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be humbled, but the humble shall
be honored" (Luke 18: 10- 14).
Consider this example. Here is a
prime reason so many lofty, wordy,
eloquent, elegant prayers are oot
answered:
The heart is not right!
How to Pray
In another place, Jesus told His
disciples how to pray. He gave them
these instructions: "And now about
prayer. When you pray, don't be
like the hypocrites who pretend
piety by praying publicly on street
corners and in the synagogues
where everyone can see them. Truly,
that is all the reward they wiU ever
get. But when you pray, go away by
yourself, all alone, and shut the
door behind you and pray to your
Father secretly, and your Father,
who knows your secrets, will reward
you" (Matthew
6:5-6).
To be heard, then, prayer must be
an intense, personal experience -
something between you and God.
Jesus gave further instructión in
the following words : "Don't recite
the same prayer over and over as
the heathen do, who think prayers
are answered only _by repeating
them again and again" (Matthew
6:7-8).
Such praying irnplies that
God is hard of hearing, or has a
faulty memory - that He needs to
be reminded continually, or even
"nagged," befqre He will answer.
If you have prayed, but God
didn't answer, perhaps you should
consider whether you prayed in the
wrong manner.
A Vital Prerequisite
One vastly overlooked element of
answered prayer is simple faith that
God will do what He h as promised,
that He loves us, and that He will
look after us. Unfortunately, that
kind offaith is very rare today.
The apostle Paul put it this way:
"What is faith? It is the contident as–
surance that something we want is
going to happen.
lt
is the certainty
that what we hope for is waiting for
us, even though we cannot see it up
ahead" (Hebrews 11: 1).
PLAIN TRUTH Morch 1973
Do you have that kind of faith?
Paul added, "You can never please
God without faith, without depend–
ing on him. Anyone who wants to
come to God must believe that there
is a God and tha t he rewards those
who sincerely look for him" (He–
brews
11:6).
Fa ith is a spi ritual quality. It is
not something you can put into your
mind by struggling, wrestling, and
agonizing with yourself. 1t must
come from outside yourself.
Real, serene faith, the Bible says,
is a gift from God - a gift of His
Holy Spirit - something God will
give you if you ask Him for it!
Notice, for a moment, a Biblical
example of faith. Abraham, a patri–
a rch of the Old Testament and pro–
geni tor of the I s raeli t es, went
through life many years without a
son, an heir. Sarah, his wife, was
barren.
Did this fact frustrate Abraham
or unnerve him? Not at all. "So,
when God told Abraham that he
would give him a son who would
have many descendants and become
a great
nation~ -
Abraham .h elieved
God even though such a promise
just couldn't come to pass! And be–
cause his faith was strong, he didn' t
worry about the fact that he was too
old to be a fathe r, at 'the age of one
hundreq, and that Sarah bis wife, at
ninety, was also moch too old to
have a baby" (Romans
4:
18-19).
It was enough in Abraham's miod
that God had promised. So what
happened?
" But Abraham never doubted. He
believed God, for
bis
fai th and trust
grew ever stronger, and he praised
God for this blessing even before it
happened. He was completely sure
that God was well able to do any–
thing he promised" (Romans 4:20-
2 1).
And God did. Isaac was born!
Bu t the lesson of Abraham
teaches not only faith, but also an–
other vital key to answered prayer -
the key of patience.
" Neve r Give Up"
Many peop1e, when they pray,
soon become discouraged and give
up if the answer doesn't come right
away, when they expect it, or the
way they expect it. Their faith is like
water running through a sieve.
This is such a common, para–
mount human problem that Jesus
was moved to warn us that we
"must keep praying until the answer
comes" (Luke 18: 1). He tolda story
about a judge who denied justice to
a poor widow. But since she contin–
ually brought her case before him,
he tina lly relented and ruled in her
favor.
When
you
pray, do you
continue
in prayer? Do you persevere, persist
and endure tenaciously, clinging
tightly to God's promises, refusing
to let go?
How Jesus Prayed
If anybody knew how to pray, it
was certainly Jesus Christ. He
wa lked with God, talked with Him,
and was so close to Him that His life
was one continual series of miracu–
lous interventions after another. He,
Himself, admitted that the sick
people He cured and the miracles
He pe rformed were not
of
His own
doing, or His own power. "The Son
can do nothing by himself," He
once stated (John
5:
19). Jesus ad–
mitted that His power carne from
the Father, who worked through
Hirn as an instrument.
How did Jesus maintain this vital
contact with the Fatber? He often
arose early in the morning, before
light, to pray (Ma rk l :35). Once he
prayed all night long (Luke
6:
12).
Jesus' prayers meant a lot to Him.
He prayed with tears and real, sin–
cere emotion (Hebrews 5:7). He was
not bored; prayer was not merely a
" routine" or " duty." He meant
every word he uttered!
In every Bíblica! example of an–
swe red prayer, those who received
answers really put their hearts into
their prayers. In every personal case
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