# When your prayers are not answered right away

Category: Prayer
Key Passage: Genesis 32:24
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter number 32, if you would please. Genesis chapter number 32. And how many read the email I sent out about tonight? How many read it? How many read it? How many read it?

Oh, maybe half, maybe. And why God hasn’t answered our prayer for the election yet. And that may be a little bold statement, but trying to get your attention, try to get you in church tonight. And the honest reason why it hasn’t because you haven’t given enough money in the offering plate, that’s what it is. I promise you.

You know, preachers have got to get that in there once. I’m joking, of course. But God often waits. And we’re going to look at why God often waits. Genesis 32 in God’s word, Genesis 32. And this is where Jacob is…

meeting with, I believe, Jesus Christ, an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, a theophany—the experts, whoever they are, call it that. And it’s amazing what the Bible tells us about this. We’re over in Genesis 32. Would you please stand? Genesis 32, just out of respect to God’s word. Genesis 32.

And verse number 24 of God’s word, Genesis 32:24. If you’re there, would you say, amen? Good, good. Verse number 24, Genesis 32:24. And the Bible says, and Jacob—most of you know this—but Jacob means supplanter, trickster, deceiver, basically liar.

I think in our day and time, this word is often used of a person like him, a manipulator. Jacob, that’s what the name means, just a dishonest, deceiving kind of a person. That was Jacob. And Jacob was left alone. That’s very important. And they rasseled a man—I believe that was Jesus Christ—a man with him until the breaking of the day.

When he saw that he prevailed not against him—that’s an amazing statement—speaking of Jesus, he touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, “Let me go, for the day breaketh.” And he said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” And he said in him, “What is thy name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

And he said, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.” Israel means prince with God, or prince of God, someone will say.

“For as a prince, thou hast power with God and with men.” That order is very important. It’s always like that: power with God and then men, power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Jacob asked him and said, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.” By the way, I like it; he’s seeking the Lord here. He wants to know the Lord’s name. It kind of reminds you of 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people should call upon my name, shall humble themselves and pray.” And what? Seek the Lord, seek my face. The Lord, what’s your name? I want to know you more. We’ll get closer to you. David was a man after God’s own heart. And Jacob here wants to know God more. He…

Oh, verse number 29, Jacob asked him and said, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.” And he said, “Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?” Isn’t it interesting after he sought the Lord after his name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. It was a place of God, for I am seeing God face to face, and my life is preserved.

And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

Jacob didn’t get his prayer answered right off the bat. I mean, he really didn’t. I mean, he’s left there alone and he prays till the sun comes up. Friend, that’s a long time. I counted how many men we had from about nine until nine the next morning, somewhere along there. And it was about 14 different men that we had. And I was just super proud of our people for praying like that. It was awesome, but that’s 14. This is one guy that prayed all night long. That’s pretty awesome.

And to say that, to say, he didn’t get his prayer answered right away. By the way, I’m so glad that God’s people, you’re still praying. I woke up this morning; the first thing I got was a text from somebody. They had the praying hands—call it the emojis or whatever. I’m not good at all that. What are they called? Mojis? Mojis. Is that right? Emojis. I’ll get it right one of these days. Emojis. And it had all them, you know, and he’s like, “I’m still praying.” I praise the Lord, glad you are.

It just seemed like I was hearing that all day long, people like that. I pulled up down here; Little Joe was in the Land Rover, and he was looking on his phone. I think he was looking at all the elections and all that. Man, he was just into it. So I had the privilege of pulling up right on him. You know, you can’t miss those opportunities on Hock and Horn, you know. But we talked, and he said, “Yeah, I’m trying to keep it,” and he said, “I’m trying to pray.” Praise the Lord, God’s people are still praying.

And that’s right. Praise the Lord, not laying down and giving up and throwing in the towel. You’re still praying. And God often kind of waits. He delays. Jacob had to pray all night long. He had to wrestle with the Lord all night long. Often God waits because we get cleansed during this wrestling, this waiting with God.

