Intercession may be difficult,    but the end results bring  great joy. Pray with anticipation.

“This is what Lord Yahweh says:
    “Soon I will raise my hand and signal to the nations,
    and they will come with your little boys bundled in their arms
    and your little daughters carried on their shoulders.” Isaiah 49:22 TPT

 When we align ourselves with God’s plan, hear his heart and good intentions for us and then pray for those plans to be fulfilled… those prayers work!

In times of great tumult in our lives, when everything is turned upside down and we lose our horizon and call to God for clarity… those prayers work!

When the enemy comes in like a flood (Isaiah 59:19) we instinctively look for help from our Heavenly Father for a rescue… those prayers work!

Even when the heavens seem sealed and none of our prayers appear to be heard, yet we continue to direct our petitions heavenward… those prayers work!

Are you seeing a pattern here?

There is a God who challenges us to call on Him and expect his great power to counter our burdens. “Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” Psalm 50:15 NLT It’s our right and privilege to bring God into our lives at every point, especially our times of difficulties.

And He tells us to keep praying while waiting in faith for the answer: “Because He has inclined his ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:2 AMP (Even though it often feels like He takes our request and goes away forever!) Yet in waiting for what we have asked for while not seeing it come immediately, as strange as it seems to say… our faith gets stronger.

I love the powerful word picture in the verse at the top of this devotional. It’s a prophecy given by Isaiah that was answered in the 1940s when the Jewish people from around the world began moving back to a brand new, restored Israel.

Now the prayers I am concerned about today, I’m not planning on having to wait 2600 years to receive, but the message of verse 22 of Isaiah chapter 49 is this: prayer does work!

Don’t let delay (from your viewpoint) cripple your commitment to take everything to God as you pray. Allow faith to erupt in your heart and enable your joy be the evidence of the belief you are grasping tightly.