The prayer that never gets answered...
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This post has been on my heart since January. It has taken it a while to get from my heart to my fingertips.
I will get straight to it.
God has put a burning desire in my heart. I say it is from God because I have asked [okay, begged]Him to take it away, and He hasn't. Not yet, anyway.
The desire has been burning for a few years now. I have seen flickers of fruition from this desire, but nothing even close to the fulfillment.
On a cold January day, as I was praying on the floor of the house we were renting at the time, I had a moment with God.
You know, the kind of moment where you strip it all down. You take away the fancy words and reverent behavior. You stand there bare naked [well, not literally] before God, scars and all, and you tell Him exactly how much you do not understand His ways.
Okay, God. I am STILL here. And this desire is STILL here. What are You doing, Lord? What are You doing? I just do not get this. Why can't You just take it away? It will be so much easier. I can move one if you take it away. I want to move on!
God has not provided a single solitary piece of evidence that He will fulfill this desire. Zilch.
But, the desire is still strong.
On that cold day, when I finished lecturing the Lord on why I did not understand, I flipped open my bible. Not really because I wanted to, more so out of sheer annoyance and frustration.
The pages fell open to a passage of scripture that I had seen twice in the weeks before this moment.
King David desired with all of his heart to build God a temple. He begs the Lord to let Him honor Him in this way. David even goes to Nathan the Prophet to get his thoughts. Nathan wholeheartedly agrees with this splendid idea.
However, that night, the Lord spoke to Nathan about David's request. God told Nathan that He would not allow David to build Him a temple. Instead of David building the temple, God wanted David's offspring to build the temple.
2 Samuel 7:
The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you:
12
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Did you catch the very first sentence of that verse? The Lord tells David that instead of David building a house for Him, He would build a house for David!
The house that God is talking about is David's family line! The House of David through his lineage and legacy. [remember, Jesus is in the lineage of David!]
Solomon, the son of King David and Bathsheba, would be the one chosen to build God's temple. Not David.
God allowed David to live long enough to see the start of the temple being established. How cool is that?
God loved David. So much. Yet, God had other plans with the building of the temple.
Even though David's intentions were good with desiring to build the temple, God still denied this request.
This story makes me catch my breath. For several reasons.
First, could it be that the desire that David had to build the temple was placed on his heart so that David would be the one to pray earnestly about it? Could it be that without David's heartfelt and fervent prayers regarding the temple, Solomon may have never been chosen to be the one to build it?
Could it be that the prayers of parents over their children are more powerful and effective than we could ever imagine?
Could it be that some of the desires of our hearts could be placed there for us to pray over our children?
Could it be that those desires may never go away because our prayers are shaking Heaven for the fulfillment of a faithful lineage and legacy?
Oh, y'all. I cannot put into words how much HOPE this passage of scripture puts in my heart. As mothers, we want our children to have a MILLION times more than we have. We desire their lives to be rich with blessings and God's favor. We desire their well-being and their joy over our own.
There is nothing on Earth I desire more than for my children to be vessels of God. To be used to do great things for God's Kingdom. To know their sacred inheritance as co-heirs of Christ.
My Hope is restored when I can know and believe that the desires of my heart will be one day fulfilled in a way so much sweeter than I could have imagined. My Hope is renewed and strengthened by standing on the absolute Truth that God hears my prayers and is actively producing fruit from these desires even though I cannot see fruit yet.
This post has been on my heart since January. It has taken it a while to get from my heart to my fingertips.
I will get straight to it.
God has put a burning desire in my heart. I say it is from God because I have asked [okay, begged]Him to take it away, and He hasn't. Not yet, anyway.
The desire has been burning for a few years now. I have seen flickers of fruition from this desire, but nothing even close to the fulfillment.
On a cold January day, as I was praying on the floor of the house we were renting at the time, I had a moment with God.
You know, the kind of moment where you strip it all down. You take away the fancy words and reverent behavior. You stand there bare naked [well, not literally] before God, scars and all, and you tell Him exactly how much you do not understand His ways.
Okay, God. I am STILL here. And this desire is STILL here. What are You doing, Lord? What are You doing? I just do not get this. Why can't You just take it away? It will be so much easier. I can move one if you take it away. I want to move on!
God has not provided a single solitary piece of evidence that He will fulfill this desire. Zilch.
But, the desire is still strong.
On that cold day, when I finished lecturing the Lord on why I did not understand, I flipped open my bible. Not really because I wanted to, more so out of sheer annoyance and frustration.
The pages fell open to a passage of scripture that I had seen twice in the weeks before this moment.
King David desired with all of his heart to build God a temple. He begs the Lord to let Him honor Him in this way. David even goes to Nathan the Prophet to get his thoughts. Nathan wholeheartedly agrees with this splendid idea.
However, that night, the Lord spoke to Nathan about David's request. God told Nathan that He would not allow David to build Him a temple. Instead of David building the temple, God wanted David's offspring to build the temple.
2 Samuel 7:
The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you:
12
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Did you catch the very first sentence of that verse? The Lord tells David that instead of David building a house for Him, He would build a house for David!
The house that God is talking about is David's family line! The House of David through his lineage and legacy. [remember, Jesus is in the lineage of David!]
Solomon, the son of King David and Bathsheba, would be the one chosen to build God's temple. Not David.
God allowed David to live long enough to see the start of the temple being established. How cool is that?
God loved David. So much. Yet, God had other plans with the building of the temple.
Even though David's intentions were good with desiring to build the temple, God still denied this request.
This story makes me catch my breath. For several reasons.
First, could it be that the desire that David had to build the temple was placed on his heart so that David would be the one to pray earnestly about it? Could it be that without David's heartfelt and fervent prayers regarding the temple, Solomon may have never been chosen to be the one to build it?
Could it be that the prayers of parents over their children are more powerful and effective than we could ever imagine?
Could it be that some of the desires of our hearts could be placed there for us to pray over our children?
Could it be that those desires may never go away because our prayers are shaking Heaven for the fulfillment of a faithful lineage and legacy?
Oh, y'all. I cannot put into words how much HOPE this passage of scripture puts in my heart. As mothers, we want our children to have a MILLION times more than we have. We desire their lives to be rich with blessings and God's favor. We desire their well-being and their joy over our own.
There is nothing on Earth I desire more than for my children to be vessels of God. To be used to do great things for God's Kingdom. To know their sacred inheritance as co-heirs of Christ.
My Hope is restored when I can know and believe that the desires of my heart will be one day fulfilled in a way so much sweeter than I could have imagined. My Hope is renewed and strengthened by standing on the absolute Truth that God hears my prayers and is actively producing fruit from these desires even though I cannot see fruit yet.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
If you have a burning desire, don't stop praying.
Does it align with scripture?
Does it glorify the Lord?
If so, keep praying.
The fulfilment may not be for you, but for your offspring. And their offspring. And on down the line.
Is there anything more exciting than to know that God has trusted you with the honor to pray fervently over this? He knows our hearts the best. He knows the magnitude of a mother's heart and the depth of the love for her children.
As I type this, my daughter is asleep right next to me. My son is just in the other room.
With renewed Hope, I see their faces. I picture the prayers I have prayed over these burning desires I have had. I picture the fulfillment of these prayers and desires into their own precious lives. Into their own precious families one day. If it is to be the Lord's will.
I will keep praying.
He is building my house,
jill