Did you notice what Jacob was like when he went there? He was known as being a manipulator. He’s about to meet his brother, Esau, and Esau for sure knew he was a deceiver because remember he had stolen his birthright and the blessing. And that’s why he was fearful about it. He was known for that. His father-in-law knew. Remember how he kind of manipulated the cattle there? His father-in-law knew that. I think even his wives knew about it. Yeah, unfortunately, he had two wives. It’s interesting. Leah knew she could kind of manipulate him, though she wasn’t the favorite wife, but she could sell her son’s mandrakes to Rachel, and that way she could be with her husband. She wanted their child with him. But she knew Jacob kind of operated on manipulation. Some guys said, “We’re not going to sell stuff,” but Jacob didn’t do that. He honored that. He kind of worked on that scale; that’s his way of doing business. He was known. His name was known as trickster, supplanter. He was known for that.

But when the son came up, God said, “You won’t be called that.” No, no. He was known for something different. He was known then for a prince with God. What a change! From Jacob to Israel, and everybody said, “There is something different about that guy right there.”

And when we get along—and by the way, this election thing—some of it might be for us as individuals. The biggest thing about it might be the thing that gets us alone, wrestling with God, and it’s there where God changes people. The best thing might come out of this thing: Christians all across America getting cleansed because they’re seeking God and they’re wanting his blessing. It was when he wrestled all night long that he came out the other side of this thing totally a different man. He was cleaned up.

It’s so important. God sometimes just delays; He waits because we get cleansed when you’re really seeking something in prayer. Look at something about this saying here. Look in verse number 24, verse number 25. Look at this: “And Jacob was left alone, and they rasseled a man with him until the breaking of day.” Wow. We ought to talk about that all night long. Don’t raise your hands, but how many of you ever prayed all that long? Probably not a lot of us, and me too, but man, that’s amazing.

Not only that, but look at this: “And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.” I sometimes have thought—well, I think right at the very end, God touched the hollow of his thigh and made it go out of joint. But it tends to make you think that he touched the hollow of his thigh and he continued wrestling. That’s pretty painful. Most guys, when they get your thigh out of a joint like that, they go, “Uh-uh, no more.” But as he rassled—now here’s what I’m trying to get at—this thing of God cleansing us in prayer is a long and painful process.

It can be very painful when God puts his finger on things in our life and we say, “Oh, Lord, I don’t like that. That hurts.” And he says, “I know it, but I want to cleanse you. I want to change you.”

Many of you know—you’ve heard me tell this story, many of you’ve been around here for a while—it’s story number 48, remember that one? He’s been around here forever, about the evangelist. He was young at a Bible college and he went to preach a revival. He said the church had done a good job.

They had everything prepared, and they had the seating material, promotions, and had a good number of people. They had a Christian school. He had preached in the Christian school in the morning time. At nighttime, he preached to the church. He said, “They did their part.” The Walkers will understand that. You go to churches today; they understand all about that. They did everything right and had the people there. They said, “Man, nothing was happening.” I mean, nighttime and in chapel, nothing was happening.

If you remember the story, he went across the street and he spent, if I remember right, at least an hour over there praying in the park before the next chapel service. That’s very significant. He prayed for an hour. And then the Lord reminded him—remember that?—of that Greek test he took in college, and he cheated on it.

It would be very easy for him to say, “Well, that was a long time ago. I’m already out of Bible college.” And the Holy Spirit said, “Hey, if you want the blessing, you’re going to have to get some cleansing going on.” So he said, “All right, Lord.”

Remember the story, he called his Bible College president and said, “Hey, I’m preaching a revival in such and such place.” And the president said, “Yeah, I heard. I’m so happy and proud of you.” It’s kind of like he was more of their graduates. And he said, “Yeah, but I got to tell you something.”

He said, “I’m here, nothing’s happening. The Holy Spirit has convicted me about a Greek test, and I cheated on that Greek test.” He said, “I’ll bring my diploma back if I need to. I’ll study and take the test again. I’ll do whatever, but I’ve got to get right with God.”

