I invite Christians to submit examples of the power of prayer. I also invite non-Chritians to submit examples of "good fortune" that may have made the basis for claims of the power of prayer, had you been a believer.
1. There's some
fundamentals which one must know and apply to get God's ear.
a. Pray in faith believing.
b. Pray in the name of Jesus, for none of us are worthy to go to God in our own sinful nature. It's like you don't get to talk to a king unless his
ambassador or some mediator gets you in.
c. Jesus said, 'If you keep my commandments, you can ask what you will........' Living sinfully contrary to his precepts
tunes him out.d. His
children who know him and whom he
knows, especially get his ear.
2. I pray each morning among other things, to specifically, physically, spriitually and in every way,
provide needs of me and mine, keep me and mine well and strong, and protect me and mine from all harm and loss. I also pray for this on behalf of others specific people whom God lays on my heart.
With the above in mind, I could write a book on specific prayers God has answered in such a fashion that I know he did it over my 59 years as a Christian, having become a Christian by receiving the Saviour at age 10. He delights in showing himself to be real on our behalf when we work at getting close to him and when we openly acknowledge him. One of the apostles said, "Casting all your care on him, for he cares for you."
I'll mention this one as an example. A few decades ago my wife and I were hauling a heavy load of antiques from NY to Calif. where I lived at that time. My wife was teaching at a Christian school in Escondido Calif. (Southern Calif) at the time. My wife was suppose to be at a meeting for teachers the day after Labor Day. We got as far as Palm Desert with our little half ton 60 Ford pickup and heavily loaded U Haul trailer. As we approached the town a rear wheel bearing began growling badly and heating up. Of course we prayed a special prayer about this, asking God to help us. We got into Palm Desert on Labor Day afternoon with this problem. It was a medium sized town at that time and as we passed an auto repare garage we noticed the guy was there and open
on Labor day. I went in and presented my dilema. He was busy and couldn't help me but said I could work on it at his curb myself if I had the tools. If I remember right he wanted me to remain on the curb for insurance reasons. I always carried my tools with me on trips so I took it apart I saw that the bearing had spun on the axle and ruined the axle. I took it in and showed the guy. He said something to the effect that I was certainly fortunate, for there was only one axle he knew of that would match mine and that was an old mercury axle which a dune buggy buff had given him a number of years ago. Sure enough it was the exact axle. The guy also had a brand new bearing on hand in his little shop that fit my pickup. He pressed the bearing on the axle for me.
He charged me only for the bearing and said the axle was a gift to him from the dune buggy person so I could have it for nothing also. I put the thing back together and we were on our way by evening. We went over the mountains at Indio and into Escondido where my wife made her appointment the next day.
1. Broke down in town where towns far apart on hot desert.
2. Broke down near a place open on Labor day, highly unusual and appeared to be only place in town open.
3. Broke down where hard to find axle and bearing were.
4. Axle free, imo, by Gods providence, showing himself real and caring on our behalf as we had little money, most of which had been invested in our load.
5. Broke down before going over steep mountain pass and no towns for a long distance. This would have left us in a very bad state of affairs.
5. Made appointment on time.
This message has been edited by buzsaw, 10-28-2004 12:14 AM