Does God Answer Our Prayers?: A Mind-Blowing Testimony

By Constantine Ngara, PhD

The book is a moving testimony of the author's quest to study abroad against odds and adversity. When his study-abroad ambition hit the wall, he deserted God and sought to do things his own way but got shipwrecked. Like the biblical Jonah, he cried to God. God not only saved his life but also fulfilled his life-changing dream in a mind-blowing testimony. This book will inspire all believers waiting for a breakthrough from God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Jul 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9780228894926

Constantine Ngara, PhD

Constantine Ngara is an educator, researcher, and gifted storyteller. He has taught from elementary school through high school to community colleges and universities in three continents: Africa, Canada, and the Middle East. He is currently a sessional instructor. Constantine has published a book, book chapters, and several peer-reviewed papers on giftedness and talent among students.

Book preview

Does God Answer Our Prayers?

A Mind-Blowing Testimony

Constantine Ngara

Does God Answer Our Prayers?

Copyright © 2023 by Constantine Ngara

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-9491-9 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-9490-2 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-9492-6 (eBook)

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

I. Childhood Dreams

II. The Mourning Ritual

III. Starting a Family

IV. The Battle of Chinhoyi

V. My Godly Moment

VI. The C.u.t. Storm

VII. The Mutare Stint

VIII. The Turning Point

IX. Visa Application

X. My Father’s Departure

XI. Final Breakthrough

XII. Student Visa at Last

Conclusion

References

About the Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all believers in Christ

    who are waiting for a breakthrough. God

    answers every prayer whether we know it

    or not. It may seem like God is not answering

    you or His answer is delayed. However, God’s

answer is never delayed. In the fullness of time,

    God’s response will come, at His pleasure.

    We should never give up

Acknowledgments

To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). I share this testimony with deep gratitude to the Lord for fulfilling my life-changing dream. This testimony would not be available to the reader without the special contributions and moral support I received from a few organizations and several wonderful individuals: I am greatly indebted to the Canadian Government that offered me the Commonwealth Scholarship to study in Canada and the Chinhoyi Charismatic Prayer group that supported me with powerful prayers and prophecies which kept me going when all hope appeared to be lost. In particular, I am very grateful to; Dr. Sam Owusu, the Founder and Senior Pastor of Calvary Worship Center who kindly read my testimony and encouraged me to publish it; My wife Gertrude whose enduring patience, moral support, and prayers helped me to relive my past experiences and put together this testimony; Dr. Callisto Mudzingwa (of Adler University) who helped me with the initial editing of this testimony and, Dr. Samson Madera Nashon (of the University of British Columbia) who did the final editing and formatting of the manuscript. I am also grateful to Mrs. Susan Olubumni, who advised me on navigating the self-publishing venture. Last but not least, I am most grateful to my daughter, Vimbiso Ngara-Manyamba, who assisted me with appropriate Biblical references to support this testimony.

Foreword

We live in a period of time when we are witnessing some of the Bible’s end-time prophecies come true. According to the Bible prediction, …because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 12:24 NKJV). Consistent with the Bible prophecy, Pastor Sam Owusu, Senior Pastor of Calvary Worship Center (2022), commenting on signs of the times, noted the alarming pervasiveness of human depravity of this age! Many have given up believing in the Living God and are choosing instead to believe in themselves. Many are now worshipping money, science and technology and forgetting that it is the power of the Almighty God that bestows these capabilities in humans. Unfortunately, many have placed too much faith in human creations even to the extent of removing God from schools! We are seeing new generations just growing up without knowing God, their Creator. Some churches have even been closed down for lack of attendees and their buildings are now being used for other purposes. In this context, the author shares his testimony not only to affirm his faith in God but also to show how God is in control of our lives.