And the president said, “You cheat? Give me the diploma back?” No, he didn’t say that. I’m joking about that. I’m not sure what he said, but they made it right. He went to that chapel, and he said, it seemed like the Lord said—he kept praying, “Lord, what do you want to preach?” It seemed like the Lord said, “It doesn’t matter what you preach. Just, just, I’m going to move here. Get up there and get her done, get out of the way. I’m going to work here.”

He said what he’d done—he said before cell phones, they had a couple phones—and there was a line of young people trying to get those phones to call their parents and get right with their parents after the chapel was over because God moved. It was after an hour. He had spent at least an hour seeking and begging and wrestling with God. And then God put his finger on something, said, “Hey, if you want my blessing, you need to get that thing right.” There’s cleansing. Such a good thing.

One of the greatest battles for a pastor that’s preaching to the same people all the time—I was thinking about it sometimes. Some of you have heard me over 3,000 times. You’re probably like, “Man, that guy, I’m so sick and tired of hearing that guy right there.” And to say, “Lord, I want something from you, and I want to be fresh, and I don’t want to be the same old thing.” And Lord, would you do something? It’s a process.

Some of you Sunday school teachers know what it’s all about. You just want something from God for your people. Boy, I tell you what, as Sunday gets closer, every pastor in the world knows it’s getting closer. And you go to preachers’ meetings, whatnot, and all of them talk about it. We all know what’s coming, and we know it’s a process. Sometimes in the middle of that struggle, I’m so frustrated. It’s amazing: God can give it to you in like five minutes—boom, it’s all done. Or you can study for hours and hours and hours and have nothing. It’s all God.

In the middle of that struggle, sometimes I’m like, “I’m so tired of this struggle,” so many years and so many times. Often, by the end of it, I say, “Lord, you know why I needed that, because it makes me get thoroughly right with God.”

Often this is one thing that happens at the beginning: I have a strong desire to preach a good message. By the end of it, the Lord convicts me about whether I have gotten right. I don’t care if I preach a good message or not; I just want somebody to get helped. But God has to change my heart, and that cleansing happens through prayer. One of the best things about us, whether it be the election or whatever, is that we just have to agonize with God. Hearing that a long time—that’s when God changes people.

By the way, that’s such a key thing I’ve already mentioned. I’m not sure what verse it is, but that verse we read right there—let’s look it up. Oh, it’s in verse number 24 right there. “And Jacob was left…” Would you say the next word? That’s key right there. We’ll preach about it Sunday: “alone.” This secret place. If somebody’s going to have their life changed, friend, it happens alone with God. That’s where he does his greatest work: cleansing and purifying, getting the dross out of there and getting the heart in tune with him, alone with him.

So maybe—maybe one of the many among the millions probably—is that God wants his people across America to get thoroughly right with him. Maybe ten million other reasons, but maybe God wants that in your life.

I like it that some of our people say, “Man, this thing is so important. This is not something to play around. This is a vital thing here, and we’ve got to have a victory here.” I love all the urgency. It may be God is just trying to get his people so urgent with him that they’ll seek him, beg, and he’ll be able to put his finger on some things. They’ll come out on the other side when the sun comes up, and there won’t be a Jacob anymore; there’ll be an Israel, a prince with God. That’d be a pretty good victory—to have a whole lot of princes with God walking around America.

Number one: Why does God wait? It may be—it may be God’s waiting to bless in this election, I don’t know, but it may be because he wants us to get clean. That would be a good thing.

Let’s look at something else. Why does God often wait? Look over in Lamentations. Lamentations chapter number three, if you would please. Lamentations chapter number three in God’s word. Lamentations three.

Lamentations is not the best time in Israel; it really is not. It is what the book says: lamenting, lamentation. It’s a sad time in Israel. It is like a funeral dirge. Jerusalem has been laid in waste. So imagine if you read this book how it just talks about the ashes and the smoldering and the smoke coming up. If you kind of visualize, it looks like there are dead bodies laying all over—just a sad thing, this book here. So I want you to know the context. It’s not when everything’s great. It’s not. It’s when everything’s pretty bad. But there are some gems in this book here, some great little gems in this book. Lamentations 3 has a lot of it, really. Look down in verse number 25, if you would. Lamentations 3.

