Prayer

Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. “A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead.

At the end of a revival service the evangelist invited people to come forward if they wanted someone to pray for them. About midway through the line of people stood an imposing, intimidating looking man. When the minister asked about his prayer request, the burly guy said, “Reverend, I need you to pray for my hearing.” The evangelist quickly placed his hands over the man’s ears and prayed fervently for restored hearing.

George Mueller said: “I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. Friends often say, ‘I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study.’ Perhaps there are not many who have more to do than I. For more than half a century I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For 4 years I have had annually about 30,000 letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands.

The new army recruit was given guard duty at 2 a.m. He did his best for a while, but at about 4 a.m. he went to sleep. He awakened to find the officer of the day standing before him. Remembering the heavy penalty for being asleep on guard duty, this smart young man kept his head bowed for another moment then looked upward and said, “A-a-a-men!”

Source: Unknown

The story is told about two wives who were doing their laundry in a laundry mat. They were both mending their husband’s pants.

One wife said, “My husband is so miserable. Nothing goes right at work, and he can’t find anything good on television. Our home is a place of despair. When we go to church, the song leader is terrible and the pastor is an idiot.

The other wife said “My husband is so excited.” He can’t wait to go to church. He loves the sermons. We laugh all the time and enjoy our family.

The story is told of a king who was in his throne room, holding a council with his advisers, noblemen, and high ministers of state. Suddenly there was a bang and a clatter at the door of the throne room. All eyes turned as the door burst open and a young boy ran into the room.

One of the king’s royal guardsmen tried to stop the boy. “Hold there, lad!” he shouted. “Don’t you know you’re disturbing the council of the king?”

“He’s your king,” laughed the boy, “but he’s my Daddy!” And the boy bounced into the open arms of his father, the king.

A fifth grade boy who had heard a sermon on persistence in prayer was praying by himself in his room one night. As his dad passed his door, he heard the boy praying over and over again, “Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.” The next day, the dad asked his son what he was doing. The boy replied that he had given the wrong answer on a test for the capital of Mexico, and he was praying that Tokyo would become the capital of Mexico.

Source: Unknown

When Dr. Richard Halverson was the U.S. Senate chaplain, he spoke before a group of evangelicals who had expressed their anger about Congress’ inactivity on the subject of school prayer. They were irritated that congress had not acted with a strong initiative to restore prayer in schools. To these who were seeking greater initiative from the government, Dr. Halverson asked, “How many of you have prayed with your children this month, outside of church?” Nobody raised their hand. Spiritual initiative starts in the home, not on Capitol Hill.

F. B. Meyer held meetings in Northfield, Massachusetts and large crowds thronged to hear him. Then G. Campbell Morgan came to Northfield and people flocked to hear his brilliant expositions of Scripture. Meyer confessed that at first he was envious. He said, “The only way I can conquer my feelings is to pray for Morgan daily, which I do.”

Source: Acts, Lou Nicholes

Early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in private devotions. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”

Source: Today in the Word

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Jim Elliot was one of the martyred missionaries in 1956. He was a passionate Christian who journaled many of his thoughts and prayers. One such entry addressed his concern about impact. He wrote, “Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” His impact continues on even though he died over fifty years ago at the age of twenty-nine.

Source: Shadow of the Almighty, Elisabeth Elliot

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Why is our walk with God sometimes a crawl with God?  Why the lack of passion for our Saviour who gave His all for us? Why the lack of victory over sin in the average Christian’s life? Why the lack of power to shake this world for Christ? The words of Billy Sunday ring true: “He that is a stranger to prayer is a stranger to power.”

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Our God is a holy God and prayer is the vehicle that God has given us to approach Him. Indeed, prayer offered by a Christian harboring sin is akin to a plane without wings, a car without wheels or a boat without a rudder. Make no mistake about it—God wants to hear our prayer but flagrant disregard for the commandments of God will quickly stop His ear.

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A young man in Bible college fell asleep during class. As he was sleeping, a friend of the young man suddenly shook him and earnestly whispered, “Hey, he just asked you to pray!” The sleeping man, thinking he had just been called on to pray, jumped to his feet and began his prayer while still partly asleep, interrupting the teacher’s lesson. The student finished his prayer and sat down. The teacher, unflustered, thanked the student and continued with the lesson.

Source: Unknown

When Hudson Taylor sailed to China, he heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship. “Mr. Taylor,” he said, “we have no wind. We are drifting toward an island where the people are heathen, and I fear they are cannibals.”

“What can I do?” asked Taylor.

“I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind.”

“All right, Captain, I will, but you must set the sail.”

Celeste Sibley, a columnist for the Atlanta Constitution, took her three children to a diner for breakfast one morning. It was crowded and they had to take separate seats at the counter. Eight-year-old Mary was seated at the far end of the counter and when her food was served she called down to her mother in a loud voice, “Mother, don’t people say grace in this place?” A hush came over the entire diner and before Mrs. Sibley could figure out what to say, the counterman said, “Yes, we do. You say it.” All the people at the counter bowed their heads.

On October 15, 1997, David Huxley strapped a harness around his upper torso and attached it to a steel cable some fifteen yards long. The other end of the steel cable was attached to the front-wheel strut of a 747 jetliner that weighed 187 tons. With his tennis shoes firmly planted on the runway, Huxley leaned forward, pulled with all his might, and began moving the jetliner down the runway. In fact, he pulled the 747 one hundred yards in one minute and twenty-one seconds.

Missionaries Dick and Margaret Hillis were caught in China during the Japanese invasion. The couple lived with their two children in the inland town of Shenkiu. The village was tense with fear, and every day brought terrifying reports of the Japanese advance. At the worst possible time, Dick developed appendicitis, and he knew his life depended on making the long journey by ricksha to the hospital. On January 15, 1941, with deep foreboding, Margaret watched him leave.

Vance Havner told a story about an elderly lady who was greatly disturbed by her many troubles—both real and imaginary. Finally, someone in her family tactfully told her, “Grandma, we’ve done all we can for you. You’ll just have to trust God for the rest.” A look of absolute despair spread over her face as she replied, “Oh dear, has it come to that?” Havner commented, “It always comes to that, so we might as well begin with that!”

Source: Unknown

Submited by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College