“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." John 16:23-24
Back in the day, fifty-seven years ago, I learned in confirmation class at St. John’s Lutheran in Seward, NE that God always answers our prayers; yes, no or maybe. Now, decades later, it seems to me that may have changed just a bit. God still answers every prayer; yes, no or wait. Take a close look at these three girls standing next to a wall a few miles west of Les Cayes. They have been praying; before and after the earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace; they are waiting…waiting to see if their school will start next week.
If you need something in your life healed, created, changed or restored, I’ve learned that you need to first humble yourself and then admit you’re not in control. You can’t do it on your own! You need HIM.
Ask our Heavenly Father for help. How do you do that? Go to 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face . . . then I will hear from heaven”. There is this little bit of wisdom I have shared with a few people in the past few decades; after you pray, honestly realize that you’re not waiting on God, He’s always been waiting on you! Stop trying to do it by yourself.
Whatever you’ve wanted restored in your life, you need to be praying about it. Have you asked God for that kind of help? He is waiting for you to ask and by the way, HE knows even better than you do what you really need. It seems that there a lot of people that know they should pray for healing in their mind or their body or their marriage or their family, but they don’t know how to pray. Here is a good way to start; “Father…..”
Our Heavenly Father wants you to ask for anything in prayer because that’s the only way you’re going to learn how to trust Him. When you are finished talking with your Father, ask in Jesus’ name. In other words, ask on the basis of what Jesus did on the cross. He paid for everything you need. There is power in Jesus’ name because it carries the full weight of God’s grace and redemptive love. Keep on praying till God moves you to stop. Don’t pray one time and think, “Well, forget that, nothing happened.” Keep praying, believing God’s timing is perfect. God is responsible for the answer. You’re responsible to ask.
The children in the Les Cayes and Jeremie areas of Haiti will be praying that school will start on September 6. They may be sitting on the ground under a plastic tarp for a period of time, but if there is school, there is Jesus and there will be food. Please pray with them for their schools to start on time.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay