Answers
“And He who searches the hearts
knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints
according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27)
God blesses us in surprising, unexpected ways, and for
me, one way has been – books! I’m a reader; blessed with many books. Dear
friends have unexpectedly left me all or a portion of their libraries when they went to be
with the Lord. Others are gifts from those who are thankfully still with us.
Many are books and authors I never would have read or heard about, except they
were given to me. A recent example is “The Incredible
Power of Prayer,” by Roger J. Morneau, in which he recounts wonderful
ANSWERS to prayers, in today’s world – right now. Answered prayer is intended
for your life and mine, but even though the answers are there for us, we are
often amazingly slow to pray.
As a younger person, I learned to ACT! Quickly! while
others were still deciding what to do. ACT! Do SOMETHING! Right now! In recent
years, I have been learning something else: to pray BEFORE I act. But the
question my wife still must ask all too often is: “Did you
pray about it?” And – there are times when I didn’t! It might be a
Scriptural; Godly thing we do, but if it’s not His Will, it’s not RIGHT. And His
Will is revealed in prayer.
A problem is that we often don’t know WHAT to pray,
though when you think about it, Jesus modeled prayer by encouraging us to simply
pray for our daily needs and problems, such as, “Give us
this day our daily bread… forgive us our trespasses…
do not lead us into temptation,” and so on (Matthew
6:11-13). The message is: when you see a need – Pray! Ask GOD for His help! If
you know about it, pray about it – right this minute!
My wife and I have continued sharing together the Lenten
publication, “Seek God for the City 2006,” which
contains this prayer: “Savior God, there is a good reason
that You are the hope of people all over the planet. People have always prayed
and You have always heard them. We are grateful that You answer prayer at all,
because You have never been required to hear or answer us. Now we ask You to
answer prayer on a scale greater than ever before. Listen to the cry of
desperate people as they call to You for help. Hear us as we pray for our
neighbors. As You ANSWER these prayers, may those who pray become those who see
You. And may those who see You pray even more, and count on You for even more
awesome things.” – Here’s a question for us all: what will HAPPEN in our
lives if you and I REALLY become people who pray?
Prayer is amazing, and it is indeed true that God has “never
been required to hear or answer us.” But He does hear and He does answer.
Note that prayer is not so much our doing anything as it is asking HIM to do
something. We ask God to act, and we have faith that He will. We believe,
trusting that He loves us enough to answer our need.
There isn’t any formula for prayer. Jesus told us that,
right before He spoke the words of what we call the “Lord’s
Prayer.” He said, “When you are praying, do NOT use
meaningless repetition…” (Matthew 6:7). In other words, the “Lord’s
Prayer” is not so much a group of words to recite, as it is the KIND of
prayer we should pray – all the time. In relation to your specific needs:
merely ASK GOD to help – and He will.
The prayer in “Seek God for the
City” continues – “Lord Jesus, each of Your
miracles was in some way an answer to prayer. Reveal Yourself in the same way
today. Hear the prayers of people far from You. Enable us to pray for our
friends with empathy and faith. Show Your kindness and power so that we can
celebrate as Your disciples did, with the same loud, raucous JOY.” - Do
you lack joy today? God longs to give us joy; and it may be that our joy is less
than it might be - because of our failure to pray.
There are times when the subtleties of our situations
escape us, especially when we are shaken by what has happened; to the point that
we do not know WHAT to ask! It’s then that our Scripture takes on even greater meaning. The tendency of many is to become so upset that they (we) do not,
cannot, will not pray, and such moments are the very times we SHOULD call out to
the Lord. That’s why today's Scripture is so encouraging. It teaches us: “And
He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27).
The Holy Spirit of God is praying for YOU – right now! Even when you CAN’T pray
for yourself!
Regardless of Who or what some think the Holy Spirit of
God is, He is a Person who intimately KNOWS the will of God for you. He will
reveal what you REALLY should pray, and you need HIM in order to effectively do
it. The simplest and greatest prayer, by the way, merely goes something like
this – “HELP ME!” And, of course, He does. Your
need is to pray about the very problem you or someone is having right now.
You and I ALWAYS have needs, which is a reason Paul taught us: “Pray
without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Reach out in your heart to the
Lord, and the Holy Spirit will lead you in prayer. And note that not only YOUR
attempts at prayer, but also the Holy Spirit’s requests go IMMEDIATELY to the
throne of God. The Son of God, who is at the right hand of the Father, receives
them, presenting them perfectly to God the Father, who ALWAYS responds. The
answer you need may arrive immediately, gradually, or it may be delayed to just
that perfect moment for God’s purposes to be accomplished in your life.
The Holy Spirit and you aren’t the only ones praying.
God is placing it on the hearts of others to pray, even though they may not know
at all! Even the simplest prayers are heard. Your need will
be met though your prayer is not perfect. The Holy Spirit’s
prayer IS perfect, and it will be transmitted by the Son to the Father. Note
that God’s answer, though ideal, may differ from what you expect. You want an
immediate healing for your loved one, but it may be delayed. Physicians and
other medical personnel may become intervening forces to bring about that
healing. And here is what you and I don’t want to hear: the answer may be: "No!"
God has great purposes, and what is called "death," though it is awful; is a
RESCUE from this world. Always remember the Lord's response at the tomb of
Lazarus: He "wept" for those who loved Lazarus, His
friend (John 11:33-35).
In “The Incredible Power of Prayer,”
in “Seek God for the City,” in the “Bible”
and in our hearts, we are taught to PRAY. Let’s do it now, trusting that God
WILL hear you and me:
Lord, You see my need. Please HELP ME! Right now.
Please show me how to pray. Thank You. In Jesus Name. Amen.