Look at verse number 25. Now, this is when everything’s going bad: “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” That’s interesting. Verse number 26 really describes how we’re supposed to wait for him. Verse number 26: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” That doesn’t necessarily mean verbally; it just means in your heart, your soul, and your spirit, just quietly wait.

But waiting on the Lord. Sometimes God just wants to see if we’ll wait patiently. God values patience. I don’t like patience, but God likes patience, and he knows better than me.

Just waiting. This morning I put on Jack Treber’s revival time. It’s a little 15-minute segment. I like to listen to it; he has a positive spirit. I like to catch a spirit, you know. He was just coming on his 15-minute little revival time segment, and he’s like, “I know, I know, I know. Elections are crazy, and we don’t know it.”

He said this: “Isn’t it amazing? Before computers and all that, we could figure it out in one night. Now we’ve got all these computers and everything else, and we can’t even figure it out in one night. We’ve got all the tools in the world and we can’t figure it out.”

He said this: “But God already had it figured out.” I’m like, man, I like that. And he just kind of was encouraging: “It’s going to be all right. God’s on the throne. God knows what’s going on. He’s waiting.” It’s good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. You just wait.

Waiting takes faith. If every time we prayed, man, instantly we had answers to prayer, it wouldn’t take much faith. But faith pleases Him when His people just wait.

We used to have a dog for years and years, Sandy. When John was a little boy, he got her for his birthday. I don’t know how old John was when he got that dog for his birthday. I remember John—we were teaching about soul winning and all that—and John, a little fellow, went out on the front porch and he led Sandy to the Lord. She’s a golden retriever lab mix, you know.

And McKenna—John used to say he was going to marry Sandy, believe it or not. He’s like, “Oh, girls,” you know, “I’m going to marry Sandy.” John says, “That’s not funny, Brother Johnson.” Things change, amen. But Sandy was our dog forever. Sandy was a good dog; she really was.

I remember years ago we went on vacation. We got John King—a lot of you know John King, used to be here later years ago—and John King was watching Sandy. Sandy never wanted to leave the house. We have those collars now where if they go so far, it’ll beep and then it’ll shock them, you know, and they’ll stay in the yard. Sandy never had one; she just stayed there.

Ms. Tammy knows what I’m about to tell. The only times she would leave our yard, the neighbors had little children, and they would put their dirty diapers outside the door, and Sandy liked those brownies. I just lost a lot of ladies on that.

Besides that, she would never, ever leave the yard. She was just home. We said, “Well, we got to do something with her.” So, John King watched her. He had a chain-link fence around his yard. We’d been gone, I don’t know, for a week for a family vacation. We came back and went to pick her up. Maybe he called, but I went over there, and I still remember just like in the nick of time. She had somehow clawed that chain-link fence and was getting out the gate where the fence was connected. She had clawed out enough where she could get through, but you know how those fences are hooked on the very end. She had got that hook through her jaw. It was just pulling her jaw out. In fact, remember, King cut the fence and pulled it out, and her jaw was hanging down. It slowly pulled up. You never knew it was there, but it had a hole in it and everything for a long time.

I realized Sandy did not want to leave the yard, and it was kind of like, “All right, all right, uncle, you win. We’re not going to take her to anybody else’s house.” It was amazing. We’d pay some kids in the neighborhood to bring some food down there, put some food out there, but we’d be gone for a week and a half.

She would always, always, when we got home on vacation, she would always be sitting right on the front porch without fail. Year after year, we would just—we wouldn’t send her somewhere. We’d just tell the neighbors, “Hey, would you feed her? We’ll pay you,” and they’d bring food over there. And Sandy was—we came back every single time, she was always there. Honestly, something about that as the owners made us feel pretty good. She liked home. She didn’t mind just sitting on that front porch waiting for her family to come home.

