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God
is,
and He is working out a
purpose here below. He has laws
and standards by which human life
should be governed; He rewards
those who surrender to His will and
walk in His ways. Again: " But with –
out faith it is impossible to please
him; for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him" (Heb. 11:6).
Notice also the emphasis put on
the fact that we must "diligently
seek him." God intends that we go
afte r Him, in a sense, "hammer and
tongs"; that we burn our bridges
behind us and commit ourselves to
doing His wiU and then trust HIM
for the extra strength, wisdom and
!ove that we need.
James tells us to ask for wisdom:
" But let him ask in FAITH,
nothing
wavering.
For he tha t wavereth is
like a wave of the sea driven with
the wind and tossed" (James 1:6).
When Jesus healed people, He
stated over and over: "Thy faith
hath made thee whole" (Matt. 9:22;
Ma rk 10:52; Luke 17: 19). "Then
touched he their eyes, saying, Ac–
cording to your fai th be it unto you"
(Matt. 9:29). Again: "When Jesus
saw their faith, he said unto the sick
of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgi–
ven thee" (Mark 2:5).
Ask
Godfor
faith.
Buildfaith
into
your life by reading the Bible regu–
larly (Romans 10: 17), and by ex–
ercising faith and seeing the results
of your trust in God's Word and in
His promises. (Write for our free
booklet enti tled
What Js Faith?)
Then, bit by bit, you will learn to
sincerely feel and say along with
God's prophets, not " I think" or " l
hope," but: "1
k now
that my re–
deemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the
earth" (Job 19:25).
Pray Persistently
When Jesus' disciples carne and
said: "Lord, teach us to pray," He
instructed them by giving them the
bas ic outline of prayer we call the
" Lord's Prayer." We should study
and follow this approach.
But He continued His teaching
with an example of how we must
keep on praying and not give up if
our prayers don't seem to be an–
swered right away. He gave, as an
The
PLAIN TRUTH June 1977
ana1ogy for prayer, a virtual pound–
ing on the door of a friend until he
does answer. Then Christ said:
"Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and you shall find; knock, and
it shall be opened unto you" (Luke
11 :9).
Somet imes you do need to keep
knocking, so to speak, and let God
know tha t you deep1y desire what–
ever you ask Him; that you a re will–
ing to wait patiently for the answer ;
that you a re willing to repent of any
sin, right any wrong, overcome any
Sometimes you do need to
keep knocking, so to speak,
and let God know that you
deeply desire whatever you
ask Him; that you are willing
to wait patiently for the an–
swer; that you are willlng to
repent of any sin, right any
wrong, overcome any problem,
in order to be found worthy of
His answer to your prayer.
problem, in order to be worthy of
His answer to your prayer.
What
if
(and he alrnost has!) my
fifteen-year-old son asks me: "Dad,
please help me get ao imported
sports car." What will my answer
be?
"Wait!" That will be my answer.
1' 11 think to myse1f, "He's not old
enough. He dó'esn' t have much driv–
ing experience, and there are a ll
kinds of lessons l'd like to see him
learn before he has a fast sports car.
And besides, the car will mean a lot
more to him, and he ' ll take bette r
care of it and be more responsible if
it doesn't come too easily."
Do you see the analogy?
God is supremely intelligent, lov–
ing, protective and logical. He wants
us to prepare for sorne things before
we receive them. As our Father, He
wants us to 1earn certa in lessons and
overcome certain sins or weaknesses
before
He will answer sorne of our
prayers!
So as you pray to God, talk to
Him about these things. Reason
with Him as Abraham did in Gen–
esis 18:23-33. Ask Him to show you
if there is any lesson you need to
learn before He will answer your
prayer. And un1ess you find you are
"asking amiss" (James 4:3)- asking
for something you shouldn' t have–
keep on praying to God until the
answer comes.
Fervency
Keep on praying- but in what way?
With a tired, monotooous, routine
approach? With a careless "let's-see–
if-it-works-this-time" approach?
A thousand times NO!
Remember James 5: 16: "The ef–
fectual FERVENT prayer of a righ–
teous man availeth much." Realíze
that you a re coming to plead your
case before the Supreme Governor
of the universe, the Lord and Giver
of life. Put your heart, your mínd
and your beíng ínto an alert,
profound, and heartfe1t communion
with your Creator. For our good,
God wants us to serve and rever–
ence Him in this way. The Motfatl
translation makes p1ain God's con–
cero about Israel's ha1fhearted
prayers: "Though it was I who re–
deemed them, they have 1ied tome;
they never put their heart into their
prayers .. .
"(Hosea 7: 13, 14).
Even Jesus Himself, preparing for
a slow and torturous death, poured
His very being into His fina l hours
of prayer to God: "And being in an
agony be prayed more earnest1y ;
and his sweat was as it were great
drops of blood fall ing down to the
ground" (Luke 22:44). No doubt
this is where the expression "to
sweat blood" comes from.
In our jaded and sophisticated so–
cíety where many want to act cool
and noncommíttal, we need to be
reminded of the personal examples
of Jesus and of Kíng David of Israel
(see Psalm 69: 1-3) and how they
cr ied from the heart and poured
deep emotion and feeling ínto their
prayers!
lf Your Need ls Forglveness
Jesus said: "For if ye forgive men
thei r trespasses, your heavenly
Fa ther wilJ a lso forgive you: But if
ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses" (Maft. 6: 14-15).
We must since re ly and com–
pletely forgive others. We must not
hold grudges or ha rbor animosity.
Otherwise, there is no way our
prayer for forgiveness-or indeed,
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