When God Delays

Mathew 25

By Odon Bulamba

 

Thank you for all your prayers and all for being present today.  Today I’m going to share with you a short and simple topic: when Jesus delays.  Most of the time we need to see God intervene as fast as possible but He doesn’t, He takes time.  What can we do?

 

Phil 4: 6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

 

Somehow, don’t worry, don’t be shocked with the situation you are crossing, don’t be disappointed with what you see but in every situation, go in front of God and talk to Him.  Use your prayers as a tool, tell God about it and give supplications.  In French that means to beg, “please give this to me, I need it”.  It means to present to that person what you are thinking about.  It means to express yourself in a way that you will get what you need, to ask with all your heart and present your case in order to earn what you need.  God our Father, knows all our needs and understands who we are but He wants us to talk to Him.

 

What is a prayer?  Many people think that praying means kneeling, raising hands, closing eyes and looking at the sky.  Many people think that it means standing at the wall hitting their heads.  Some think, you have to be on your knees 40 days and 40 nights.  Prayer is simply your communication with God and when you talk to your friend you don’t only talk about your daily problems but you will talk about your day, the future, what if’s etc.  Talk to God like you talk to your father, “dad how are you today, when are we going to do this and that”.  Exchanging ideas.

 

In Mathew 25 there is a story of 10 beautiful girls who have prepared themselves for the bridegroom to come to marry them.  As they were waiting it was getting late because the groom delayed.  At around midnight there was a shout, “the lord has come”.  Five of them had brought oil before going to the place but others did not care because they believed they had enough. 

 

My point here is about those 10 virgin girls.  These girls were educated, they knew where to go and understood the meaning of life and kept themselves from other men and were virgins.  Those who were not virgins did not have right to be married unless they were a widow.  If it was discovered that you are not a virgin, you could be stoned to death.  These girls started to train themselves in how to take care of the house and family and their fiancée met with them. Saying I Love is not enough when you start a relationship but your actions and way you think will add to the “I love you”.

 

Many boys will start to love a girl for the appearance while their actions are ugly.  People will become engaged after taking time to know each other and observe each other.  Colleen will know Keith very well and she will know if something happened in the house was the caused by Keith because she understands the person.  Our relationship with God is the same.  When we tell Jesus we love him, He says I love you too but we have to become husband and wife.  Jesus knows our weaknesses and strengtHoly Spirit.  Sometimes we think God is weak when He delays.

 

As the 10 virgins prepared for their marriage, they would have told people that today is the day of our marriage.  Before Ange wedded Pete, she took time.  Ladies will choose what to eat and not eat and think in advance what they will wear.  Pete went to town to a men’s suit hire shop and they chose what to wear on that day.  Ange also had to find what to wear on that day because it was a special day.  A day that can’t be compared to other days.

 

The 10 virgin girls found all they needed for the wedding ceremony.  Some took oil and lamps while it was day time.  Others took only lamps believing that if it delays a bit, we will use our lamps but during the night we will sleep. 

 

When Jesus came, it was midnight, He also delayed.  Why didn’t the bridegroom of the 10 virgins come during the day when he could see the appearance of these beautiful ladies who had prepared themselves.  When he arrived, the five with oil said to the five without oil, “because you don’t have enough, go and buy some” and they thought it was a good idea.  When the five virgins came back, the door was closed.  Whose fault was that? Should we blame them for not taking enough oil, or the groom for being late or the other five girls who advised them to go out.  If I were among the 5 foolish, I would say, “no I’m not going out, it’s dark and my lamp is dead, it is too dangerous, who will save me?  I will stay inside and benefit from your light”.  The light could have been shared, it can’t be hidden from others.

 

That is where the church today is, we don’t want to make the right decision because we think it’s better to have our own way, not to follow others or listen to others.  E.g. some people will tell you that in our church, this is how we pray and this is how it must be done.  If you pray in a different way, then your prayers are not good. 

 

Ange can sing a song from Hillsong, “I give you my heart,” and maybe she sang it better than Darlene and maybe Darlene will say, “no Ange, you have to find your own song and not sing or publish my song”.  Christians today are telling each other not to use our songs without permission.  We get it for free so we should give for free.  We have to buy cd’s and books. They will tell you to go outside and find your own oil and your own anointment because my song blesses others.  “I’m so amazing and I’m happy when I see people singing my song but I want to be the only worship leader and when others use my song, they don’t lead properly”, and they tell others to compose their own songs.

 

Those foolish virgins believed it was a good idea to find oil and they wasted time by living a life of competition to get their own oil. The lord didn’t need 20 lamps in the room.  One light was enough.  Maybe all ten could agree to share the lamps.  They could have used one lamp at a time rather than 10.  There are strategies of working with others.  Moses was anointed and he shared with 70 people.  The little boy who had one fish shared it and it fed thousands.  When you have time to pray, pray for others.  When you read the Word of God, share it with others.