When God’s people just wait on God, God is pleased with that. That shows God how much you believe in him and you trust and you have faith in him. God says, “I see my people down there. They’re waiting on me.”

When you wait in prayer, it may be years and years and years. You have to pray for Aunt Sally or whoever may be to get saved, but you just keep waiting on God. Every day you’re there on the front porch praying about that and just waiting patiently and in faith: “I’m just going to wait on you about this thing here, God.” God is pleased with that.

Sometimes we’re so quick to run and do this, run to do that. If God’s in it, praise the Lord; if it’s in the Bible, clear, praise the Lord. But sometimes, you’re just supposed to wait for the Lord on that thing. God is pleased with that. Sometimes God just delays His coming, His answer to prayer, because He wants us just to wait in faith for Him.

I read this story—heard it maybe yesterday, first time I ever heard it—that wonderful story, but I heard Mike Pence’s daughter—I forget her name; he’s got a couple of them—but she said years ago they were on vacation as a family, and the girls were living. Mike Pence had just lost two consecutive times trying to run for Congress there in Indiana, lost both times. So they were on vacation, and he was already a lawyer at that time; he was a talk show host also and doing pretty good.

The family was kind of debating: “Maybe we ought not to run again in politics, and maybe the Lord doesn’t want us to do that.” They were in Colorado on a dude ranch, just vacationing, and they said there was really a defining moment for their family. They were on this ranch and they saw some birds—some call them hawks, some don’t know—but two birds, they were out there, and they just had their wings out; they weren’t flapping, and the wind was just lifting them up.

Actually, they say it was Mrs. Pence, Mom Pence, the first one who said it. She said, “You know, if we do run again, we’re not going to flap; we’re just going to wait on God, and He’ll have to lift us up.”

From that, that’s kind of their family thing. They mention that often. That’s their family thing. And after that, God did lift them up. They won the Senate many, many times, then Governor of Indiana, and now Vice President. But when they just said, “Hey, you know, we’re not going to do all the flapping; we’re just going to let God wait,” sometimes God delays the answer to prayer because He likes His people just waiting on Him.

I don’t know what it is for you. Maybe God’s trying to cleanse some things in your life. It seems like daily God’s trying to clean something up in my life; it’s just amazing. It’s a daily routine often, and your prayer clothes when you’re alone with God—that’s when He changes you so often. Probably the best opportunity if you get changed is when you’re alone with God. And then sometimes God just wants you to wait in faith, and God sees you always on that front porch just waiting for Him.

Then one last thing, one last thing we’re going to look at, and we’re going to go home, amen. Look over in Genesis 18. Genesis chapter number 18. And I really want you to just see one little thing here. It’s found in several different places in the Bible. Look at it over here, Genesis 18.

This is where Abraham is meeting with the Lord. This is where Abraham went to the Lord. The Lord said, “Hey, I’m about to bring my destruction on Sodom.” Remember Abraham’s nephew Lot was living over there. So Abraham and the Lord have this conversation. He said, “Hey, Lord, you’re not going to destroy it. You’re not going to destroy the righteous with the wicked.” If there are 50 righteous, you’re all spared. He said, “Well, just maybe only five short, or 45.” “All right, all right,” you know. God said, then 40, and 30, and 20, and down to 10. Remember that? We don’t know how long it took; the Bible doesn’t tell us. Maybe that took hours to get there; I don’t know. We’re just kind of told the overall view of it.

But I want you to notice right at the very beginning of this thing. Sometimes I have missed it many, many times, but I always think it’s amazing, very significant. Genesis 18, look at verse number 23. Genesis 18:23. And Abraham—what are the next two words? That’s what God wants. That’s the key. “And Abraham drew near and said, ‘Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?’”

Sometimes God waits because He’s wanting you to draw near to Him. Of course, He promised, “Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you.” And then the same thing: “We’re going to cleanse your hands and purify your hearts.” It’s all part of the process. God likes to be close to you.

