Hands at prayer
1 John 5:14-15
‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.’
(from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)
So God hears our prayers, but to see prayers answered we need to know a few truths.
1) We must pray according to His will i.e. keep focussed on what He wants, understand His word (the Bible) and humbly ask that He make His will known to us.
2) Realise that He can answer in several ways – YES, NO, NOT YET, or IN ANOTHER WAY i.e. your request may not be what you really need at this moment, and God truly knows what needs to happen in your life and His world.
KEEP PRAYING!
In answer to 2) –
I have experienced so much answered prayer in my life. The only trouble is it has taken me a lifetime (well 54 years!) to realise that God DOES answer all our prayer requests.
Some were answered straight away: “Please help me Lord find the school I’m visiting for the first time” as I’m driving on an inner city housing estate that has numbers (eg First Street) for road names when my A-Z has proper road names! Then lo and behold the school appears round next bend!
Some answered in a while (10 yrs later): “Please Lord I’d like to be able to afford to travel to lots of different continents and countries to see more of Your creation, more of Your people” I’ve recently been to China, South America, Africa, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand! – “All I need now is Antarctica and then I’ve been to all 7 continents, please Lord?”
Some not yet answered: “Please Lord help my 3 sons accept You as their Saviour and turn to You” They are aged 30, 28 and 22. I’ve learnt that God’s heavenly timing is very different to our earthly one.
Some a definite NO: “Please Lord don’t let my Mum die” She did die, maybe my prayer should have been “Please Lord heal my Mum” because I’ve recently learnt that death is God’s ultimate healing.
These are just a few examples I’ve had heaps more. What an AWESOME God we have, so full of love, grace and mercy.
I’m learing more and more about God as I grow older.
To God be the glory GREAT things He has done!