From Mighty Rivers

DID YOU THINK TO PRAY THIS WEEK?

Who, me? Did I pray? Hmmmmmm. Family is all well; kids are okay; boss didn’t get on me; no tornado flash flood, or earthquake. No, I guess I didn’t.

Life didn’t go flat, so you didn’t need that spare called Prayer. There are Christians who believe in praying. There are Christians who believe what will be will be. So let’s think about this thing called prayer.

A member of our church lay dying. I read some scripture and prayed. A few minutes later, out in the hall, a relative whom I respect, said, “Don’t get me wrong, but do you really think it does any good to pray?” I answered, “It may not change her physical condition, but I am certain it changed her, gave her peace and quiet.”

It can be documented that many people who were prayed for in their sickness got well.  It can be documented that many people who were prayed for in their sickness did not recover. So what are we to think?

I recommend that you develop your prayer life around the love of God, not around sickness, lay-offs, or calamities. If God doesn’t answer one of your prayers, one of several things can be the reason.

1. Things happen in a fallen and broken world. It rains on the just and the unjust. It rained on your picnic, but your neighbor needed that rain for his crop.

2. It was something you could have answered. You prayed for good health but kept doing dumb things which caused health problems.

3. He doesn’t know you. An unsaved person has only one prayer, and that is “Lord, save me.” And He will.

4. He has something better for you. Moses wanted to go into the Promised Land, but God let him die. However, Moses did get there with Elijah, and they talked with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. That was far, far better.