HOLD ON AND NEVER HASTEN GOD

Be not hasty to go out of his presence; persist not in an evil thing: for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. (Ecclesiastes 8:3)

Glory be to God through our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ!

Our Lord Jesus Christ promised that “whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13).” Indeed, God always will manifest his glory and power whenever we call upon the name of his Son, Jesus. Philippians 4:19 assures that “God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Thus we have no doubt that God has in store everything we need and he is ready to give us all whenever we ask in the name of Jesus.

That being the case, the Bible teaches us to persist in prayers until we have received what we ask from God. Luke 18:1 says that “…men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Therefore, in what thing you ask from God never faint – keep on praying until it happens.

Nevertheless, there one important thing we need to keep in mind while persisting with prayers – that God will never give you anything that you are not yet capable of handling and protecting. Most people pray for success in life, business, ministry, relationships and so forth but they never take time to evaluate their spiritual strength to handle the things they are asking for. I want to submit to you today that God is a master of profit and he never works for loss. Whatever thing that God gives to a person, he wants profit in return – and surely that person must give an account of everything given unto him. (Read Luke 19:12-26). Any person who asks anything from God must need to know that that thing is not given for her/his sake but for God’s glory and therefore that person need to deal with that thing in a way that will bring back Glory to God - and that is actually the profit God wants from his people. Remember what Apostle Paul said in 1Corinthians 10:31 that “whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

So the primary goal that God wants to attain whenever he gives anything to his people is HIS GLORY. To attain that God will always invest in people he is sure of getting profit from. He will invest his power and glory in people that are fruitful and can multiply. That why he directed Adam saying “… Be fruitful, and multiply… (Genesis 1:28).”

People who cannot reproduce and multiply what God has invested in them are not fit for the Kingdom of heaven and therefore God will always hold their prayer requests until they have generated spiritual ability enough to enable them to reproduce. Revelation 5:10 reveals that, by the blood of Jesus, all those who trust in him have been made kings and priests and they reign over the earth.

The fact that God has made us kings means that he has given each of us a specific domain within which each should reign. However, it is true that not all believers know their domains neither do they exercise dominion over those domains. Now since those people are not seated in their territories, God will always wait for them to get to their positions and exercise their authority so that he may be glorified when he answers them. God knows that if he grants their requests, while they are not strong enough to protect, the enemy will invade them and devour their inheritance – and that will be a loss to the kingdom of heaven. Read carefully the following lines from Exodus 23:27-30

“I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” NIV

The above lines are amazing – God is promising to give the land of the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites to Israel but he tells them that it cannot be done in one year. This does not imply that God was unable to drive these nations out in one year but he had a very strong reason for doing so. The reason was that the Israelites were few in number and thus were not strong enough to take possession of the whole land at per. That being the case, God had to drive out the enemies little by little while allowing time for Israel to grow strong and increase in number. If he had drove the enemies in one day wild beasts would become too numerous and disturb his people – and God never wanted that to happen.

The same happens to people concerning their prayers. God is always attentive and hears every request but before he grants your request he has to check your inner strength to see if you can smoothly take possession of that thing you are asking. If the power in you is not enough, God will be granting your request little by little to allow you time to grow and increase in strength. Remember that according to Ephesians 3:20 God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” If the power that works in you is not enough to enable you to take full possession of your right, God will keep silent for a while and allow your enemies to keep surviving until you have acquired enough strength to drive them out and take full possession. Therefore, hold on to prayers, be not hasty to go out of his presence; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. (Ecclesiastes 8:3)

So while God is driving your enemies out of your way, you have to go on acquiring power and increase in strength. In that same vein Paul said at Ephesians 6:10-12:

Finally, go on acquiring power in the Lord and in the mightiness of his strength. Put on the complete suit of armor from God that YOU may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil; because we have a wrestling, not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.

Brethren – go on acquiring power. Do not give up, do not hasten God – keep learning and praying until you are strong enough to take full possession of your inheritance.

God bless us.