your prayer life

I remember one time when I was a kid and we were running late for church, we got behind a real slowpoke on a 1 lane road.. My dad got aggravated and just said, "I wish he would have a flat tire!" BOOM went his tire..

Dad, feeling bad, stopped to help and of course mad us later than we would have been if Dad would have jsut kept his mouth shut! lol

We all act surprised sometimes.. After all, Rhoda did in Acts when Peter escaped prison.

Of course I have been praying for God's direction in my life as to where to Pastor, and God answered it last Sunday.

 

I'll chime in. My prayers come as short moments throughout the day instead of the 1 hour at a time type prayers. I've always wondered whether I'm doing it wrong since it doesn't happen in long stretches.

God seems to answer my prayers by making one choice appear much clearer than the other choice. After spending time in prayer the right choice just seems to glow much brighter (figuratively not literally) It seems he closes certain doors to guide me to the right one. My 2 cents

 

I think if we would write down exactly what we pray for every day, and then occasionally go back and check what we've written, we would be absolutely amazed at how many of our prayers have been answered. (I don't do this myself right now, but I've done it in the past.)

Sometimes, when God answers my prayers for the little things, I may not even realize my prayer has been answered for a while, if that makes sense. In other words, it's like every now and then it just dawns on me that something I prayed about was answered.

And like Uncle AlaGator, a lot of times the answer to my prayers comes in the form of doors being opened or closed. Many times I just don't understand why something's happened the way it has, it seems so bad, until later I'm able to see what God's plan was in making things turn out the way they did.

Good topic. I know I need to pray more.

 

We've seen some wonderful answers to prayer in one family in our church already this year. The Dad finally bought his own Bible. Mom finally figured out that her kids needed SS and started bringing them! Praise the Lord for answered prayer!

Last year we had three new people start coming. In a Japanese church this is tremendous, a great answer to prayer!

 

To Tiny Tim; after reading the story about the flat tire and reading someone's question about coincidence I would like to tell you what I believe happened. I believe your father without even realizing it was his exercising spiritual power. He expressed what at first glance would seem to be a very mundane request, but in actuality his spiritual powers were working and in that condition he can have what ever he asked. Now I know most good baptist think this is crazy. But it is God that controls a person's spiritual powers and they are sometimes working when a person has no idea their are working.

 

Well we all learned some lessons that day.

1) be careful what you ask for
2) Leave things to God instead of acting yourself
(we would have gotten to church sooner if the flat had not occured)
3) Dad had to ask forgiveness-- us kids saw a humble side of Dad
4) events affect the whole family - we all saw what happened, and the responses to what happened.

Sometimes God gives us things we want in order to teach us a lesson which will ultimately benefit us.

 

I loved your story, tinytim--and you learned a lot from it!

 

I preached on this very issue tonight from Matthew 7:7-12. Jesus tells us that he wants to to ask, seek and knock in a sincere and genuine way. Prayer is so vital to our Christian walk, but yet so often we let so many other things take its place.

I have shared with my church recently that I fear that many Christians today settle for a second hand walk. Their relationship with the Lord stems from what their pastor says, the SS class teaches, books they read, etc. Those are all good things, but they should not replace a personal first hand relationship with the Lord and His Word.

 

Well said, PastorSBC1303.

 

TaterTot, this is a wonderful practice. We did this as a family while our son was growing up, so he could learn about answered prayer. I believe it worked.

 

Well, I had a prayer answered today. For years I’ve talked about wanting a new F350 Diesel, 4x4, long bed, four door, pickup-blue in color. Recently, I was thinking since my truck I was driving was about paid off I might just get it, but then decided it was too much money and anyway I should drive free from payments for awhile and save up for another year or so and see what happens, dreaming maybe I could order a blue one because you just don’t see them around, but pretty much figured I would never see the day. Last night my truck started squealing in the transmission and today when I took my daughter to church for voice lessons it got much worse so while she was there I went by the auto shop and found I was looking at $2,000-$3,000 easy to get it fixed.

I went back to wait on her looking to God for what to do. It only made since to go ahead and trade it in so we went to the dealer. I made the best deal I could but it was still too much money for the truck that I didn’t even really want; they were only offering me $9,500 for my trade in. I said well lets try one other dealer and see what they can do, thinking it is in God’s hands I drove to the other place and the transmission got much worse than it was on the way. I barely made it there, shifting in neutral at the last two lights just to keep it running, forced it in gear and that was it as it was stuck, jerking and dying as I pulled in the car lot. Now I had no choice.

Again, I looked to God knowing I was in a real jam but my trust was in Him to provide. They took me around to see a few trucks and then said lets go see what’s new in the back, and there it was right off the trailer a new F350 Diesel, 4x4, long bed, four door, pickup-blue in color, but cost more than the last truck I had just got priced. The salesman came with the price and there was no way! He was offering me $8,500 for my trade in, I had told him my transmission was gone coming in. He then asked about my daughter’s shirt that said “loser” on the front and she showed him the verse on the back-(Mat 10:39) He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. She then told him about the “Dare to Share” gathering she had went to this weekend. The salesman then asked me what it would take to make the sale and I humbly told him a ridiculously lower price and he said he would see what he could do and came back offering $18,000 for my trade in, a much lower interest rate, and substantially lower base price meeting my budget.

WOOHOO! Did I get blessed with a new blue truck or what?! Yeah, I was surprised and it did seem to be a clear answer to my dream although I wasn’t praying for Him to give me this particular truck but to just see me through this financial concern.

 

To quote a great southern philosopher: "Ain't God good!" (Jerry Clower)

 

Some years ago. my nephew and his wife found out in July that they were expecting their second child. During the normal prenatal testing, doctors discovered the unborn little girl had spina bifida, with the break at the base of the skull. They could detect no brain waves for the baby, and no heartbeat. They recommended an abortion. A LOT of prayer took place. (Later estimates showed at least 3000 people in Spokane County were praying, many of whom did not know any of the involved people).

I had wanted to ask for prayer from one of my customers, but had not seen her for a week (I always got there right at lunch time). When I finally started to share my prayer request, she interrupted me and told ME the names and situation! It seems that another coworker had shared with one of his customers, who shared at a Bible study, where a pastor's wife heard it, and then shared at her church's Wednesday night service, where my customer heard it.

(SHORT VERSION). On October 6, Racheal was born, two and a half months prematurely, but with no sign of the spina bifida. She is now eight years old, and going strong!

Isn't God great?

Bill

 

I used to love listening to him growing up!
Aint God Good!! so true.

 

I have been trying to train myself to be in the spirit of prayer at all times.

Sometimes it is difficult...sometimes I forget...

I decided to try to change my prayer time to an open line of communication with God all day long.

A great example...Someone once asked Spurgeon how long he prayed...his response, "I have never prayed more than 5 minutes, but I have never gone more than 5 minutes without praying."

That is exactly what I desire...talking to God all day long.

Max

 

MHG I have read the same thing by Spurgeon and have tried to do that myself. The problem I ran into was that unless I spend an extended period of time in prayer early in the day I am not in the right mindset to live in that open communication throughout the day.