“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”
— Oswald Chambers, Christian Author and Teacher
In Matthew 7:7-8 – Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”
This is one of my favorite scriptures… for many reasons really. The number one reason is that I wholeheartedly believe that you will never receive what you want or need unless you take the necessary step of simply asking for it. Yet, how many of us never take that simple but crucial step? We may wish for change. We may hope we’ll get a new job, find a loving spouse, or that a wayward child will find his/her way back home, but unless we fall to our knees and ask, we’re simply wishing without the power of God to back it up.
But What About Unanswered Prayers?
That’s a very good question, and one I, myself, have asked many a time. There are several prayers I have prayed, many fervent requests that I have made, that I have not received an answer for… at least not in the way that I had initially imagined anyway. Like when my real estate business tanked in ’08 and ’09. I asked God to put things right and he told me to move to Spokane. He didn’t refill my coffers, He didn’t take away the banks’ angry demands, and He most certainly did not restore my wealth (immediately anyway). Instead, he told me to move from Salt Lake City and start all over somewhere else. He answered my prayers His way, and not my way.
The Anglican archbishop and poet, Richard Trench, once said it this way “Prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven, but getting God’s will done on earth. It is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of God’s willingness.”
I can honestly say that had I not heeded God’s will, the blessings I have today would never have come to fruition. I held to God’s willingness, rather than battling with His reluctance to help me.
May you hold to God’s willingness to answer your prayers HIS way… it’s better for you in the long run, I promise.
