do not let it
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: rain tomorrow, but don't let it be too hot. Let
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: me just be cloudy so that you know we can
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: run easily smoothly, don't sweat too much. But it doesn't rain,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: we don't fall sick. As a youth, I prayed, and
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I told God, God, I really want a godly husband. Okay.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I thought that I would marry a quiet, nerdy guy
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: who loves video games. We could chill together introvert style.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah you're laughing already, right, because instead I fell in
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: love with that loud extrovertsitting over there, who's an excellent
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: drummer with great paper skills, religion provider, and whose idea
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: of chill right is waking up at six am on
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: a weekend morning just to go cycling for eighty km.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: He thinks that's a chill We can Okay, but what
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: can I say? God has a sense of humor, and
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: he also understood who I needed, what I needed as
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a live partner. So God does answer prayers. I think
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: you've heard maybe the three ways that God answers prayers. Yes, no,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: and wait, some prayers God answers immediately You pray for it,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: and he answers right now. Some he takes his time,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: maybe a day a week, a month, a year. Sometimes
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: he just goes silent. So today I'm actually gonna share
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: a few three stories of when I had one of each.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: So when God said no. So, when I was twelve
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: years old, a close cousin of mine who we grew
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: up together, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Yeah, we're starting
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: with the deep subjects. First we had we were only
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: about a month apart, and when he got diagnosed with
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: this uh leukemia, we were all devastated. Of course, twelve
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: years old and you're told that you have this cancer.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: And his parents did everything they could to get him treated, chemotherapy,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: all the care that he needed, and they just went
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: on with life as much as they could. But during
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: this time, his entire family actually came to Christ every
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: autar call, every prayer time, every healing rally, every time
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: a speaker opened up the altar, they will be right
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: there right in front asking for prayer, asking God please
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: heal my son, my brother, my cousin, please heal him.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: My family was very fervent in supporting them in prayer.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I was young, I was as they say on fire
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: for God.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: So I was so confident, you know, we just pray,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: We just need to pray, and I believe, child like,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: child like believe nothing wrong with that, that God will
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: do a miracle, that he will heal my cousin Matthews
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: seven seven to eight. I think this is a very
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: well known word step we always use when we're praying
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: for something desperately for us, and will be given to you.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Seek and you will find not, and it will be
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: open to you. For everyone who asks received, and the
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: one who seeks fines, and to the one who knocks,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: it will be open. So I claim these verses. I
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: claim these verses for my cousin. A week after he
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: turned fifteen, he passed away in the hospital. God had
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: not answered our prayers, and he was a milestone. He
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: was honestly a milestone in my spiritual life because this
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: is the first time when I prayed for something that
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I really wanted so badly. I wanted my cousin to live.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I wanted him to be healed. And I didn't get it.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: We didn't get it. We didn't get the answers that
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: we wanted for our prayers. And we couldn't understand why.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I asked, God, why didn't you heal him? Didn't you
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: see how much his family is grieving? He was so young.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Is it because we didn't pray enough, we didn't pray
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: hard enough, we didn't pray long enough. Is it because
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: we didn't fast, we'll be praying the wrong prayers? Or
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: was God simply just death. It's been more than two
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: decades now since my cousin has passed. I still don't
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: understand why God didn't step in and perform that miracle,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: but chose to take my cousin home. But with hindsight
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: now and if I had to guess at a reason,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: it is because that true he's suffering and true his death,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: several of my extended family actually accepted Christ, including my grandparents.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: God used his suffering and his death to bring eternal
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: life to my family. And it's very timely. Also that
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Vanessa was preaching, being a family preacher, and I saw
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the words came out, I was like, I know I'm
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: on the right path because I have the same verse
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: as well as her. And these verses have become the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: mantra of my life in everything that I do. Just
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: trust God. It's not about leaning on your own understanding.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: We can't understand. There are some things that are just
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: beyond our human understanding. We don't know why God would
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: do the things he do or not do the things
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: that he should do that we think he should do.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: But it's not about us. It's not about our understanding
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: because we can't see the big picture. Only God has
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: the big picture. So all God asks us to do
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: is trust him. Trust him, and in all your ways
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Here's
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: my second story when God said yes. But so, when
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I was a campus student, I had these dreams of
