October 13, If you ask

If you ask. John 14:14

Take a moment to thank God for answered prayer.  Thank Him that although we do not always understand His timing, He is nonetheless fully attentive to our petitions and supplications.

Remember.

As you thank God for answered prayer, remember specific blessings He has wrought as He responded specifically to your prayers.  Recall the way your faith soared as you witnessed God stepping in to fulfill that which was the cry of your heart. Perhaps you remember when you prayed for needed employment, and you were hired at just the right time.  Or, perhaps that sickness lingered, and all hope was lost. But much prayer was offered, and you witnessed God’s healing.  Take this moment to thank God for specific prayers answered.  

Persist.

As you thank God for answered prayer, thank Him for prayers yet to be answered.  There are times we pray and pray again. And, sometimes our prayers seem ineffective.  At times we wonder if God will ever respond.  Perhaps in this present moment you are praying.  And, perhaps you are discouraged because answers do not seem to come. One bit of advice:  persist!  Do not persist in the flesh, nor in frustration.  Persist in faith.  Go ahead and thank God for prayers yet to be answered.  And thank Him that He answers in His way, and not ours. 

Acknowledge.

As you thank God for answered prayer, acknowledge that His answer may not be the exact way you wish.  In fact, His answer may not be even remotely close to that which you personally envisioned.  So, acknowledge that God’s plan is perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  And, acknowledge that however God answers will be the very best you could ever hope for or ever desire. 

Be confident.  

As you thank God for answered prayer, open your heart to increased confidence in our Lord.   There is a personal resolve I often refer to as a “sacred release.”  As you pray, allow your concerns, burdens, pains, and fears to have a sacred release from your grasp.  And, submit the whole need completely to God. Let Him take hold of your petition. Grow in the confidence that if we ask anything in the name of Christ, He hears, and He answers:

“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:14

Understand.

Finally, as you thank God for answered prayer, grow in His Word.  Open your heart to receive His truths.  For as we pray according to His Word, we pray according to the heart of Jesus.  And, thus we begin to understand how to pray according to His will.  

Today, be reminded to enter more deeply into prayer.  And regularly thank God for answered prayer.  A treasured mentor and professor of years gone by, Dr. Roy Fish, use to remind us as his students, “to cease to be thankful is to begin to be sinful.”  

Thank God for answered prayer. And resolve to bend those knees more often. 

Blessings.