Prayer for deliverance

If the present leadership has not been replaced, does that mean God has not answered the prayers of those who petitioned Him for a change of leaders? If the poor has prayed for redemption, and until now, they persist in being poor, does that mean God has not heard their prayers?

So many prayed for martial law and the reign of the conjugal dictators to end. Their answers were not heard, at first. They prayed from the 70s to the 80s. In 1986, their prayers were finally heard. EDSA 1 and people power highlighted the power of God, His long-awaited answer to those who prayed for change of leadership. In God's own way, in God's own time, prayers for deliverance were heard.

It is in this context that Filipinos are being asked now to pray collectively for God to deliver this nation once again, in His own way, in His own time. The call is timely as it will be February soon and it was in February that God showed His might at EDSA. It is timely as February will usher in the month of love and God is love. It is timely too as February 1 will mark the beginning of the heavier pressure of EVAT on our people. The call to prayer is to allow God to take over, not for anyone or any group to decide on the fate of God's people. The call to prayer is a reminder for all to wait on the Lord, to let go and let God, to keep still and know that God is God.

Waiting for the Lord is not always easy as we are reminded in the January 26 article of J. R. Miller in L.B. Cowman's Streams in the Desert, which is as follows:

" The Bible has a great deal to say about waiting for God, and the teaching cannot be too strongly emphasized. We so easily become impatient with God's delays. Yet much of our trouble in life is the result of our restless, and sometimes reckless, haste.

We cannot wait for the fruit to ripe, but insist on picking it while it is still green. We cannot wait for the answers to our prayers, although it may take many years for the things we pray for to be prepared for us. We are encouraged to walk with God, but often God walks very slowly. Yet there is another side to this teaching: God often waits for us.

Quite often we fail to receive the blessing He has ready for us because we are not moving forward with Him. While it is true we miss many blessings by not waiting for God, we also lose numerous blessings by overwaiting. There are times when it takes strength simply to sit still, but there are also times when we are to move forward with a confident step.

Many of God's promises are conditional, requiring some initial action on our part. Once we begin to obey, He will begin to bless us. Great things were promised to Abraham, but not one of them could have been obtained had he waited in Chaldea. He had to leave his home, his friends, and country, travel unfamiliar paths, and press on in unwavering obedience in order to receive the promises. The ten lepers Jesus healed were told to show themselves to the priest, and "as they went, they were cleansed." (Luke 17:14). If they had waited to see the cleansing come to their bodies before leaving, they would never have seen it. God was waiting to heal them, and the moment their faith began to work, the blessing came.

When the Israelites were entrapped by Pharaoh's pursuing army at the Red Sea, they were commanded to "go forward." No longer was it their duty to wait, but to rise up from bended knees and "go forward" with heroic faith. Years later, the Israelites were commanded to show their faith again by beginning their march over the Jordan while the river was at its highest point. They held the key to unlock the gate into the Land of Promise in their own hands, and the gate would not begin to turn on its hinges until they had approached and unlocked it. The key was faith.

We are destined to fight certain battles, and we think we can never be victorious and conquer our enemies. Yet as we enter the conflict, One comes who fights by our side. Through Him we are "more than conquerors" (Rom, 8:37). If we had waited in fear and trembling for our Helper to come before we would enter the battle, we would have waited in vain. This would have been the overwaiting of unbelief. God is waiting to pour out His Blessings on you. "Go forward" with bold confidence and take what is yours. "I have begun to deliver Now begin to conquer and possess."