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna graduate and then I'm gonna work in a
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: multinational corporation. My big dream was actually Google. Google wasn't
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: in Malayia that time, but you know, I thought, I
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: will go and Google. I'll just go overseas to whichever
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: country at Google. I'm not gonna work there. I'm not
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: in Google. But some years ago I was hired at
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: a PR agency and I was one of the early
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: pioneers of the digital team that I later ended up leading.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: I was proud. I was very proud. I still am
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: proud of my career achievements. I was actively trying to
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: climb that corporate leader. There were so many challenges that
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: you face, as I think most of us here who
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: are in the corporate sector you can understand. And one
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: of the challenges I had was my boss. I learned
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: a lot from her about how to run a business,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: but she had a reputation for being very hot tempered
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: and difficult to please. Boss. Her tantrums and scoldings and
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: screams and tongue lashings in the office with legendary. Everybody
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: in the office knew about it. She was the type
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: that when she was angry, she will just start yelling
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: at you and said, Mark, you come up here to
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: my table right now, and then she was start giving
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: you a tongue lashing in front of everybody. And it's
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: open office nowadays, right you don't have cubicles. She won't
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: pull me into a room and tell me off. She'll
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: just start yelling at you in front the whole office
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: because she couldn't care less. And you don't get to
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: argue back with her. You just have to listen to her.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: And there were many days where I would just after work,
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I'll go home, I'll sit in the car, and I'll
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: just cry because she just screamed at me again in
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: front of everybody. But I stayed on, thinking, that's what
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: you do, right, that's how you climb the corporate letter.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: That's how that you just have to go through it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: You just have to endure it. Even though my husband,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: my friends, my family, you're telling me leave, leave, leave,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: its toxic workplace. And every time she would scream, every
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: time she will score me. I'll just pray and ask God, God,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: please just give me patience. Just can you hear me,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Please help me to endure this, maybe give me a
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: new boss. So God say, yeah, sure, just not in
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: a way I thought he would. God actually led me
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to a meeting with two friends and I was sitting
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: down with them, we'll catching up, and they actually made
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: an offer to me to join them to start a
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: new business. I told them I need to think about it,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: because you see, I never ever envisioned running my own business.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: I always wanted to just stay in corporate. And it's
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: terrifying because what if I fail, what if I go bankrupt?
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: What if I can't do this? It's scary, what if
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: what if it doesn't work out? It's just disappointing. I
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: was facing disappointment, failure, humiliation. I was afraid that I
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: do not run a business. I don't even know how
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: to get new clients. During this time, I was listening
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: to the speaker in church and he was speaking on Joshua,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: on how Joshua was anointed by God after Moses death,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and how God charged him to lead the Israelized into
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the Promised Land. And these verses sprang out to me,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: to be strong and courageous, for you shall cause these
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: people to inherit the land that I sware to their
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: fathers to give them. Have I not commanded you be
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Actually,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: in that passage, if you want to go and read
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: that particular passage, God actually tells Joshua three times, do
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: not be afraid. And I knew that God was speaking
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: to me to not be afraid to just step out
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: into this promised land. This coming December, it will have
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: been seven years since I said yes to my now
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: business partners and started my own digital marketing agency. While
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: it's never been a goal of mine, to become a
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: business owner. I can see now that God has orchestrated
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: my life, my entire career, so that the skills that
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I learned, the experience that I gain, they were exactly
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: what I needed to do what I'm doing right now
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: to be where I am right now. So when you
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: tell God, God, this is what I want, and then
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: you tell God, but die will be done, be sure
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: you're ready to truly let his will be done, because
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: it's his will, not your will. Because we can dream dreams,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: but our dreams are small compared to what God has
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: in store for us. And God can bring you to
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: places that you never thought you could reach. You never
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: imagine you could be there. But God knows you better
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: than you know yourself. As my own life has been
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: demonstrated over and over again, He's brought me to the
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: places that I never thought I could even be. At
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: last story, when God said wait, I mentioned earlier about
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: some of my youthful dreams. I had it all planned out.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: I was going to work at Google. I was going
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: to get paid to travel the world for work. I
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: was going to marry a godly man. I was going
