| Back to Home Page | Back to
Book Index |
Answers
to Prayer
Answers to Prayer
Two Christian men lived near each other. The first was a
farmer. Since there had not been any rain for several weeks
the farmer got up
one morning and prayed for rain
but there was no rain that day.
His
next-door neighbor was also up early
but he was praying that it would not
rain
because he was taking an unsaved friend fishing that morning. There was
no rain that day.
God
hears both requests
but he can’t answer both. He will do that which glorifies
him the most.
Answer to Prayer
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
He
made me weak that I might obey.
I
asked for health that I might do great things;
He
gave me grace that I might do better things.
I
asked for riches that I might be happy;
He
gave me poverty that I might be wise.
I
asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
He
gave me weakness that I might feel a need of God.
I
asked for all things that I mi9ght enjoy life;
He
gave me life that I might enjoy all things.
I
received nothing I had asked for;
He
gave me all that I had hoped for.
Answered Prayer
A pastor in England told his young
sons about a missionary who had gone from their church to far-off Sri
Lanka. He described the hardships
she would experience and told how she would often encounter poisonous
snakes. Freddie
who was only 5
kept thinking about those dangerous reptiles. That night during his bedtime prayer
his father heard him say in a quivering voice
"O dear God
please take
care of Miss Price. Keep her safe
from those snakes."
The power of the child's intercessory
prayer was soon demonstrated. For as the missionary was returning from a
meeting one day
she saw lurking across her path a small but very deadly
snake. Within striking range and
with its head raised
the serpent was poised for the attack. Then suddenly it fled into the long
grass. How she thanked the Lord for
her deliverance! Some time later
the mail brought this word from her pastor: "Little Fred never forgets to pray
for you. Two Sundays ago he asked
the Lord most earnestly to keep you from being harmed by the snakes!" She discovered that it was the exact day
she had almost been killed.
Unanswered Prayer
Students at the university
level are usually familiar with an experiment performed with chickens. A
chicken is placed in a cage. On one side of the cage are two buttons
one red
and the other green. Every time the chicken pecks the green button
a small
amount of chicken feed comes out of a slot below the buttons. However
when the
chicken pecks the red button
nothing comes out. The chicken soon learns the
game and will repeatedly peck the green button to receive grain.
The
interesting thing is that if the experimenter reverses the effect of each
button
the chicken eventually realizes that pecking the green button now does
nothing
so it stops.
How
like chickens we are when we pray! When we turn to God to ask him for something
and are not granted our request immediately
we stop praying about it. Why?
Because we think of prayer as a supernatural button to press to get what we
want. We forget that unanswered prayer is still heard by God
and so his
silence is for a purpose. Perhaps he wishes to do more than supply our
requests. Perhaps he wishes to draw us close to him
test the maturity of our
faith
or force us to re-evaluate our request.
Unanswered Prayer
A newborn baby cries
frequently when he or she has needs
and the mother comes immediately
day or
night
to fill those needs. Thus
children learn to cry when they want Mother’s
presence. Later
Mother comes but does not pick up the child; she only softly
says
“Hush
child
go back to sleep.” Later she may not even come every time
the baby cries. Of course
the baby does not like this one bit
but the
feelings of “abandonment” lesson as he or she learns that Mother will always
come in the morning. In the process
all babies learn that they cannot
manipulate a mother
especially one who distinguishes between her baby’s needs
and wants.
So
it is with prayer. When we are young believers
God often answers our prayers
quickly. Later
as we mature
he uses unanswered prayer as a means of teaching
us to rely on him-he who know our real needs and who is always faithful.
Unanswered Prayer
Let us not be like the man
who was lost in the deep woods. Later
in describing the experience
he told
how frightened he was and how he had prayed. “Did God answer your prayer?”
someone asked. “Oh
no!” was the reply. “Before God had a chance
a guide came
along and showed me the path.”
Was
the prayer really unanswered?
Unanswered Prayer
Dr. Howard Hendricks tells
of the time when he was a young man
before he was married. He was aware that
certain mothers had set their caps for him on behalf of their daughters. One
mother even said to him one day
“Howard
I just want you to know that I’m
praying that you’ll be my son-in-law.”