We’ve been studying the last couple Wednesday nights; we got off the regular subject about the God that dwells in the cherubim. And He came. He said, “Build the tabernacle; I want to dwell among them.” God likes to be close. And God sometimes waits because He wants you to draw near to Him. He likes that. He wants to be close to you. I wonder if God up in heaven is kind of smiling and saying, “Man, I have got to spend a lot of time with my people down at Rutherford County Baptist Church here lately. I spent time with ladies all through the day and even the middle of the night. And some of those guys were coming down to my house. And I got to spend time with my guys at my house.” God just likes it, baby. How many people have been drawing near to Him here lately? He likes that. “The prayer of the upright is His delight,” Proverbs says. He likes that.

You’ve heard me tell the story, those who’ve been around here for a long time. This is a little older; it’s story number 71, all right. But it’s about that little boy. Remember the little boy? He’s out in the country on the farm back in the day, and Grandpa’s going into town, and he says, “Hey, Grandpa, would you get me one of those Coca-Colas?” And Grandpa said, “Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.” Grandpa went into town and forgot all about it; drove back, didn’t get the boy anything.

So the next time Grandpa went to town, he said, “Hey, Grandpa, can I go to town with you?” And the little grandson hopped up in the little pickup truck, and they rode to town. Grandpa told him the same old stories he told him a thousand times. The little boy acted like he never heard him before.

They got to town, and Grandpa introduced his grandson to all his buddies and sat around and talked and all that good stuff, and they just had themselves a time. And they’re about to leave town; the little grandson said, “Hey, Grandpa, can I get a Coca-Cola?” Man, Grandpa gave that boy anything! They got a Coca-Cola, ice cream, probably a Snickers candy bar, amen, all of it, you know. Kit Kats have been my thing here lately, you know. Got them all. He was wronged out of his grandpa.

God likes it when his people draw near to him. Abraham, before he even started this—50, 45, all that—he drew nigh; he got close to God. God loves it when you draw near to Him.

Look over in 1 John, if you wouldn’t. It’s going to be the last place we turn. Look over in 1st John. It’s a wonderful thing, the end product when you draw near to God. First John 1 is very much about your fellowship with God. You get the relationship when you get saved; you become His child, you become a part of the family of God, born again. He’s really talking to His family in 1st John. He’s talking about getting close, having fellowship with God and one another in chapter one. Drawing near to God, having fellowship with God, all right? First John is all about the family of God.

Look in this: First John, chapter one, verse number three. Look at verse number three, if you would: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son Jesus Christ.” You get a group of people fellowshipping with God, and they’ll have sweet fellowship with each other. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son Jesus Christ.”

And now look at verse number four: “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” When you want something so bad in prayer, and you’re just drawing near to God, and you’re getting clean, and you’re doing what you need to do, and you’re waiting on Him, and you’re just spending time supplicating with Him—you’re drawing near to Him—you know what happens? Your joy gets full.

I think there may be a little bit of levels of joy in the Bible. “In His presence is the fullness of joy.” “Rejoice in the Lord always.” You always have to rejoice. We’re working on getting your joy back, you know. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” But you get fellowship with God; you start drawing near to God, get close to God. Man, your joy is full because you’re getting in His presence. You’re getting close to Him. It’s an awesome thing.

We have to—I’m talking, this is the dog Wednesday night, Ms. Barb, you’ll like this service. It’s about dogs then. How many of you know our little Yorkie, Belle? How many of you have—most of you seen our little Yorkie? Yeah, a little bit of Belle. I feed her every morning, and she knows she’s going to get fed. Very rarely do I forget; she always reminds me. She’s on it, man.

It’s amazing. I take walks in the morning time, and she knows when I get back, I’ll feed her. Tammy has actually taken videos and showed it to me. She’s set right by the door, focused on that door because she knows she will get fed. She’s just all about food. She likes that food. It’s in the kitchen, her little bowl, and I’ll go in there and get her bowl, you know, and in the closet there’s her food, and she knows all this. I get the food in her bowl, and it’s all in a little container, little Tupperware thing, whatever.

