Answered prayer

The Secret Place

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But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  Matthew 6:6

In  the year 1800 John Adams and his wife moved into the residence today known as the White House. The building was reconstructed after the British burned it down, and remodeled many times. Through all the history that had passed it has never been a secret where it is and that it is the home of the president of the United States. But if we want our president to listen to our request the trick is to get an appointment to meet him there.

white house

Photo by Aaron Kittredge on Pexels.com

The same is true with our place of prayer. When Jesus told us to go into the “secret place with God”, He wasn’t referring to some mystical hidden location. We don’t need to find some place that no one knows about where we can hide while we pray. We pray simply must be sure that the words we say are intended for God’s ears alone. We must be careful to not try and impress others either by the way we pray or how often. God’s appointment calendar will always open for us if we come in honesty and humility. In fact the most important part of our prayer is not the words we use, but in the answer God gives. When our hearts are right we will discover that God’s ears are always open and that He is prepared to listen to anyone who comes into His secret place. P1010570

A Bicycle Prayer

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The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.        John 1:14 ESV

“Lord I’m asking for a new bike for my birthday.” Was the first prayer I ever prayed, not counting my “Bless the food.” requests. As that day drew closer and closer, my fervency increased. But when a real bicycle actually appeared on my big day; no one was more shocked than me!    Imported from phone 296

My family saw only two wheels, a chain and spokes; but for the first time I saw that there really was a God and that He listened when I prayed. If you think my theology was a bit wobbly, you would be right. You might ask; did I deserve a bike? But God was not just interested in how I prayed or the merits of my request. He knew that whether deserving it or not I needed something that I could put my hands on and say, “God is really there!”

The answer to my bicycle prayer gives a dim picture of why God sent Jesus to earth. If He would have waited for us to figure everything out Jesus would have never come. But God knew that we needed more than just words; we needed a person. We needed someone who we could touch and hear and see to show us His love. The people had the Ten Commandments but that was like having a bicycle with no idea of how to ride it. But Jesus came, so we could know that God listens to our prayers and that if we believe in Him we would have someone who could carry us all the way home!

Confidence

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And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 4:14-15

Once long ago when I worked for a tree company, we were sent to remove a large tree that had uprooted and fallen across a stream. The tricky part about getting it out of the water was that the main stem stretched over the water which was about 5 feet deep at that point. KIMG2127

So I boldly climbed up on the trunk; walked out on it with my chain saw and began cutting loose as much as I could. Finally all that was left was the largest part of the trunk which was supporting the weight of the tree against the bank. In theory, if I cut the weight from the remaining portion, the roots would pull the stump back into position. So as I began my final cut the crew foreman called over to me. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“No problem Mike. I’ve got confidence!” I boldly declared. A minute later suddenly the weight of the trunk dropped away, the roots holding me in place let go and I was tossed head over heels into the cold rushing steam. Miraculously I landing upright and unhurt chest deep in some of the coldest water I had ever been in. But my moment of joyful relief was immediately interrupted by Mike’s hysterical laughter.

“Oh I’ve got confidence! I’ve got confidence!” he shouted over and over.

In the hindsight gained by the passing of forty years I see clearly that the problem was not my lack of confidence but the one in whom I put my trust. But God is not like Me. He doesn’t miscalculate, nor thankfully does He laugh when make a mistake.  But instead when we put our confidence in Him we can trust  that He knows the right answer and that He will show us what to do. He is only waiting to see if we are ready to listen to Him and then we will find Him delighted to hear us and to answer our honest prayer.

 

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