 

Sometimes Jesus drags His feet and walks slower than a snail and when He reaches you, you wonder where He was.  A good example of this is in John 11, the story of Lazarus who was a friend of Jesus.  The friends and family of Lazarus sent a message to Jesus that His friend is sick.  Jesus answered, “he won’t die but if so, all for the glory of God”.  Jesus was only 3km away from Lazarus.  It took two days to reach there.  We all have a best friend and when they tell you that your friend is seriously sick and you are only 3km away, you will go.  But Jesus decided to take days.  Then He came dragging his feet.  Hi Mary, hi Martha.  “Jesus, if You were here, this would not happen.  Where were you?”  Jesus asked, “what happened?” Jesus knew of course.

 

Imagine shouting to a friend for help and they turn up really late and tell you, “I was talking to people”.  You will feel angry.  Jesus told Lazarus to come out. The family said, “Four days have passed now, he will smell bad, better to stay there with the dead”.  Imagine if your family tells God, “don’t give it to her now because she is in a bad mood”.  You will be shocked because you expect your family to be on your side.  “Because you were not pure and not in a good relationship with God at that time, I told God to not bless you”.  Today churches are praying and trying to let God know that those who are weak and dying spiritually don’t deserve life because they don’t want others to progress spiritually.

 

Colleen for example may tell someone that I read the Bible and God is love and someone will tell her, no you don’t understand it, you are twisting the word and she will get a box full of attacks because of what she believes in.  You meet with someone, “oh you pray, where abouts?  Oh with LBC.  Oh that church is not really big, why do you go there?  I’m a member of a big church with a big reputation, and my pastor is a big well known pastor”.  You feel shame of your little church and you feel you should go to this big church with a big singer and band etc.

 

Jesus said He wanted to bring Lazarus to life for God’s glory.  People may show you that you don’t deserve to be close to God.  Many people ask when they will see Little Bethlehem Church as a big church.  Many prefer to be part of a big church so they can hide themselves. 

 

You have pay some “great men of God” $200 to shake their hand because it is full of anointing and people pay for that anointment.  The “man of God” will take the money and if he shakes 100 hands, he will receive $20,000 for one Sunday.  Anointment is not what you touch with your hand or see with your eyes.  Do you need anointment? Pray to God, present to God your needs through prayers and after praying, God will listen to you and do something.

 

Lazarus came out and people saw and were happy to see him alive.  When God raises you up, how many people are happy.  In 2011/12, colleen started to have an issue with her boss at work who was mean to her.  I asked God, “Why this? Why do people have to treat others harshly just because they are bosses and above us.  They forget that all authority comes from you God”.  One time, miraculously I fell asleep and I dreamed Colleen was getting a PhD and we were singing at the river and then Colleen’s old boss asked for a job from Colleen.  Colleen is now back in the same place, what will happen Colleen if she asks you for a job?  You will feel, this is my turn now.  When God raises us up, we become stronger than others.

 

We sometimes feel like nothing but God is able to raise us up.  When he takes longer, He gives us more chance to be prepared.  We should stay inside and be next to others to work with others hand in hand and not be like the 5 foolish virgins who went outside. 

 

Next time I will explain what anointment is.  What does it mean when we say, I need anointment?  Is it for God to throw oil over you or for you to shower in oil?  Many people in churches today will buy some oil and pray for it and put it on your head and now you are anointed.  You are now someone special.  Putting oil on the head is not the anointment but a symbol to show this is the way.  Was Jesus anointed? His disciples? Are we?  Yes, but what is anointment (talk about this next time) because we need to know we can be good and have all the gifts but we lose one piece of information and be separate.  We forget about anointment.  We pray for miracles, gifts etc but forget about anointment and many don’t even know what it is.  We often say, “The program today was so anointed today,” but we don’t know what it means. 

 

I went to doctor two days ago and he said he will take my temperature.  I thought, ok, take it, where is it?  I sweat at the gym but it’s a different sweat to fever.  To understand fever, I have to come close to a doctor or nurse so they can tell me that I’m sick and the temperature can tell us if we are sick.  The thermometer cannot work without you, the sick person.  The sick person can be there without the thermometer but they can’t know if they are sick without it. 

 

How to know we are anointed.  He needs to use the thermometer to know our temperature on the inside to know if things are boiling up or not.  I have a headache and someone can touch the head and feel the heat but they can’t feel the headache.  It’s difficult to explain our pain to others and very difficult for others to understand if they are not a medical person.

 

Jesus said he will send the Holy Spirit and it was a promise.  You need that oil of the Holy Spirit in our lives in order to see the light.  He said to us, you are the light of the world but all lights need oil.  Without oil, the light will die.  Where will I get the oil?  Who will supply it so I can continue to light the world?  Today, the oil doesn’t exist in the world, people don’t even talk about it or the Holy Spirit or how it should work.  In the day of the rapture, those that are not sealed by Holy Spirit, will not go to be with Jesus.  Not only to be sealed but the oil must be acting in you.  You can be a very good person, worshipping 5x a day but without the oil, you won’t go.