I get the food in her bowl, and she knows she’s about to get it. She knows. I’ve never—once I get it, I’m always going to give her the food—but it’s kind of our time to play a little game with her. I’ll say, “Hey, Belle, you want your food?” And she’ll kind of dance around down there, you know. “You want some food?” And I’ll say, “Tell me, tell me about it. Come on, talk to me, talk to me, Belle.”

Usually, she’ll start—first of all, she’ll start sneezing. She got it from a mom’s dog, Ladybug. She never did that until we babysat Mom’s old dog, and she sneezes all the time. Bell started to—she’ll just sneeze for a while. I say, “No, no, give me a real bark. I need a real bark,” you know. And she’ll kind of muster up and find her—she’ll bark a couple times. Once she barks, she gets some real barks out, you know, I’ll give her her food. That’s just kind of the routine. She knows she’s going to get food if she didn’t bark. I’m going to get her food, but it’s kind of our time.

God is the same way. He likes spending time with you. He likes it when you draw near to Him. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” He likes it when you come to Him in the time of trouble. He likes it when you just draw near to Him. Sometimes He waits. He says, “I want my children to get close to me.” I love it when He gets that attention. He just wants you to draw near to Him.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? I don’t know what it is for you. You’re probably like me; I have to get clean. Oh, God works so many ways. I have to just have a daily routine. He’ll clean me; then I get dirty again. Maybe He just wants us to wait. Maybe you spent time, enough time, with God, you’ve got faith about the election or whatever it may be, and you just go wait in faith. That comes and goes, and God is pleased with you waiting.

And it may be God just wants you to draw near to Him. He likes to be close to His children. Let’s do that tonight. Let’s draw near to Him. Let’s get real close to Him. Would you do so? Let’s all stand. And I’m going to have a word of prayer. And as soon as I say amen, our instruments are going to play. And let’s just get close. Let’s get real close to Him tonight. So, Lord, I want a lot of value out of this time. I like to get changed from Jacob to Israel during this time. I’d like to draw near to You, just wait on You. Would You come? Father, thank You so much for Your goodness. Lord, we do trust You. You know better than I. Lord, I would like to grow; I need to grow during this time. Help us to do so. Father, would You cleanse us? Would You give us faith? Lord, we wait on You in faith. And then, Lord, help us just to draw near to You. Bless Your people tonight during this time. And help us to truly seek You in a sincere way. Jesus, let me pray. Amen.

As the instruments play, would you come? It’s so significant when an evangelist tells that story. If I remember right, it wasn’t until he had prayed for an hour, and then God said, “Hey, you’ve got to get that right.” And there’s cleansing when you’re getting close to God; there’s a cleansing aspect. Jacob, he went in there as a trickster, and he left a prince with God.

Waiting in faith—just waiting, Lord, I’m just going to kind of put my wings out and wait on You. Drawing near to Him, Lord, I’m going to be close to You. I want to seek Your face. I want to know You. It would be a great thing if I come out on the other side closer to God.

Amen, amen. Aren’t you glad you got a God we can just trust here in these times? Let’s keep seeking Him. Let’s keep going to Him, getting clean, and waiting on Him, and drawing near to Him. He’s got so many things He wants to bring out of this—good things. And if revival comes out of that, that would be a pretty good thing. Let’s just keep seeking Him. Glad you’re in church tonight. Praise the Lord. I’ve been hearing people all over today saying, “I’m praying.” I’m praying.

It came in tonight, and I could tell everybody’s kind of working at keeping their spirits up. I’m working at the same thing. That’s a good thing. And let’s just keep waiting in faith. Glad you’re doing it. And praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, we’ve got the Lord just to rest and rely on. Glad you’re in church tonight. Glad to see every person, every single person here tonight. We’re glad you’re here. What a blessing.

Original File: When your prayers are not answered right away - Pastor Paul Chisgar Wednesday 11420