March 7
2019
For Your Prayer is Heard
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. Luke 1: 13
There had been 400 years of silence from God following the Old Testament book of Malachi.
And then the silence was broken. Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous before God.
They prayed for a child.
And yet Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years.
When Zacharias went to burn incense before the Lord in the temple, he encountered an angel of the Lord, who delivered a message to him.
“For your prayer is heard.”
Zacharias and Elizabeth were both well advanced in years;
it is safe to assume that they had been praying for a child for some time.
The Bible says they were righteous before God.
Why then did God not answer their prayers earlier?
This is the question we often find ourselves asking.
Why hasn’t God answered my prayers?
I am in a solid relationship with Him, I’m doing the work He has called me to, why then are my prayers going unanswered?
We often wonder if God even hears those prayers.
“For your prayer is heard.”
Zacharias and Elizabeth wanted a child, but God had a plan, a perfect plan, for them to have a specific child in a specific time.
That child would go ahead of Jesus to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.
The angel was clear, “for your prayer is heard.”
It wasn’t that God didn’t hear or acknowledge their prayer, but the timing of the answer had to fit into his perfect plan.
So now, in their well advanced years they would have a son.
It may not have looked exactly as they had pictured it, but God heard their prayers and their prayers were answered. In the same way God has heard your prayers.
The answer will come in time, God’s perfect time.
It may or may not look the way you imagined it.
But it will be in line with God’s perfect plan for your life.
Be encouraged today –
“For your prayer is heard.”