My middle daughter recently told me this story: “We had given up hope. I prayed one more time. The thought flashed through my mind that I should look through the file box again. It seemed ridiculous, because I had looked so many times, but I got out of bed, and opened a folder. The social security card we were looking for dropped out.”
Do not give up! God answers prayer.
If a complete and total stranger came up to me and asked whether or not God answers prayer, I would say he undoubtedly does. Since our God is loving and kind, he listens to us, and pays attention to what we say when we pray.
One example of this being so: We used to have an elderly couple for our next door neighbors. Now, the woman took excellent care of her yard, a beautiful flower garden being her pride and joy. Once she and her husband decided to go on vacation, and so, low and behold, we were asked to take care of her garden. All went well until one afternoon; we looked out of our windows and it was hailing! My mom knew the lady would be devastated if her flowers were ruined, so we got down on our knees and prayed. When we looked up, the hail had stopped! Such an excellent example that God answers prayer is certainly undeniable.*
*Written by my daughter, Anneliese Marie, when she was 11 years old. This memory will forever be etched in our minds.
A group of men meet regularly at McDonalds. One man’s wife died, and he wondered if he would see her again.
Another man prayed for the perfect opportunity to give him the book, One Minute After You Die, by Erwin Lutzer.
God gave the perfect opportunity.
I arrived home from school tired and discouraged. I thought of others’ sufferings. I prayed, out loud, “Lord, why is life so hard?
I walked past my computer and noticed my niece* had emailed a Bible verse: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).”
That verse was God’s direct answer to my prayer: When life is hard God comforts me so I learn how to comfort others.
*Bethany regularly emails verses. Her quiet reminders of truth are a continual blessing to me.
We wrote on the valet parking board that we wanted the car at 4 PM the next day. The garage attendants thought we had written 4 AM, so they put our car in the early morning line-up.*
The next morning, we decided my husband should drive the car to work, rather than have me take it downtown after school. When he went to the parking garage, our car was ready and waiting.
God gives what we need, no matter what we ask.
*Our valet parking garage has about 200 cars in it. Attendants line the cars up at night so each one is available at precisely the right time. It’s very difficult to make a change during early morning rush hour.
When 2016 began, we believed that God would answer prayer.
Now, 2016 is over, and we have tangible, visible evidence that God answers prayer. He gave more than we asked, and often in ways we’d never have imagined.
We know that he hears us in whatever we ask (1 John 5:15).
It seemed unlikely that my very pregnant daughter would get enough clients to complete her counseling practicum before her baby’s birth. So we prayed.
One morning we asked God to send three clients. That afternoon she texted, “I met with two clients. I could have left, but I waited and a third client walked in. God hears prayer.”
Pray, then wait.
She completed her hours yesterday! Baby is coming soon!!
Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer (Daniel 10:21).
Humble yourself and pray because God is big. He is strong. He is mighty.
Pharaoh begged, “Plead with the Lord to take the frogs away.”
“All right,” Moses replied, “then you will know there is no one like the Lord.” So Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs and the frogs died (from Exodus 8:8-13).
Answers to prayer show God’s greatness.
A Blog on Prayer 