Lessons on Prayer
from When God Answers Prayer
by Bob Russell
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I know I’m a preacher today
because of my mother’s prayers. When I
was born my mother began praying that I would become a minister. She also did her part! She planted the idea in me when I was very
young. She would occasionally hug me
and whisper in my ear, “You’d make a good preacher some day.”
When I became
a teenager my mother never mentioned the ministry to me. Years later I asked her why she didn’t say
anything to me in my teen years about entering the ministry. She said wisely, “That was the wrong time to
mention it. I knew at that age you’d
want to do just the opposite of what I wanted you to do!” But she continued to mention the idea to God
in her daily prayers.
During my last couple of years of
high school I gave my mother a lot of gray hair. I’m sure at times, rather than praying that I’d be a preacher,
she just prayed I would be a Christian!
But in April of my senior year of high school I had a change of
heart. My dad took me to visit a visit
to a secular college I thought I wanted to attend beginning that fall. But on the way home, as I reflected on that
visit, I told my dad I knew that wasn’t where I was supposed to go. I came home and unexpectedly told my mother
that I had decided to go to Cincinnati Bible College and study for the
ministry. My mother wept, which she
didn’t do very often, and at the time I didn’t understand why. I didn’t know she’d been praying for so long
that I would enter the ministry. I’ve
since come to understand why I felt the way I did on that trip home. I was moved to enter the ministry because
God still answers prayer.
In 1993 our church prayed
fervently that God would allow us to raise 26 million dollars to build a new
church building. That was 26 million
dollars over our regular budget in a period of three years. That was double our offerings at the
time. It was one of the largest
financial campaigns a church had ever attempted. Financial experts told us it was impossible.
People weren’t told what amount to
give. We just asked them to pray about
what God would have them do. When the
day came, we received almost 31 million dollars in commitments! In a 4-year period we collected over 40
million dollars! That was an incredible
answer to prayer. Those financial
experts insisted it was a miracle. God
still answers prayer.
Snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo had killed ten people and wounded three others in the area round our nation’s capital in the fall of 2002. You may have read or seen on the news the dramatic story of how truck driver Ron Lantz called 911 after spotting the suspects’ car at a rest stop. While the unsuspecting snipers slept in their vehicle, Mr. Lantz and his friends blocked the exits and waited for the police to arrive.
What you may not have heard from
the national news media was the prayer meeting that preceded that capture. One week before the capture, Mr. Lantz and
fellow truckers were discussing the sniper case over their CBs. “Finally, Lantz and several others told
everybody to pull off the road,” columnist Terry Mattingly reported. “It was time for a prayer meeting. According to Lantz, at least 50 truckers and
a slew of other drivers got together – a mere 20 miles from that Myersville
rest area.” Lantz later joked, “My wife asked me what I would’ve done if they
had shot me. I replied, ‘I don’t know,
but I’m going to heaven, anyway.’”
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The following prayer for America
was written by Bob Russell, author of When
God Answers Prayer. After being
published in a magazine, the prayer was later prayed by Joe Wright at the
opening session of the Kansas House Representatives and stirred up much
controversy. The words of the prayer
infuriated several legislators and one member even stormed out of the hall in
protest. Several gave speeches critical
of the prayer, and one even called it a “message of intolerance.” Of the thousands and thousands of calls
received afterwards, all but a small handful of the calls were supportive.
Since then, people from every
state and many foreign countries have requested a copy of the prayer. Paul Harvey also reported on the controversy
and read the prayer on the air. He has
since repeated the story, claiming it is one of the most requested readings he
has ever had. The prayer has been
widely circulated by e-mail and is now available in Russell’s latest book, When God
Answers Prayer.
Oh, God,
we know that your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil
good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your
Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and
called it multiculturalism and New Age spirituality.
We have committed adultery and called it an affair.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative
lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it frugality.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it
building self-esteem.
We have failed to execute justice speedily as your Word
commands, and called it due process.
We have failed to love our neighbor who has a different
color of skin and called it maintaining racial purity.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it
ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and
called it freedom of expression.
We have made the Lord’s Day the biggest shopping and
entertainment day of the week and called it free enterprise.
We have ridiculed the time-honored
values of our parents and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be some wicked way
in us, cleanse us of every sin and set us free. Though our sins be scarlet, may they become white as snow. Though they be as crimson, may they be as
wool.
Originally published as “A Call for National Repentance,” The Lookout Magazine (Cincinnati, OH:
Standard Publishing), November 5, 1995.
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Prayer can energize a Christian’s life, but the Bible outlines certain conditions that need to be met first.
James says a prerequisite to powerful prayers is that they be “in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). Jesus said, “The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” (John 15:16). There is power in the name of Jesus. When you pray in Jesus’ name, the Holy Spirit intercedes for you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He also knows the will of God because he is one with God. Only the Spirit of God can bring your heart and God’s heart together to make something happen that is agreeable to both parties!
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth,
if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,
`Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you”
(Matthew 17:20). If you want God to
answer your prayer, begin with the confidence that there is a God who created
you, loves you and wants to respond to your prayer. God wants you to come to him
with a genuine heart, believing that he is good and has the power to answer
your prayer.
