Foundations of Faith
PRAYER (II)
1. Pray believingly. “Whatever you shall ask, believing, you shall receive” (Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:24; Jas. 1:5,6).
2. Pray intelligently. “If we ask anything according to His will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). This causes us to think before we act and before we pray. Sometimes we make plans and then ask the Lord to help us and bless us in carrying out those plans, when the Lord did not want us to do it in the first place. Similarly, Jesus tells us, “Whatever you shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13; 15:16). Asking in Jesus’ name does not mean mindlessly closing our prayers by saying, “In Jesus’ name, amen.” It means that we pray with the confidence that Jesus Himself is asking the Father for the same thing for us. Finally, we are to pray with our mind engaged, and not using empty, mindless repetitions (Matt. 6:7). (See Assignment 12)
3. Pray specifically. “Friend, lend me three loaves” (Luke 11:5-13). This was a precise request to meet a specific need of the moment. Another example might be:”Lord, even though I do not like the way he does certain things, help me to be patient and kind to my office mate.” The young driver in this month’s The Race did not pray to win the lottery or for some other windfall, but for just the amount that was needed, and the Lord answered his prayer. (See Assignment 13)
4. Pray fervently and earnestly. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah … prayed earnestly that it might not rain” (Jas. 5:16,17; Luke 11:5-13).
5. Pray perseveringly. “Continue [or persevere] in prayer” (Col. 4:2; Luke 18:1-8). This is different from praying in mindless repetition (Matt. 6:7). It means not giving up if our prayer is not answered immediately. Jesus prayed three times at Gethsemane (Matt. 26:34-44), the apostle Paul prayed three times concerning his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7,8), and Daniel prayed “three full weeks” for a certain matter (Dan. 10:1-13). George Müller prayed 60 years for the salvation of his brother; the Lord answered that prayer shortly after Mr. Müller died.
6. Pray unitedly. “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:19).
7. Pray forgivingly. “When you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any” (Mark 11:25).
8. Pray thankfully. “In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6; 1 Thess. 5:17,18). It is good to mingle our prayers with thankful memories of the many ways the Lord has helped us and answered our prayers in the past.
Running the Race
SOME EXAMPLES OF ANSWERED PRAYER (II)
A young man, when courting his future wife a hundred miles from home, prayed that he would have sufficient money to buy enough gas to get home. When the gas gauge was on empty and it was beginning to look desperate, the Lord led him to look on the floor and behind the seats of the car. The few coins he found there purchased just enough gas to complete his trip.
A Christian woman related to me the following experience that took place in 1971: “The engine of my car began to ‘miss’ while driving home from the midweek prayer meeting. The next morning I had a baby sitting engagement, so I drove to the home where I was to work. The car got worse as I drove along. When the mother returned, she recommended a mechanic in a certain place about 20 miles away.
“I always ask God to take me safely to my destination whenever I drive the car. This time, of course, I asked God to get me safely to the repair shop without trouble. The car continued to ‘miss’ and ‘jump’ all down the highway, but finally I arrived at the repair shop.
“The mechanic picked up the distributor cap. There was nothing holding it on! A large piece had broken off.
“‘How did you get this car here?’ the mechanic asked.
“‘I drove it about 20 miles to get here,’ I replied.
“‘No car could run with a distributor cap like this,’ he said. ‘It was a miracle if you came 20 miles in this car.'”
No doubt it was a miracle. God performs miracles every day-we just need the faith to see them.
A couple of years ago I set out on a trip early in the morning. I was scheduled to minister the Scriptures in Indianapolis that evening, nearly 600 miles away. About 50 miles into my trip, a terrible noise started coming from the engine. I pulled over and noticed the speedometer needle gyrating wildly between 0 and 80. I got off the freeway and went to a service station, but the mechanic would not be there for another hour. As I continued on the freeway to the next exit, I began praying that the Lord would heal the car. Within ten minutes the loud clatter diminished and stopped entirely and the speedometer needle settled back to normal. I spent the rest of the trip praising “the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men” (Psa. 107:8,15,21,31).
The following incident was told me by a Christian brother who lives in the Bahamas: “It was a windy and rough day on the water. My dad and I went out in my boat fishing, quite far from land. Upon starting the engine to return home, we found we had lost the propeller.
“There we were, night coming on, in rough weather, and no propeller. I prayed to the Lord that we might find it. We then sculled into the wind to where we thought we stopped last. Dad looked in the water glass. There, about 20 feet down on the bottom, was the propeller! We were able to pull it out, attach it to the boat and get safely back to land. The Lord is our resource in all things.”
Assignment 12: How do we know Jesus prays for us? Write out a verse in John 17 and one in Hebrews 7 that answer this question.
Assignment 13: Write out at least three verses in John 17 that give specific requests made by the Lord Jesus to His Father for His disciples.