“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” ~Romans 11:33
For man to fully understand God and all His dealings with us is an utter impossibility. While this is the case, we do not need to create difficulties where none exist. God has all power and all knowledge, and therefore prayer holds no real difficulty, even if it presents perplexities at times. While we cannot discover God’s methods, we do know something of His manner of answering prayer.
Apply the mystery of moving the Hand of God to what Thomas Edison said in 1921: “We don’t know the millionth part of one percent about anything. We don’t know what water is. We don’t know what light is. We don’t know what gravitation is. We don’t know what enables us to keep on our feet. We don’t know what electricity is. We don’t know what heat is. We don’t know anything about magnetism. We have a lot of hypotheses, but that’s all.” Yet we don’t allow our ignorance to stop us from using these things. Similarly, we may not fully understand prayer, but that shouldn’t stop us from praying. We know what our Lord has taught us about prayer, and we know that He has sent the Holy Spirit to teach us all things (John 14:26).
How, then, does God answer prayer?
He Reveals His Mind to Those Who Pray
The first way that God answers prayer is when He reveals His mind to those who pray. His Holy Spirit puts fresh ideas into the minds of those who seek Him. We know that the devil and his angels are busy putting bad thoughts into our minds. Surely, then, God and His holy angels can give us good thoughts! Even weak, sinful men and women can put good thoughts into the minds of others—that’s what we try to do through writing! We often don’t stop to think how wonderful it is that a few peculiar-shaped marks on this paper can uplift and inspire, depress and discourage, or even convict of sin. To an untutored person, it would seem a miraculous thing.
Moreover, you and I can often discern others’ thoughts or wishes from an expression on their face or a glance of the eye. Thought transference between people is commonplace today, and God has many ways to convey His thoughts to us. A remarkable instance of this was shared by a speaker last year at Northfield. He recounted meeting an old whaling captain, who told him this story:
“Many years ago, I was sailing in the desolate seas off Cape Horn, hunting whales. One day, we were heading south against a hard wind, tacking back and forth all morning but making little headway. Around 11 o’clock, as I stood at the wheel, the thought suddenly came to me: ‘Why fight the wind? There are probably just as many whales to the north as to the south. Why not run with the wind instead?’ Acting on that sudden idea, I changed the ship’s course to sail north. An hour later, at noon, the lookout shouted, ‘Boats ahead!’ We soon overtook four lifeboats, in which were fourteen sailors—the only survivors of a ship that had burned to the water’s edge ten days earlier. These men had been adrift, praying for rescue, and we arrived just in time to save them. They could not have lasted another day.”
The old whaler added, “I don’t know whether you believe in religion or not, but I happen to be a Christian. Every day, I pray that God will use me to help someone, and I am convinced that God put the idea into my mind that day to change our course. That idea saved fourteen lives.”
God has many things to say to us and many thoughts to put into our minds, but we are often too busy to listen. Prayer allows God to speak to us and reveal His will. May our attitude often be, “Speak, LORD, for Thy servant heareth!”
Another, more practical way that God does this is through corporate prayer. Often in prayer meetings, there is a sudden response made by the majority of people involved reacting to one particular request. Common phrases like, “Yes, Lord,” or “Amen, yes” are verbal signs that others are in agreement as it says in Matthew 18:19.
By Putting New Thoughts into the Minds of Those We Pray For
God also answers prayer by putting new thoughts into the minds of those we pray for. At a series of services on the Victorious Life, a speaker urged the congregation to reconcile their quarrels if they truly desired a holy life. One woman went home and, after earnest prayer, wrote to her sister, with whom she had been estranged for twenty years. Her sister, who lived thirty miles away, wrote a letter that same day asking for forgiveness and reconciliation. The two letters crossed in the mail. While one sister was praying for the other, God was already at work in the other’s heart.
You might ask, “Why didn’t God act sooner?” It could be that He foresaw that it would have been useless for one sister to write asking for forgiveness until the other was also ready to forgive. But the fact remains: when we pray for others, it opens the way for God to influence them. God has limited Himself to our prayers, which is why He urges us to pray the way we find Him doing in scripture.
Not long ago, a godly woman asked her prayer group to pray for her husband, who refused to attend church. The leader suggested they continue praying for him right then. Most earnest prayers were offered. That night, the husband, who often met his wife after her meetings, arrived at the hall while the group was still praying. God moved him to open the door and wait inside—a thing he had never done before. As he sat listening to the fervent prayers, he asked his wife, “Who was the man they were praying for tonight?” She replied vaguely, “Oh, it’s the husband of one of the workers.” Later that night, he asked again, “Who was the man they were praying for?” His wife gave a similar answer, but that night, he couldn’t sleep. Convicted of his sin, he awoke his wife and begged her to pray for him.
This shows us how God works when we pray. He could have led that man into the meeting any week, but when those heartfelt prayers were lifted, God knew they would have a profound effect on him.
Prayer strengthens us as well, for we often become the answer to our prayers. A prosperous farmer once prayed that God would provide for a starving neighbor. When family prayers ended, his little boy said, “Father, I don’t think you needed to bother God with that. You could easily make sure they don’t starve!”
There’s no doubt that if we pray for others, we’ll also try to help them. A young convert once asked his pastor for some Christian work to do. “Do you have a friend?” the pastor asked. “Yes,” replied the boy. “Is he a Christian?” “No, he’s as careless as I used to be.” “Then go ask him to accept Christ as his Savior.” “Oh no, I could never do that! Give me anything but that.” The pastor then said, “Promise me two things: that you won’t speak to him about his soul, and that you’ll pray for him twice a day.” “I’ll gladly do that,” the boy said. But within two weeks, he rushed to the parsonage, asking, “Can I be released from my promise? I must speak to my friend!” Prayer had given him the strength to witness!
I believe that the reason people so rarely speak to others about their spiritual condition is that they pray so little for them. When we pray, God gives us courage.
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry,
EVERYTHING to God in prayer!
This chapter is taken from “The Kneeling Christian”. CLICK HERE for more about this book and to order your copy today.