The Bible in 1 John 4:20-21 makes
it clear that we cannot have a right relationship with God if we’re full of
hatred for our brother. A loving parent
wants his children to get along with one another. Before God grants credibility to your prayers, he wants you to be
in harmony with your Christian brothers and sisters. When you are at odds with another Christian, you are at odds with
God, and you are not ready to pray. Go
make things right with your brother, then offer your prayer to God. Once you have made every effort to restore a
right relationship with others, by confessing to them your sins and asking
forgiveness, or forgiving their sins toward you, then you can pray with a clear
conscience.
Do you pray in your prayers? A lot of people don’t. They just lazily say religious words and
their hearts are never really in their prayers. Jesus said, “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans,
for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew
6:7). The pagan worship consisted of
repeating chants over and over again to their gods. They thought there was merit in their droning on and on. Jesus told his followers that prayer was not
to be like that. Prayer should be an
intimate conversation between two beings who care about each other. God is not concerned with verbosity – he’s
concerned with intensity. It’s not the
length of your prayer or the cleverness of the words, but the sincerity of your
heart that matters to God.
3 Ways to Pray with More Intensity 1)
KNEEL 2) PRAY OUT LOUD 3)
FAST
James 5:16 in the King James reads,
“The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” God is more
likely to answer your prayer if you ask “fervently.” When you are having a casual conversation with your wife or
husband, you might allow the television to distract you or a phone call to
interrupt you. But if you are asking
for something that to you is very important, you probably turn off the television
and refuse to answer the phone so there are no distractions. It must be
difficult for God to think your request is serious when your mind wanders, or
you refuse to set aside a special time to talk to him about it apart from
ringing phones and other demands, or when you fall asleep!
"So I say to you: Ask and it
will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened
to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who
knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). The words for ask, seek and knock are in the present tense, which
in the Greek language denote continual action:
Keep on asking, seeking and knocking.
So don’t quit praying just because your prayer isn’t answered on the
first request.
I’m convinced that we don’t pray
big enough. Jesus said, “I tell you the
truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and
does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will
be done for him” (Mark 11:23).
Thou
art coming to a King! Large
petitions with thee bring, For
his strength and power are such Thou
canst never ask too much! -Anonymous
One of the reasons
our church has been blessed so much by God is that our elders have been
bold. They have a slogan, “We are going
to try something so big that if God isn’t in it, it will fail.” We’ve tried a lot of big things, and some of
them have failed! But more often than
not, God has blessed those audacious requests, and we’ve seen some mighty big
answers to prayer.
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CONSIDER
GOD’S TIMING
Maybe God is not saying “no” but
“wait.” He may be demanding that you
wait on his perfect timing. Perhaps God
plans to answer your prayer, but in a greater way than you could have imagined.
Sometimes, if we will wait on God’s timing, we will discover that God planned
all along to answer our prayer, in an even bigger and better way than we could
have imagined. We want instant
gratification, but God wants us to intensify our desires and refine our
requests so he can give us something even better. You may have to wait on his perfect timing to receive the
gift.
REMEMBER THAT
SOME OF GOD’S GREATEST GIFTS…
Wayne Smith, the former beloved
minister of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, underwent bypass
surgery a few years ago. Prior to the
surgery, during the heart catheterization, 52 people met in the chapel of St.
Joseph hospital to pray for Wayne. Many
of them prayed that the catheterization would reveal that his problem could be
treatable with medication and surgery would not be necessary. Others prayed that perhaps the problem could
be corrected with angioplasty, and the more evasive bypass surgery would not be
needed. But God did not answer those
prayers. Bypass surgery was
scheduled. During the surgery doctors
discovered a hole in Wayne’s pericardium, the sack that holds the heart. It was apparently a birth defect that had
enlarged over the years, and his heart was sinking through the hole. There have only been 363 documented cases of
this problem, and all the rest were discovered in autopsies.
The doctors said if Wayne’s
situation had not been discovered in surgery he would have lived just another
six to twelve months. If they had
attempted the less-evasive balloon surgery to open his arteries it would have
killed him. When it was first announced
that Wayne would need surgery, I’m sure some people were disappointed that
their prayers were not answered. But
thank God for unanswered prayer!
Let’s be honest. Sometimes when God doesn’t answer, there’s
not a “something better” coming – at least not for us, in this life. But try to see it from God’s perspective. The reasons God does not honor your request
may be complicated. It’s a complex
universe. God may be saying no to you
so that he can say yes to someone else.
There may be a greater good out there – something that will somehow
bring him greater glory.
I’ve learned that lesson myself in
the last few years. Ever since our
church relocated in 1998, it has been the best of times and the worst of times
for me. The positive things that have
happened in my ministry are obvious: incredible growth in the church, expanding
influence, unimaginable joys in worship services and the testimonies of changed
lives. But I have had more stress, more
problems and more unanswered prayers in the last four years than during any
other period in my life.
When I’m tempted to get
discouraged, I remember two truths that help my attitude. First, Suffering is inevitable, but misery is
optional. Jesus said, “In this
world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).
It’s inevitable. But I can
choose a positive attitude anyway.
Secondly, It’s not about me – it’s
about God. God is not my servant
who is supposed to respond to my every desire and make me comfortable. I’m his servant. I’m here to do his bidding.
If he respects me enough to give me a tough assignment, I had better
toughen up and follow through with the right spirit.