Dr.
Hendricks always stops at that point in the story and says
very solemnly
“Have you ever thanked God for unanswered prayer?”
Unanswered Prayer
George Muller wrote
concerning his orphan ministry: “The funds are exhausted. We had been reduced
so low as to be at the point of selling those things which could be spared…”
Then a woman arrived who had been traveling four days
bringing with her
sufficient funds for the orphanage. Muller and his co-workers had prayed those
four days for something God had already answered.
Under
these circumstances
Muller made the following observation: “That the money had
been so near the orphan house for several days without being given
is a plain
proof that it was from the beginning in the heart of God to help us; but
because he delights in the prayers of His children
he had allowed us to pray
so long; also to try our faith
and to make the answer so much sweeter.”
Answers to Prayer
Two
Christian men lived near each other. The first was a farmer. Since there had
not been any rain for several weeks
the farmer got up one morning and prayed
for rain
but there was no rain that day.
His
next-door neighbor was also up early
but he was praying that it would not
rain
because he was taking an unsaved friend fishing that morning. There was
no rain that day.
God
hears both requests
but he can’t answer both. He will do that which glorifies
him the most. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Answer to Prayer
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
He
made me weak that I might obey.
I
asked for health that I might do great things;
He
gave me grace that I might do better things.
I
asked for riches that I might be happy;
He
gave me poverty that I might be wise.
I
asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
He
gave me weakness that I might feel a need of God.
I
asked for all things that I mi9ght enjoy life;
He
gave me life that I might enjoy all things.
I
received nothing I had asked for;
He
gave me all that I had hoped for.
── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Answered Prayer
A pastor in England told his young sons about a
missionary who had gone from their church to far-off Sri Lanka. He described the hardships she would
experience and told how she would often encounter poisonous snakes. Freddie
who was only 5
kept thinking
about those dangerous reptiles.
That night during his bedtime prayer
his father heard him say in a
quivering voice
"O dear God
please take care of Miss Price. Keep her safe from those snakes."
The power of the child's intercessory
prayer was soon demonstrated. For as the missionary was returning from a
meeting one day
she saw lurking across her path a small but very deadly
snake. Within striking range and
with its head raised
the serpent was poised for the attack. Then suddenly it fled into the long
grass. How she thanked the Lord for
her deliverance! Some time later
the mail brought this word from her pastor: "Little Fred never forgets to pray
for you. Two Sundays ago he asked
the Lord most earnestly to keep you from being harmed by the snakes!" She discovered that it was the exact day
she had almost been killed. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Unanswered Prayer
Students at the university level are
usually familiar with an experiment performed with chickens. A chicken is
placed in a cage. On one side of the cage are two buttons
one red and the
other green. Every time the chicken pecks the green button
a small amount of
chicken feed comes out of a slot below the buttons. However
when the chicken
pecks the red button
nothing comes out. The chicken soon learns the game and
will repeatedly peck the green button to receive grain.
The
interesting thing is that if the experimenter reverses the effect of each
button
the chicken eventually realizes that pecking the green button now does
nothing
so it stops.
How
like chickens we are when we pray! When we turn to God to ask him for something
and are not granted our request immediately
we stop praying about it. Why?
Because we think of prayer as a supernatural button to press to get what we
want. We forget that unanswered prayer is still heard by God
and so his
silence is for a purpose. Perhaps he wishes to do more than supply our
requests. Perhaps he wishes to draw us close to him
test the maturity of our
faith
or force us to re-evaluate our request. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Unanswered Prayer
A newborn baby cries frequently when
he or she has needs
and the mother comes immediately
day or night
to fill
those needs. Thus
children learn to cry when they want Mother’s presence.
Later
Mother comes but does not pick up the child; she only softly says
“Hush
child
go back to sleep.” Later she may not even come every time the
baby cries. Of course
the baby does not like this one bit
but the feelings of
“abandonment” lesson as he or she learns that Mother will always come in the
morning. In the process
all babies learn that they cannot manipulate a mother
especially one who distinguishes between her baby’s needs and wants.
So it is with
prayer. When we are young believers
God often answers our prayers quickly.
