I’ve been praying for several years about a specific financial need related to my overseas ministry. Missionary work is a challenge because 1) I’m far from a professional fundraiser, and 2) most people don’t spend much time thinking about needs in developing countries.
Eventually I hit a spiritual wall. I was discouraged. I had prayed and prayed and prayed some more. Yet it seemed like the promised provision was only trickling in. I needed a miracle, but I felt too exhausted to keep fighting.
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Thankfully, an intercessor friend of mine kept encouraging me with words of hope. I decided to fast and pray, and then my wife and a few other intercessors joined in for a time of fasting and focused prayer. I also texted several other friends, who agreed to pray with me for a breakthrough. Much as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms, my friends stood with me.
I stayed in Matthew 7:7 (NASB) and meditated on those words often. This verse says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Jesus gave us this iron-clad promise. But notice: He didn’t lay out a time frame about when prayers are answered. He didn’t say, “Ask, and it will be given to you in two weeks,” or “Seek, and you will find in 24 hours.” We must leave the timing of the answer in God’s hands.
Thankfully, after my friends prayed with my wife and me about the financial need in May, a dam broke. Money flowed. Over a period of week,s enough funds came in to complete several of our overseas projects. Half the budget was met in a matter of days. And my faith grew stronger in the process.
Waiting is so painful. We want the answer now! But we forget that patience is part of the process of receiving answers from God. Never forget that many people in the Bible waited a long time for God’s promises to be fulfilled:
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