Have you made your wish list yet? Do you know how many days there are until Christmas? 86! There are only 86 shopping days left this year. Does that send any of you a panic?  If it helps at all, there’s a website that is completely devoted to the Christmas countdown. You can find it here.

I don’t know if you keep a running wish list for Christmas or not, but I’m really curious to know if you keep a running wish list for God? Some people call it a prayer list, things they’re asking God for or to do in their life.

I’m part of an intercessory prayer group for survivors of sex trafficking. We meet weekly and lift up the prayer requests of the girls in the safe house. Writing them down helps me keep names and faces straight in my mind. Some of these girls I may see only once while others I”ll get to know and end up walking life with as they transition to their long term care facility.

One things I’ve come to learn is:

 God always answers our prayers.

• Sometimes the answer is no.

• Sometimes the answer is yes.

• Sometimes the answer is not yet.

Many of us go to God like we do Santa Claus. We think if we take our wish list to Him, He will give us everything we ask for and more. God is not a Jeannie in a Bottle  

God knows what is best for us because He is all knowing [Isaiah 40:13-14, 1 Corinthians 2:10-11]. Just because we don’t get the answer we want to our prayers in the time we want it doesn’t mean the Lord doesn’t hear us. Daniel 10:12-13 says,

Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”

Sometime, it’s just an issue of timing. I have been praying for the past three years to gain access to students in the school system in order to educate them about sex trafficking. After all, they’re the target.

I know this issue is on the heart of God and I know He would want His children to know about the dangers out there and some of the techniques pimps use to lure their victims. However, for three years I’ve only had the opportunity to speak to a few parents or counselors. It would have been easy to give up after three years of banging on the door without a response. But I couldn’t. Our children are too important.

Last week I received a phone call asking if I could speak at high school in one of the largest school systems in Georgia. I assumed I would be speaking at a PTSA event or to a health class. You can imagine my surprise when the teacher told me I would be addressing two thousand students, aka. the whole school. This was God’s way of saying,

Okay, baby girl, it’s time!”

After finalizing the details with this school, another reached out to me. I’m so humbled and over the moon about this. There’s no other generation that uses social media the way students do today. If they take in the message about trafficking, it will be on cyberspace before the school buses roll.

I don’t know what you have on your wish list for Jesus, but don’t give reminding Him about it. Your answer may be temporarily detained while He waits for others to get on board. It may be taking a while because of the enemy trying to thwart it. Fear not, as it says in the Bible over and over, God’s plans are never thwarted [Job 42:2].

I covet your prayers tomorrow at 2 p.m. I want God to hide me behind the cross and send His message about this evil forth and penetrate the hearts of the listeners to wake them up, call them to action and equip them for battle.