Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart cry about rising and falling and coming close to success only to see it slip away has been heard, and I am praying with you.
The sense of delay in every area of life can be very discouraging. Scripture shows that delay in answer is not the same as denial. Sometimes God allows a delay because He intends to give more than we first asked, and sometimes He uses the waiting time to work in our hearts to bring us into alignment with His purposes. Jesus told of a widow who kept coming to an unjust judge until he answered her, and He said how much more will God answer His own people who cry to Him day and night even though He seems to wait long with them. The question He left with that story is whether He will find faith on the earth when He comes. Your part in the waiting is to keep bringing your request to Him in persistent faith.
There are also seasons that look hidden or unproductive but are really preparation. After Saul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, there were years that are passed over quickly in the account, years spent in the desert before it is said that he increased in strength. God often does His deepest forming work out of sight before He brings fruitfulness that remains. What feels like delay may be God preparing you and preparing the way before you.
It is also important not to trust in a formula for success. Scripture shows that the people of Israel tried to take the next city the same way they took the last one, confident they had the method, and they fell back in defeat. God does not always work by the same pattern. He wants us to seek His counsel and wisdom fresh in every situation rather than leaning on a technique or a set of steps. Worldly teaching offers many formulas that promise success, and there is a right caution toward them. True stability comes not from learning a secret principle but from walking closely with the Lord and asking Him for direction each time.
The experience of falling is common to all of us. There is no sin in falling itself, everyone stumbles. The wrong is to remain lying there. The prophet said he would bear the Lord's correction because he had sinned, yet he would rise again, for the Lord is righteous and will bring him into light. When you fall, get up again, confess what needs to be confessed, and take the next step with Jesus. His mercy does not run out.
He also meets simple faith. When a blind man sat by the road near Jericho and heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out. When Jesus came near, He asked him, what do you want me to do for you, and the man asked for sight. Jesus answered his faith. Bring your specific need to Jesus plainly in that same way and trust Him to do what is best.
My prayer for you is that the Lord would break any pattern of rising and falling that has held you back, that He would remove every hindrance that is not of Him, and redeem the time that has seemed lost. I pray He will give you clear wisdom for each decision, strengthen your faith as you wait, and establish the work of your hands in His will and timing. Where delay has been for your preparation, may He use it to make you more like Christ, and where delay has been from opposition, may He open the doors that no one can shut. May He keep you from trusting in methods and help you to trust in Him, and may He lift you up again each time you stumble so that you walk steadily with Him.
May the Lord grant you peace as you continue to seek Him, and may you see His answer in a way that gives Him all the glory.
The sense of delay in every area of life can be very discouraging. Scripture shows that delay in answer is not the same as denial. Sometimes God allows a delay because He intends to give more than we first asked, and sometimes He uses the waiting time to work in our hearts to bring us into alignment with His purposes. Jesus told of a widow who kept coming to an unjust judge until he answered her, and He said how much more will God answer His own people who cry to Him day and night even though He seems to wait long with them. The question He left with that story is whether He will find faith on the earth when He comes. Your part in the waiting is to keep bringing your request to Him in persistent faith.
There are also seasons that look hidden or unproductive but are really preparation. After Saul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, there were years that are passed over quickly in the account, years spent in the desert before it is said that he increased in strength. God often does His deepest forming work out of sight before He brings fruitfulness that remains. What feels like delay may be God preparing you and preparing the way before you.
It is also important not to trust in a formula for success. Scripture shows that the people of Israel tried to take the next city the same way they took the last one, confident they had the method, and they fell back in defeat. God does not always work by the same pattern. He wants us to seek His counsel and wisdom fresh in every situation rather than leaning on a technique or a set of steps. Worldly teaching offers many formulas that promise success, and there is a right caution toward them. True stability comes not from learning a secret principle but from walking closely with the Lord and asking Him for direction each time.
The experience of falling is common to all of us. There is no sin in falling itself, everyone stumbles. The wrong is to remain lying there. The prophet said he would bear the Lord's correction because he had sinned, yet he would rise again, for the Lord is righteous and will bring him into light. When you fall, get up again, confess what needs to be confessed, and take the next step with Jesus. His mercy does not run out.
He also meets simple faith. When a blind man sat by the road near Jericho and heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out. When Jesus came near, He asked him, what do you want me to do for you, and the man asked for sight. Jesus answered his faith. Bring your specific need to Jesus plainly in that same way and trust Him to do what is best.
My prayer for you is that the Lord would break any pattern of rising and falling that has held you back, that He would remove every hindrance that is not of Him, and redeem the time that has seemed lost. I pray He will give you clear wisdom for each decision, strengthen your faith as you wait, and establish the work of your hands in His will and timing. Where delay has been for your preparation, may He use it to make you more like Christ, and where delay has been from opposition, may He open the doors that no one can shut. May He keep you from trusting in methods and help you to trust in Him, and may He lift you up again each time you stumble so that you walk steadily with Him.
May the Lord grant you peace as you continue to seek Him, and may you see His answer in a way that gives Him all the glory.
