By Henrylito D. Tacio
“True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.”—Charles Spurgeon
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When it comes to prayer, nothing is impossible. The Holy Bible points out, “What is impossible to man is possible to Him.”
World famous evangelist Billy Graham said prayer is more than asking from God. “Prayer is more than verbally filling in some requisition blank,” he explained. “It’s fellowship with God! It’s communion with the Lord through praising Him, rehearsing His promises, and then sharing our needs.”
“The prayer power,” says J. Hudson Taylor, “has never been tried to its full capacity… If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!’”
Christians around the world ought to pray. Jesus Christ Himself taught us how to do it: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (Matthew 6:5-15).
More often than not, we reason out that we don’t have enough time to pray – to talk with Him and to listen to what He wants us to do.
“How strange it is that you have time to eat, to entertain guests, to visit people, and to do many other things, but you cannot find time to pray,” wrote Watchman Nee in A Balanced Christian Life. “Last night, for instance, you acknowledged that a day had passed without you having really prayed. And hence you decided you would find time the next day to give yourself a prayer.
“But on the next day, at the appointed time of prayer, someone turns up knocking at your front door and someone else is looking for you at the back door. How strange that at other times everything is quiet, but at the time of prayer, many odd things begin to happen. If you want to find time for other things, you have the time. It is only when you attempt to find time to pray that you cannot find it.”
In fact, don’t start your day without a word of prayer. Listen to the words of a poet: “I started early with my chores, but even so I started wrong. My labor yielded me no gain, I should have started with a song. I batted time on this trying day to find my efforts were a loss. I had to leave some plans undone, tasks multiplied and I grew cross. Tonight, I pondered while I rested – all day I fought rebellious tares. Yet that has always been my lot, when days do not begin with prayer.”
God answers our prayers in different manner. A pastor explains, “At times, God responds to your prayers in manners that may not be immediately clear—not by granting your requests, but by eliminating what was subtly causing you distress. Initially, it can be painful, as you were clinging to it, hoping for a change, and believing it was intended for you.
“However, over time, you start to recognize that what departed from your life was never meant to endure, and what seemed like a loss was, in fact, a form of protection. God perceived the suffering you were striving to comprehend, the struggles you were enduring in silence, and opted to intervene in a manner beyond your understanding.
“Eventually, you will reflect on this not with bewilderment, but with appreciation—coming to the realization that what was removed from your life was truly what was safeguarding you.”
Yes, God answers all our prayers.
There was this story involving a young boy conversing with a church pastor. The boy expressed his confusion, stating, “In the church, I heard various men praying. It must be quite challenging for God.”
The pastor inquired softly, “Why do you say that?”
As they strolled through the town park, the boy elaborated, “The businessman is praying for mild weather, the rice farmer is asking for rain, and the corn miller desires a sunny day. All three are devout men. How can God possibly know how to respond to their prayers?”
The pastor then asked, “What is the current weather like?” The boy replied, “It is cooler and mild.” The pastor followed up with, “And what about last week?” The boy recounted, “Let me think – it rained on Monday and Tuesday, and Thursday was hot all day.”
After listening to the boy’s responses, the pastor requested that he pause their walk and take a seat on one of the benches in the park. “Do you see how the Lord has addressed all their prayers?” he asked.
The boy nodded in silence, acknowledging the pastor’s point.
What does prayer mean to you? Allow me to quote Kenneth L. Wilson and tell me if his words are your own, too: “There’s something exquisitely about room service in a hotel. All you have to do is pick up a phone and somebody is ready and waiting to bring you breakfast, lunch, dinner, chocolate milkshake, whatever your heart desires and your stomach will tolerate. Or by another languid motion of the wrist, you can telephone for someone who will get a soiled shirt quickly transformed into a clean one or a rumpled suit into a pressed one.
“That’s the concept that some of us have of prayer. We have created God in the image of a divine bellhop. Prayer, for us, is the ultimate room service, wrought by direct dialing. Furthermore, no tipping, and everything charged to that great credit card in the sky. Now prayer is many things, but I’m pretty sure this is not one of the things it is.”
Again, prayer is not just asking something from God. But it is also asking something for Him. One night, a little girl surprised her mother when she concluded her prayer for her family and friends by adding, “And now, God, what can I do for You?”
To end today’s column, allow me to quote two famous statements. One is from Elisabeth Elliot: “Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit’s prayer.”
The other one is from Max Lucado: “Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.”
