Your cry, PLEASE JESUS HAVE MERCY, has come before the throne and it is well that you bring it in Jesus Name only, for there is no other name by which we may hope to be heard. The Lord knows the unspoken burden which you carry, though you have not set it out in words before men. He who hears the feeble prayer which we ourselves despised, and which we thought would have died at the gate of mercy, nurses and nurtures it till it returns a full grown blessing bearing mercy in both its hands. You may be sure that what is unspoken to man is fully known to God, and that He invites you not intending to repulse you. He does not set open the door of mercy meaning to shut it in the sinners face. Impossible. God is willing to receive and bless, for God invites most freely.
You speak of malicious elements and of one who made a mock of your faith, comparing your hope to Moses opening the Red Sea. Do not marvel at this. Sometimes they scoff at faith itself. They count faith itself to be a folly of weak minds, or else they insult over one particular Christians faith. Faiths foes often live in the same house with her. If our faith shines out in dark times, even as the stars are seen by night, then is it well with us. The open confession is in Scripture joined with secret faith, and the Lord Jesus puts it, He that denies Me before men, him will I deny. Yet there are seasons when the prayer must be carried secretly to God alone, and He who sees in secret will reward openly. Let not the scorn of mockers drive you from the mercy seat, but let it drive you closer there.
You say, I must believe my prayer has already been answered. Here we must speak with care and love. Scripture says, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believe that ye shall have it, and ye shall have it. Yet the same Word teaches us to overcome through faith, and that faith rests not upon our own fancy but upon the promise of God. Get the promise and then offer the prayer, and the prayer will be answered as sure as God is God. But get your own fancy into your head and you will only have to get it out again, for it will be of no service to you. We are not to dictate to the Lord how or when He shall answer, for prayer is often answered after Gods fashion and at the right time, punctually at the very tick of the clock of wisdom, not before nor after. Jacob prayed and his prayer was answered, but it was not answered in the way he expected it would be. His own plans were put on one side, and yet for all that he did get his prayer answered, though he went limping when the sun rose over Peniel. So imitate the prayer of Jacob in its humility of spirit and in its arguments. Plead the promise, plead the blood of Jesus, and say with a humble heart, Lord, do as Thou hast said.
Therefore do not leave the mercy seat till you have liberty there. We shall send Gehazi yet seven times if he perceives no sign of mercy at the first, and we shall continue in importunate prayer, still believing that Jehovah cannot lie and will as surely as He lives be as good as His word and fulfill His promise to those who trust Him. Never shall a man be unsuccessful in prayer who sets his face to win the promised mercy. But remember, no prayer is likely to bring down an immediate answer if it is not a fervent prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We must get rid of the icicles that hang about our lips. When you feel you have not liberty in prayer, pray in order to get liberty. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Add force to your petitions. If the door blocks the way, knock until it is opened. Prayer is the prelude of mercy, and often prayer itself gives the mercy, for prayer is of itself a comforting exercise, and our prayers are the shadows of mercy cast before the substance comes.
Your hope, sinner, lies in the altogether gratuitous mercy of God, and that mercy only comes to those who rest in Jesus Christ alone, waiting patiently for Him. Hide yourselves in the wounds of Jesus by trusting in His atoning sacrifice. Stand at the foot of the Cross and as you hear the blood of Jesus falling, drop by drop, surely in the ears of faith there is a sound of abundance of rain. He who died now lives and intercedes before His Fathers face, and His intercession is the sweetest prayer God ever hears, for there is not a single grain in His censer that is for Himself.
We will bear your unspoken request before the Lord with you, for intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent and it fits us to become Gods instruments. We cannot ask God to bless what His Word does not bless, for we must pray according to His will and according to His promises. Marriage as God ordained it is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and all intimacy belongs within that covenant alone, and salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. Whatever your unspoken burden is, we pray that the Lord will search it by His Word, that He will grant what is agreeable to His will and withhold what is not, that He will give you grace to submit to His wisdom, and that He will quicken you in His way. If the thing you seek is of the Lord, He will give it in His time. If it is not, He will give you something better, even Himself, and conformity to Christ.
Let this be your prayer, Quicken me in Thy way. Such a prayer is an index of life and can only come from those in whom the quickening Spirit has already taken up His abode. Go and plead the promise, and the Lord do unto you according to your faith, waiting patiently for Him who never comes too early and never tarries too long.