This book is a powerful testimony of how the author developed a strong faith in God. This testimony is a moving story of the author’s quest to study abroad against all odds and adversity and how he came to understand God more deeply in the process. The story unfolds with much drama and sobering moments. During his youth, the author called upon the Lord to fulfill his study-abroad ambition only to hit a dead end and become frustrated, and despondent. He then deserted the Lord to try his traditional culture’s alternatives only to end up shipwrecked. After enduring hair-raising experiences, near tragedies, shattered hopes, fear, and anxiety, like the Biblical Jonah, the author cried out to the Lord. God, not only heard him and saved his life but also fulfilled his lifelong dream of studying abroad in a mind-blowing testimony. The author feels indebted to the Lord to share this testimony with the hope to encourage someone not to doubt what the Lord can do for us. God answers all our prayers whether we know it or not and His answer is never too late. This book will inspire all believers in Christ and doubters who are struggling with yet-to-be-answered prayers. With God nothing is impossible! I have written this foreword because the author’s story resonates with my own life journey and inward Trust in God.

Professor Samson Madera Nashon

Faculty of Education

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Introduction

Background

It is a nagging question to most of us and even to the most devout Christians whether God really answers our prayers! Without delving too much into the complexities of how God answers our prayers, the conditionality of certain answers to some of our requests to Him, etc., the answer is simply, Yes! Of course, God answers all our prayers whether we understand it or not, for This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:15 NIV). However, how God answers our prayers is not simple because we often do not know His will. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought to, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now, He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27 NKJV). As we all know, we do not usually get everything we ask from the Lord, but that does not mean the Lord has not answered our prayers. The critical question here is: Do we really believe that God answers our prayer requests? Many times, we are doubting and wonder whether the God of the universe actually listens to us as we, like children, present our countless requests.

Suppose you immediately get everything you ask from God without even a hassle, would you not start doubting if that was really from God? Would you not also start bragging about how skilled and talented you are in achieving your set goals? Suppose you have been exceptionally blessed in your life to the extent that everything for you has been plain sailing and you have been acquiring everything you ever needed when you needed it; would you also not start wondering if you really need God after all? Meanwhile, we may want to be getting all our hearts’ desires without sweat but would this be a realistic expectation in this cursed world after our first ancestors, Adam and Eve were banished by God from the Garden of Eden? …Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life (Genesis 3:17 NKV).

What if you have prayed day and night and fasted for some time for something so passionate to your heart, but nothing happened? Then, you went further with prayer and fasting, even developing sores on your knees, humbling yourself in earnest prayers before the Lord, but you still got no breakthrough! Would you still want to continue praying for that request, let alone believing that God answers your prayers? You may have prayed in all manner of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), sought forgiveness and peace with the Lord (Job 22:21), and fasted (Ezra 8:23) but your prayers appeared to hit against the wall, would you not start doubting whether God really answers your prayers? Would you still see the point of requesting a God who appears to be so far removed, remote, and unresponsive? These are some of the questions that I (and perhaps other children of God) have been struggling with and seemingly failing to find no easy answers to. As revealed in Psalm 13, even King David, himself, a man who was after God’s heart in his darkest hour while fleeing from Saul who was trying to kill him, once thought that God must have abandoned him. Hence, his cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest (Psalm 22:1-2 NIV). However, despite our doubts on whether God answers prayers, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior Himself confirms He does, Ask and it will be given to you… For everyone who asks receives (Matthew 7:7-8 NIV). Jesus further emphasized the criticality of faith in our requests. Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:21 NIV). Though asking God our Father for what you want is encouraged, there is no guarantee that you get what you want unless you ask with faith and according to his will.

Despite listening to wonderful testimonies of other saints confirming the biblical claim that God answers all our prayers, nothing short of your own personal testimony can convince us and strengthen our faith. You need to personally encounter God in your own life to understand who He is. Hence, nothing short of your own testimony can reveal to you how the God of Israel is neither remote, detached nor too far away to hear your cry. He is truly a living God and our loving Father. He is not an imaginary being like the unresponsive pagan god that is fashioned by man’s imaginative craftsmanship. Inwardly, and quite ashamed of myself, I also had some doubts whether God could do for me the most wonderful desire of my heart, but I delicately kept this secret to myself lest I exposed my defective thinking to open rebukes by the ‘holier than thou’. As a child of God, if the Bible tells you that God answers every prayer, it must be true because God’s word does not lie, for God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19 KJV). Although I knew all that and prayed to God for certain things in passionate prayers depending on how pressing my need was, if I am to be honest, I must admit that I somehow doubted whether my requests would be granted. However, Apostle James (the brother of Lord Jesus) admonishes people who request God with doubts. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. (1:6 NIV).