Later
as we mature
he uses unanswered prayer as a means of teaching us to
rely on him-he who know our real needs and who is always faithful. ── Michael
P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Unanswered Prayer
Let us not be like the man who was
lost in the deep woods. Later
in describing the experience
he told how
frightened he was and how he had prayed. “Did God answer your prayer?” someone
asked. “Oh
no!” was the reply. “Before God had a chance
a guide came along
and showed me the path.”
Was the prayer
really unanswered? ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Unanswered Prayer
Dr. Howard Hendricks tells of the time
when he was a young man
before he was married. He was aware that certain
mothers had set their caps for him on behalf of their daughters. One mother
even said to him one day
“Howard
I just want you to know that I’m praying
that you’ll be my son-in-law.”
Dr. Hendricks
always stops at that point in the story and says
very solemnly
“Have you ever
thanked God for unanswered prayer?” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Unanswered Prayer
George Muller wrote concerning his
orphan ministry: “The funds are exhausted. We had been reduced so low as to be
at the point of selling those things which could be spared…” Then a woman
arrived who had been traveling four days
bringing with her sufficient funds
for the orphanage. Muller and his co-workers had prayed those four days for
something God had already answered.
Under
these circumstances
Muller made the following observation: “That the money had
been so near the orphan house for several days without being given
is a plain
proof that it was from the beginning in the heart of God to help us; but
because he delights in the prayers of His children
he had allowed us to pray
so long; also to try our faith
and to make the answer so much sweeter.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
In his book Sit
Walk
Stand
Watchman Nee describes a preaching mission to an island off the South
China coast. There were seven in the ministering group
including a
sixteen-year-old new convert whom he calls Brother Wu. The island was fairly
large
containing about 6
000 homes. Nee had a contact there
an old schoolmate
of his who was headmaster of the village school
but he refused to house the
group when he discovered they had come to preach the Gospel. Finally
they
found lodging with a Chinese herbalist
who became their first convert.
Preaching seemed quite fruitless on the island
and Nee discovered it was because
of the dedication of the people there to an idol they called Ta-wang. They were
convinced of his power because on the day of his festival and parade each year
the weather was always near perfect.
"When is the
procession this year?" young Wu asked a group that had gathered to hear
them preach.
"It is fixed for
January 11th at 8 in the morning
" was the reply.
"Then
" said the
new convert
"I promise you that it will certainly rain on the 11th."
At that there was an
outburst of cries from the crowd: "That is enough! We don't want to hear
any more preaching. If there is rain on the 11th
then your God is God!"
Watchman Nee had been
elsewhere in the village when this confrontation had taken place. Upon being
informed about it
he saw that the situation was serious and called the group
to prayer. On the morning of the 11th
there was not a cloud in the sky
but
during grace for breakfast
sprinkles began to fall and these were followed by
heavy rain. Worshipers of the idol Ta-wang were so upset that they placed it in
a sedan chair and carried it outdoors
hoping this would stop the rain. Then
the rain increased. After only a short distance
the carriers of the idol
stumbled and fell
dropping the idol and fracturing its jaw and left arm.
A number of young people
turned to Christ as a result of the rain coming in answer to prayer
but the
elders of the village made divination and said that the wrong day had been
chosen. The proper day of the procession
they said
should have been the 14th.
When Nee and his friends heard this
they again went to prayer
asking for rain
on the 14th and for clear days for preaching until then. That afternoon the sky
cleared and on the good days that followed there were thirty converts. Of the
crucial test day
Nee says: The 14th broke
another perfect day
and we had
good meetings. As the evening approached we met again at the appointed hour. We
quietly brought the matter to the Lord's remembrance. Not a minute late
His
answer came with torrential rain and floods as before.
The power of the idol over
the islanders was broken; the enemy was defeated. Believing prayer had brought
a great victory. Conversions followed. And the impact upon the servants of God
who had witnessed His power would continue to enrich their Christian service
from that time on.
Roger F. Campbell
You
Can Win!
1985
SP Publications
pp. 35-36.
While crossing the
Atlantic on an oceanliner
F.B. Meyer was asked to address the first class
passengers. At the captain's request he spoke on "Answered Prayer."
