God will answer your prayers better than you think. Of course, one will not always get exactly what he has asked for… We all have sorrows and disappointments, but one must never forget that, if commended to God, they will issue in good… His own solution is far better than any we could conceive.
What a comfort it is when the heart is heavy with grief to be able at any moment to go and tell everything to God, and pray Him for the help that no one else can give us.
In prayer, we inhale as God breathes his new life into us, and then in evangelism, we exhale to breathe God’s life upon a dying world.
Philip Yancey tells the story of a rabbi who listened for hours to a man’s complaints until he finally asked, “Why are you so angry with God?” he asked. Stunned by the rabbi’s question because he had not even mentioned God during the course of his long outburst, the man replied, “All my life, I have been so afraid to express my anger to God that I always directed my anger at people who are connected with God. But until this moment, I did not understand this.” The rabbi led the man to the Wailing Wall, away from the place where people pray, to the site of the ruins of the Temple. When they reached that place, the Rabbi told him that it was time to express all the anger he felt toward God. Then, for more than an hour, the man struck the wall of the Kotel with his hands and screamed his heart out. After that, he began to cry and could not stop crying, and little by little, his cries became sobs that turned into prayers. And that is how the Rabbi taught him how to pray.
Some people think that those of us who believe in social justice don’t believe in prayer, that we don’t pray enough. They think that because they don’t really understand what prayer is. They think it’s something that you do at a set time; that it’s just asking God for what you want. But prayer is more than that. Prayer is listening for God’s answer. It’s that intimate practice of asking according to His will and moving as He directs. I love the words of this song, “Lead me, guide me, along the way. For if you lead me, I cannot stray. Lord, let me walk each day with thee. Lead me, O Lord, lead me.” That’s what prayer is.
You and I must deliberately strategize in prayer for the daily, ongoing protection of our purity. Prayer keeps us on guard, our spiritual radar sensitive to the enemy’s ploys and clever decoys. Without this close contact with the Father, we become convinced that our careless behavior, our decisions, our habits, our general sense of what qualifies as worthwhile entertainment is somehow OK, that it’s “not so bad.” Yet all the while the enemy’s carefully crafted options of impurity chip away at our spiritual reserves and effectiveness.
There is nothing wrong with falling at the feet of Jesus in silence. God can hear your tears, he knows your heart, he knows you. You don’t always have to speak.
When we pray, remember:
1. The love of God that wants the best for us.
2. The wisdom of God that knows what is best for us.
3. The power of God that can accomplish it.
These – and many other words – are used to describe God’s great communication skills. He answers, asks, assures, calls, commands, declares, directs, explains, instructs, mentions, orders, promises, replies, responds, reveals, says, speaks, swears, tells, warns, etc. All told, God’s great ability to communicate is mentioned nearly 3000 times in the Bible! No one communicates more abundantly than God. But are we listening? Are our radios tuned in? Do we need to posture ourselves, like Samuel, to hear with a servant’s heart?
God does not hear us as man hears. Unless you shout with your lungs and chest and lips, a mere man does not hear; whereas to God your very thoughts shout.