When we are asking God for something, are we not just like kids asking dad for candy? As kids, we probably ask Him for anything and everything including petty, harmful, and even silly stuff but as a good dad Who He is, God knows what is good for us. Even denying us what we want so badly may in fact be the most appropriate response to us, according to His divine love and righteous judgment. Much later, we may become spiritually mature and perhaps realize that what we thought God denied us was in fact for our own good. It was because of His divine wisdom and perfect love for us. In fact, in His divine deity; God is not answerable to anyone but it is only by grace that He may grant us what we need or make us understand how what we want is harmful and not appropriate to us. God answers us according to His righteous judgment, perfect love, and wisdom, which are far beyond our human understanding and imagination. He does not owe us any explanations for His divine judgments and actions. Yet, He can, if He wants to, allow us a glimpse of understanding of His actions.

Sometimes, God’s response may depend on how we are asking, what we are asking for, and when we are asking for it. Obviously, a request made to fulfill selfish desires and ambitions or requests made with a wrong motive and negative attitude may not yield God’s favourable response. You ask and you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures (James: 4:3 NIV). At the same time, in His perfect love and compassion, God may decide to substitute what you have requested which may be trivial, selfish, or harmful to giving you a perfect substitute suitable for your circumstances. He knows your past, present, and your future, where you are coming from, where you are, and where you are going. He holds time and the intricacy of linking you with whom you will meet at His appointed time, context, and purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV). Furthermore, in His divine wisdom, God may delay granting your request preferring a more suitable timing even in the distant future. God’s time, Kairos (Greek-opportune moment, or right time) is different from cronos (chronological time) our own time.

You may have been asking for something in your childhood and did not get it then because you were not yet ready for it. You could have been aspiring for something that your personality could not handle then and you needed to be first tried and tested before you can receive it. In Joseph’s dream, he was destined for high office and honour, but his family refused to believe his dream (Genesis 37). Though he went through a dry period of trials and tribulations in his youth, he eventually became the Prime Minister of Egypt and saved many nations from starvation, including his own family who had rejected him because of his dream. It is possible that you will have conveniently forgotten about what you asked for with bitter tears over the years but God has not forgotten about it. God does not forget our requests. In the fullness of time, if your spiritual eyes are open and able to reflect back to your earlier life and listen to God, you may be surprised to see how God had in fact answered your prayers, perhaps not in the manner and timing you expected, but it is all by His grace. Hence, ‘Delayed is not denied!’

Meanwhile, you may have fervently prayed to recover something stolen from you; money, etc., and perhaps you never recovered it. Sometime later, you are suddenly called for promotion to higher office and your salary is doubled or even trebled, would you be able to reflect back, connect, and see God’s hand in your blessings? Not only is He consoling you after the loss but He is also advancing you, from ashes to beauty, from mourning to joy! … to provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair… (Isaiah 61:3 NIV). Has He not in fact answered your prayer in a more perfect way in which case you should be more grateful to Him? Sometimes, we do not see the big picture of things to fully appreciate what God is doing in our lives. God is holy and perfect in all His ways. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV).

In light of the foregoing, I narrate my testimony of the moment in my life when I felt for the first time that God had answered my prayer directly. I relate how I experienced a real God moment more than once and in one instance, I even looked up into the sky when I strongly felt like God was watching me. My testimony is situated in the context of my life story. I had conveniently forgotten what I yearned for to console myself from discomforting thoughts, but as I reflect on this testimony, God never forgot my request(s). Based on my testimony, I can confess that our God is a loving Father who is neither remote nor far removed from us as I used to think. In fact, God answers our prayers including those crudely presented requests. It is not by power, or your righteousness that God answers your prayers but it is all by His grace. I realized then that God will answer prayers even decades later but when God answers you, it is never too late for your need.

CHAPTER I

Childhood Dreams

Ambition to Study