Ever since I was a little girl in war-torn England, sitting on a stool in front of my house waiting for the bombs to fall, I have wanted my prayers to work. I remember praying, “Oh, God, please stop the war.” He didn’t, and I remember feeling very disappointed with Him. Maybe you have prayed that God would stop the conflict raging in your own life, and He hasn’t. Maybe you feel like your prayers didn’t work.
You may wonder what the words prayer and work are doing in the same sentence. They seem to be opposite concepts. Yet I have discovered that prayer that doesn't work, doesn’t work! It takes work to step out of time into eternity, and work to learn the art of leaving things undone so that the greater thing can be done.
Prayer is a gracious gift of God in the sense that He made it possible for us to walk right into His presence and talk to Him as our Father. Every child of God has that right and privilege.
But if Satan has his way, the first thing to go in our devotional life will be our devotional life! As the little couplet says, “The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” He will do anything to stop us praying. But sometimes he doesn’t have to do anything at all. Sometimes we do away with our prayer life all on our own.
WHEN GOD DOESN'T SEEM TO ANSWER
One of the reasons we stop praying is that we’re disappointed with the results of our prayer. When we urgently request something from God and He doesn’t come through for us, we feel hurt and even betrayed. That’s what happened to me when I was young.
I remember that first urgent attempt to call on the Almighty. The need arose when I became aware that someone was trying to kill me! The Second World War was in full swing and I had the misfortune to live in Liverpool, a dangerous place. Ships supplying us with food from our allies brought their precious cargo to this seaport, making it a target for the enemy. I was very young, but I was aware that there was a God in heaven, and somewhere deep down in my heart I knew He was perfectly capable of stopping wars and conflicts. I decided one day that I would ask Him to stop these terrible airplanes from dropping bombs all over my life.
That night, the air raids were particularly vicious. While my family and I were huddled in our underground shelter, I confidently asked God to intervene. The answer came immediately: A bomb fell far too close for comfort, damaging the back of our house. What went wrong? I asked myself furiously, trying in my six-year-old mind to make sense of this nonsense. Had God not heard? Had I said my prayer with the wrong words or in the wrong way? Then came this unwelcome though: Perhaps God didn’t hear me because He was too busy doing other things like keeping the stars in place.And then a worse thought: Maybe He didn’t help me because He couldn’t help me; He wasn’t big enough or strong enough.
For one reason or another, my fervent request had been ignored, and a huge sense of betrayal gripped me. Somewhere deep down in my six-year-old heart, I determined not to try again. Many adults have faced similar dilemmas. At the first disappointment they quit without finding out what makes prayer work.
If this is the case, the first thing we should do is pray about this. In fact, we should pray about anything that hinders our prayer life. You might want to stop this moment and ask the Lord to identify whatever has caused you to stop talking to Him. Then, when you have an inkling of what the blockage has been, talk to Him about it.
SIMPLY GET STARTED
Another reason some people avoid personal devotions is fear of incompetence. They wonder: Whatever shall I say when I enter His throne room? How do you address the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Such an important conversation must be planned. The first thing to do is find a place and time to visit with the King.
I suggest you take your weekly calendar and pencil in time with the Lord every day. Seeing that appointment in black and white often helps you to keep it.
Finding a place can be more of a challenge. When I had young children, it was almost impossible to find a quiet spot. In desperation one day, I took the kids out of their playpen and climbed inside! This became a lifesaver for me, and in the busy days after I'd discovered this safe haven, the children learned to leave me alone. They decided that Mommy was a whole lot nicer when she got out than when she got in!
LEARN TO BE STILL
But I still haven't addressed the problem of what to do once you actually get everything in order and are ready to pray. For instance, what do you do about wandering thoughts?
Let me give you an illustration.
One of my grandchildren, Stephen, learned at an early age to avoid his mother’s eyes when she wanted to talk to him. This necessitated his mom catching up with him and capturing him in her arms. She then got down on his level, turned him around and, taking his little face in a firm grip, said gently, “Look at me, Stephen!” Stephen’s eyes rolled to the left, then to the right, then to the top of his head until only the whites could be seen! Judy kept at it, holding his little face until, slightly dizzy with all that eye rolling, Stephen finally focused his eyes on his mother’s face. The first thing she would say was, “I love you, Stephen.” Then she could tell him what she needed to tell him.
When you begin to pray, imagine you are Stephen! Think about God, your heavenly Father, taking your face lovingly in His hands and holding you firmly in front of Him saying to you, “Look at me.” Stay still until you focus. In other words, be still and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10).
Once your thoughts are settled, it’s a good idea to start your time in God’s presence with silent prayer.