An agnostic who was present at the service was asked by his friends
"What
did you think of Dr. Meyer's sermon?" He answered
"I didn't believe
a word of it." That afternoon Meyer went to speak to the steerage
passengers. Many of the listeners at his morning address went along
including
the agnostic
who claimed he just wanted to hear "what the babbler had to
say."
Before starting for the
service
the agnostic put two oranges in his pocket. On his way he passed an
elderly woman sitting in her deck chair fast asleep. Her hands were open. In
the spirit of fun
the agnostic put the two oranges in her outstretched palms.
After the meeting
he saw the old lady happily eating one of the pieces of
fruit. "You seem to be enjoying that orange
" he remarked with a
smile. "Yes
sir
" she replied
"My Father is very good to
me." "Your father? Surely your father can't be still alive!"
"Praise God
" she replied
"He is very much alive."
"What do you mean?" pressed the agnostic. She explained
"I'll
tell you
sir. I have been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send
me an orange. I suppose I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke
I
found He had not only sent me one orange but two!" The agnostic was
speechless. Later he was converted to Christ. Yes
praying in God's will brings
an answer.
Our Daily Bread.
Just a tiny little child
Three years old
And a mother with a heart
All of gold.
Often did that mother say
Jesus hears us when we
pray
For He's never far away
And He always answers.
Now
that tiny little
child
Had brown eyes
And she wanted blue
instead
Like blue skies.
For her mother's eyes were
blue
Like forget-me-nots. She
knew
All her mother said was
true
Jesus always answered.
So she prayed for two blue
eyes
Said "Good
night
"
Went to sleep in deep
content
And delight.
Woke up early
climbed a
chair
By a mirror. Where
O
where
Could the blue eyes be?
Not there;
Jesus hadn't answered.
Hadn't answered her at
all;
Never more
Could she pray; her eyes
were brown
As before.
Did a little soft wind
blow?
Came a whisper soft and
low
"Jesus answered. He
said
No;
Isn't No an answer?"
Amy Carmichael.
While Josh McDowell was
attending seminary in California
his father went Home to be with the Lord. His
mother had died years earlier
but Josh was not sure of her salvation. He
became depressed
thinking that she might be lost. Was she a Christian or not?
The thought obsessed him. "Lord
" he prayed
"somehow give me
the answer so I can get back to normal. I've just got to know." It seemed
like an impossible request.
Two days later
Josh drove
out to the ocean. He walked to the end of a pier to be alone. There sat an old
woman in a lawnchair
fishing. "Where's your home originally?" she
asked.
"Michigan -- Union
City
" Josh replied. "Nobody's heard of it. I tell people it's a
suburb of --" "Battle Creek
" interrupted the woman. "I had
a cousin from there. Did you know the McDowell family?"
Stunned
Josh responded
"Yes
I'm Josh McDowell!"
"I can't believe
it
" said the woman. "I'm a cousin to your mother."
"Do you remember
anything at all about my mother's spiritual life?" asked Josh. "Why
sure -- your mom and I were just girls -- teenagers -- when a tent revival came
to town. It was the fourth night -- we both went forward to accept Christ."
"Praise God!"
shouted Josh
startling the surrounding fishermen.
Our Daily Bread.
James Gilmour
a
missionary to Mongolia
was once asked to treat some wounded soldiers. Although
he was not a doctor
he did have some knowledge of first aid
so he felt he
could not refuse the request. He dressed the wounds of two of the men
but a
third had a badly broken thigh bone. The missionary had no idea what to do for
such an injury. Kneeling beside the man
he asked the Lord for help. He didn't
know how God would answer his prayers
but he was confident that his need would
be supplied. He couldn't find any books on physiology in the primitive
hospital
and no doctor arrived. To complicate matters
a crowd of beggars came
to him asking for money. He was deeply concerned about his patient
yet his
heart went out to those ragged paupers. Hurriedly he gave them a small
gift
plus a few kind words of spiritual admonition.