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: to start a family, and then we live happily ever after.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Very simple, and I think you can see, for those
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: of you who know me, you can see which ones
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: God has answered so far. My husband and I have
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: been married for thirteen years this year, and we've been
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: trying for kids for that long. We've tried diets, medication,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: exercise supplements, traditional medication, multiple doctors, surgery, even IVF. Three
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: years ago. I suffered an early miscarriage. Just one year ago,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: our last IVF implantation failed again. Like Jacob wrestling with God,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I have struggled so much with God. I have fought
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: with him. I have screamed at him. I have sworn
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: and cursed at him. Where are you? Lord? Why are
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: you not listening to me? Do you not see how
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: much I'm suffering? Do you not see my pain? Am
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: I not faithful? Have I not done enough? And for
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: all those times, God has been silent. And I think
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: that's how we see God during difficult times. Right, He's distant,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: he's cold, he's uncaring, he's silent. But actually God does speak,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: it's just maybe not the one that are words that
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: you want to hear during my heartbreak, God send me
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Isaiah fifty four one to three sing Old baron one
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: who did not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: you who have not been in labor, For the children
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: of the desolate one will be more than the children
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: of her who is married, says the Lord. When I
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: beg God to answer my prayer. Now, now, God, now
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I can't wait anymore, he sent me romans aid for
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: in this hope we were safe. Now, hope that is
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: can see. But if we hope for what we do
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: not see, we wait for it in patience. And then
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: when I cried out to God, God, I can't take
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: this anymore. Maybe just remove this dream from me. I
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: don't want to dream about this anymore. I don't hope
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: about this anymore. Just let me move on, Let me
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: be content. I'm happy. We don't need to wait for
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: this dream anymore. He again sent me this worse to
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: trust in the Lord with all your heart. I wish
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: I could tell you now that I have an answer
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: to my prayer, because wouldn't that You're a wonderful ending. Hey, guys,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: guess what, that's not how life works. I still don't
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: have an answer. We still don't have an answer instead.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: What I'm here to tell you is that we're still
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: waiting patiently, faithfully, painfully, joyfully contentedly. Is it foolish? Should
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: I have given up on this dream? Maybe? But God
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: has never gone by our ways. To God, what is
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: time years to us? Eternity to us is nothing to him?
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: He has eternity. So why am I still waiting? Why
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: am I still waiting on this dream? Why am I
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: still praying this prayer? Because God has been faithful to me.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: He is faithful, He will always be faithful. I don't
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: know when God will answer our prayer. Maybe we'll be
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: like Abraham and Sarah, like when we are so old,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: a kids will come. I don't know, but I know
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: that He will answer, but in his time. We all
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: have prayers that we're waiting for God to answer, or
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: for God to change his mind. Maybe God has told
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: you no, or maybe he told you wait, or maybe
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: He hasn't even answered you yet. Whatever the answer is,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: you are not satisfied. We all have those prayers. We
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: all have that hopes and dreams and wishes that desperate desire.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Philippians four six. Do not be anxious about anything, but
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: requests be made known to God. If you have that
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: one prayer, or maybe many prayers, but that one prayer
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: that you've been constantly praying for in your heart, that
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: you've been begging God for, or maybe you haven't even
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: expressed it out because it's so deep, it's so personal,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: it's so painful to express it out to God. I
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: want to ask you. I want to invite you to
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: write here right now, offer up that prayer to God,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: to put it before him on the altar. Tell God.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Tell God exactly what is it that you are hungering for.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: What is it you are desiring for? What is it
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: that you really wish He would answer you for. I'm
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: not guaranteeing you any answers. I'm still waiting for my answer,
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: but I can tell you this that once you're done praying,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: you tell God die will be done, and then leave
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: it at the altar. Wait for God to show up.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Wait for God to show up, and He will do
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: amazing things beyond what you can believe, beyond what you
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: can see, beyond what you can even imagine, because that's
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: how our God works. God has infinite resources. We are
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: limited by our own but our own mind, our own resources.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: But God has everything. God knows exactly what we need,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: not what you. He knows what you want, but He
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: will give you what you need. So right now I
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: want to open this time for prayer.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. We trust that you have
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: been blessed by the word of God. We love hearing
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: from you, so please do share your feedback, thoughts or
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: even questions and message ideas. Search and follow us on
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: social media and generations mind and drop us a message.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: For more information, check out bits Dodley slash Generations Mind.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Until next time, godless,