Try to meet with God without an agenda. Listening is an important part of prayer. Before you even begin to get down to the work of prayer, see if you can hear a thought, enjoy the stillness, or receive a new idea God wants you to think about.
Prayer has passive parts and active parts. Yet even the passive parts take work for some of us! It takes a huge effort to be quiet and still, especially if we are active by nature. In the book of Hebrews, the Lord says, “Make every effort to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:11). Here, again, the writer uses two words that do not appear to belong together, effort and rest. Yet we must work at resting if we are to have any power in our prayer life. It is only after quieting our spirit that we will know what to pray and how to pray.
LOOK AT THOSE WHO PRAY WELL
One way to learn about prayer is to learn from people who seem to have a handle on it. Who prays prayers that work?
It is said that James, the brother of Jesus, had a nickname given to him by the early church. He was called “camel knees”! Apparently, his knees resembled those of a camel because he was always kneeling in prayer. Hearing this made me wonder what my nickname might be!
The prophet Elijah, James pointed out, was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops” (Jas. 5: 17-18). Now there is a prayer that worked!
HOW DO I PRAY A PRAYER THAT WORKS?
What can we learn from Elijah about effective prayer?
1. Your prayers must be passionate.
Elijah “prayed earnestly. (Jas. 5:17). Elijah’s heart was in his work. Fervency is a condition of the heart that is developed through a growing relationship with God. As we grow to love Him, we find ourselves caring about the things He cares about. Prayer turns our thoughts away from our selfish concerns because we are putting ourselves into the presence of a selfless Being, and a little of that rubs off.
2. You need to be a persistent prayer to see your prayers work.
Elijah prayed continually. He climbed a mountain and set himself to watch and pray until the rain came (I Kings 18:42-46). Most of us give up far too soon. We hit an obstacle, such as unanswered prayer, and stop dead in our tracks. When Elijah set himself to pray on the top of Mount Carmel, he settled down until the answer came. God likes us to be persistent. Jesus told a story about a woman who persistently asked a judge to grant her request (Luke 18:1-8). And Jesus commended the persistent, blind beggar (Luke 18:35-43). He wants us to keep asking until it’s the right time to get an answer. “Are any among you suffering? They should keep on praying about it,” James tells us (Jas. 5:13).
PRAY WHEN TROUBLE TROUBLES YOU
There should be no excuse for any of us. It’s not as if we have nothing to pray about! God has allowed enough trouble in each of our lives to keep us on our knees. But for some, this could be the sticking point. It's hard to pray when trouble troubles us. Yet James sets his remarks about prayer in the context of trouble: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray” (Jas. 5:13).
We should, but do we? My prayer life tends to seize up as soon as trouble pokes its ugly head into my life, but looking back, I recognize that without the trouble there would have been very little praying. When we are desperate enough, trouble forces us to spend time with God.
When our family first came to live in America, our children were thrilled with the music programs in the public schools. They all wanted to play an instrument. “I want to play the drums,” seven-year-old Pete announced! I was aghast and hastily signed him up for clarinet! The result was that he never practiced because he didn’t want to play the clarinet, he wanted to play the drums.
One day he came whistling into the room carrying his clarinet. “Pray for me, Mom,” he said. “It’s band tryouts at school, and I want first chair!”
“I can’t pray that for you, Pete. You haven’t practiced in months.”
“If I’d practiced, I wouldn’t need you to pray,” he retorted!
Many of us are like Pete. We never practice prayer, but when urgent business arises, we expect to know exactly what to say and how to say it. Trouble gives us the grand opportunity to practice for the concert.
Are you hurting? Has your spouse left you? Has someone mistreated you at work? Are you friendless, loveless, childless, cashless, jobless, powerless, clueless? “Is anyone in trouble? He should pray!”
Trouble is a great growth hormone. It takes us from being spiritual dwarfs to spiritual giants—if we respond rightly to it, that is. A few years ago, our family moved into crisis mode. When I listened to myself praying, I was shocked. I sounded like an unbeliever. I was praying panic prayers, indulging in angry tirades, and using bargaining language. Then came the realization that this trouble was going to do wonders for my prayer life! If we respond to divinely permitted trouble instead of reacting against it, we will find it does two things for us: It will show us that our devotional life isn’t working, and it will help us work on making it work!
Never be afraid to ask God for the stars, but when God says “no” or “wait,” be willing to say, “Thy will be done,” and ask Him for strength to live well in difficult circumstances. Think about it. If trials persist, it just may be that you will persist in prayer. Looking back, I can see how constant pressure kept me in the Lord’s presence, and for that I am grateful.
As you discover the secrets of prayer that works, it is my prayer that you will find your prayer life revolutionized!
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