Posted By Ryan Moore
Over the past few weeks there has been a common theme in my prayer life and in the way I feel God is speaking to me through His word. The more stories I read or sermons I listen to, the more I can see it jumping out in front of me. It is almost as if every story, even every life scenario is pointing back to the same thing. With every step I take or conversation I have, I can see God’s faithfulness.
Throughout my life there has been a love for the story of Joseph in Genesis 37 through 47. It is easy to read through these ten chapters and remark at the sovereignty of God and his faithfulness to Joseph, but recently what I have been dwelling on is the space between chapters. For us, we can teach the entire life of Joseph in a 3rd grade Sunday school class with a blue felt board and a juice box, but no one ever stops to think about the years between a promise and it’s fulfillment. So often in life we cruise through biblical stories and cry out to God, “why can’t this happen to me!?” “Where are you in my difficulties!?” “I’ve been praying for years and it just keeps getting worse!” I have been guilty of this same attitude so many times, but recently I have felt the Spirit’s conviction on my heart to focus on the space between “asking” and “receiving.”
The truth is, in an American society we are programed to order something and receive it shortly after. The sign on the cash register at McDonald’s says “average serving time, 45 seconds” and the only thing I’m thinking while I’m in line is..”46, 47, 48, 49,… where is my Double Quarter Pounder!?” Not to mention, the state of total shock we are in if the waiter allows our glass to be empty. Shouldn’t he know exactly what we want at the exact moment we want it? The tragedy to this culture is that we treat our heavenly Father, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the same as we treat the kid behind the cash register. “God here is my order, don’t mess it up… and by the way, I’m gonna need all this in under 45 seconds.” We think God works suddenly and instantaneously, but the reality is when we pray one prayer, God has already done ten thousand things in order to answer it. You see, God is always working, moving, and preparing. When I pray for my friend in Kansas City to come to know Christ as her savior, I know that God has been working throughout her whole life to bring her to himself. And I know that someday this one prayer will be answered by ten thousand miracles that God has used to bring salvation to her heart.
The same truth is seen in God’s faithfulness to Joseph throughout his entire life. Joseph went from a boy seeing a vision, to 15 years as a slave and falsely accused prisoner, then eventually to one of the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth. We read that sequence and see God’s hand and blessing, but don’t think about the nights when Joseph was awake wondering why God hadn’t fulfilled His promises or all the hours he spent in a prison cell for a crime he didn’t commit. But God worked through each and every moment in Joseph’s life in order to save not only the entire nation of Egypt, but also the nation of Israel.
In the same sense, I have been praying for Oklahoma City Community Church. As we step out into this new life and new ministry, I know there will be days like Joseph had where we lay awake and wonder what God is doing, but I also know that God has already done ten thousand miracles to bring me, this team, and this church to where it is today and I know He isn’t finished yet. Therefore, I am praying big miraculous type prayers for this ministry and the people of this new church, knowing all the while, that God is faithful and He is always working.