2005-10-29 - Answered Prayer: Gradually

How God Answers Prayer - Part 4

Previously, in this series, we learned two ways that God answers prayer are:

1. Literally and Immediately
2. He refuses to honor the petition. He says no.
3. By sending something other than requested.

Today we will learn that another way that God answers our prayers is:

4. He answers our prayer gradually.

According to Genesis 2:17, God said that Adam would surely die if he hate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

According to Genesis 5:3, we find that Adam lived to be 130 years old.

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

So we know that Adam wasn't struck dead at that moment that he ate of the fruit.

According to Genesis 3:22, God was not going to allow Adam to eat from the tree of life and live forever.

22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

So Adam would surely die over time, just not right away. He became a walking dead man like we are if we are without Christ. Christ said that He is the way, the truth and the LIFE, and no man may come to the Father except through Him. The fruit of the tree of life gave eternal life which Adam could have received.

Christ gave His life so that we can put our Faith and trust in Him and the work that He performed on the cross that we may receive eternal life.

According to Hebrews 11:1 Faith is belief in something we hope for and it is evidence of things not seen.

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We believe that Jesus is coming to take His church to live with Him in heaven as He promised.

That is an answer to prayer that all Christians have asked for. They have asked Jesus to forgive them of their sin, and save their soul, and give them eternal life.

The moment we each come to the understanding of how we are saved through Christ and not by our works, and we understand and know why Christ went to the Cross to die for us to offer us the gift of salvation, and we receive that gift, then we are saved. However, we are not transformed into our glorified bodies. We remain in these bodies that are dyeing. Once we pass away in this life, we will enter into the new life. But that will be over a period of time that God will have answered our prayer completely.

There is a saying that goes "I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved" It relates to the immediate salvation received by faith in Christ, the hope of eternal life, and the final moment when we are in heaven.

According to 1 Corinthians 13:13

13 But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Faith is our trust in the work of Christ. We have Hope that one day we will be in heaven with God, and love is the greatest, because when we are in Heaven that's all that will be left is love. That love is God. We won't have to have faith in His work anymore, because His work has been completed in our lives. We won't have to hope for the day we are going to be in heaven. And we will see God face to face. So the greatest of these is love.

So we find that God answers prayers gradually.

Series to be continued.

God Bless You, My Friends!
Rob

rob@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org

I want my life to be for the glory of God