A moment later he stared
in amazement at one weary beggar who had remained behind. The half-starved
fellow was little more than a living skeleton. The missionary suddenly realized
that the Lord had brought him a walking lesson in anatomy! He asked the elderly
man if he might examine him. After carefully tracing the femur bone with his
fingers to learn how to treat the soldier's broken leg
he returned to the
patient and was able to set the fracture. Years afterward
Gilmour often
related how God had provided him with a strange yet sufficient response to his
earnest prayer. When we raise our petitions
we too can be certain that the
Lord will help us -- even though the answer comes by way of those who
"have no power."
Our Daily Bread.
Dr. Helen Roseveare
missionary to Zaire
told the following story. "A mother at our mission
station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an
incubator to keep the infant alive
but the only hot water bottle we had was
beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her
sister. One of the girls responded
'Dear God
please send a hot water bottle
today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And
dear Lord
send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely.'
That afternoon a large
package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it.
Much to their surprise
under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately
the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper
exclaiming
'If God
sent that
I'm sure He also sent a doll!' And she was right! The heavenly Father
knew in advance of that child's sincere requests
and 5 months earlier He had
led a ladies' group to include both of those specific articles."
Our Daily Bread.
In October
1983
I was
painting Van and Juanita Clark's home. They had a small black dog who would go
to the back door and bark and bark until someone finally got the message and
let it out. One day I was there
painting the outside of the home
while
everyone else was gone. Their little dog
however
took up his station at the
back door and barked incessantly all day. The sad thing was that it never
dawned in his little brain that all his barking was totally useless--no one was
home to hear!
Warren Wiersbe
Famous
Unanswered Prayers.
Unanswered yet? Nay
do
not say ungranted;
Perhaps your part is not
yet wholly done;
The work began when first
your prayer was uttered
And God will finish what
He has begun.
Though years have passed
since then
do not despair;
His glory you shall see
sometime
somewhere.
Ophelia Adams.
Cable television mogul Ted
Turner criticized fundamentalist Christianity and said Jesus probably would
"be sick at his stomach" over the way his ideas have been
"twisted
" the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Turner
made his remarks Friday evening at a banquet in Orlando
Fla.
where he was
given an award by the American Humanist Association for his work on behalf of
the environment and world peace. Turner said he had a strict Christian
upbringing and at one time considered becoming a missionary. "I was saved
seven or eight times
" the newspaper quoted him as saying. But he said he
became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died
despite his
prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith
"the better I
felt."
Spokesman-Review
May 1
1990.
In his book Why Prayers
are Unanswered
John Lavender retells a story about Norman Vincent Peale.
When Peale was a boy
he
found a big
black cigar
slipped into an alley
and lit up. It didn't taste
good
but it made him feel very grown up. . . until he saw his father coming.
Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to
divert his father's attention
Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the
circus.
"Can I go
Dad?
Please
let's go when it comes to town."
His father's reply taught
Norman a lesson he never forgot. "Son
he answered quietly but firmly
"never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering
disobedience."
Kirk Russel.
In an essay on prayer
C.S. Lewis suggested that God treats new Christians with a special kind of
tenderness
much as a parent dotes on a newborn. He quotes an experienced
Christian: "I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one
that I thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning before
conversion
or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds
they tend to be
rarer. The refusals
too
are not only more frequent; they become more
unmistakable
more emphatic."
At first glance
such a suggestion seems to have it all backward. Shouldn't faith become easier
not harder
as a Christian progresses? But
as Lewis points out
the New
Testament gives two strong examples of unanswered prayers: Jesus pled three
times for God to "Take this cup from me" and Paul begged God to cure
the "thorn in my flesh." Lewis asks
"Does God then forsake just
those who serve Him best? Well
He who served Him best of all said
near His
tortured death
'Why hast thou forsaken me?' When God becomes man
that Man
of
all others
is least comforted by God
at His greatest need. There is a mystery
here which
even if I had the power
I might not have the courage to explore.
Meanwhile
little people like you and me
if our prayers are sometimes granted
beyond all hope and probability
had better not draw hasty conclusions to our
own advantage. If we were stronger
we might be less tenderly treated. If we
were braver
we might be sent
with far less help
to defend far more desperate
posts in the great battle."
Quoted in Disappointment With God
Philip Yancey
Zondervan
p. 208.