A person heard me praying and in the closing part of my prayer to the Lord I use a phrase that in private praying is far more explicit. The public phrase is, “and Lord please consider the great financial blessing on the table.” The explicit part of private prayer is not to give God clear instructions, but to clarify in my own mind and heart exactly what I am asking.
Most of us pray about mundane things, supposing this to be a mark of humility. There’s a bumper sticker somewhere that proclaims, “Pray for small things so that people will not think you’re arrogant.”
Contrast the above idea with the instructions of Dwight Lyman Moody who shook the United States and Europe with the Gospel of Jesus. His advice on prayer is recorded in this gem:
“We honor God when we ask for great things. It is a humiliating thing to think that we are satisfied with very small results.” D.L. Moody.
It’s been taught by scholars of many different Christian disciplines to act on your prayers. By this most mean while you’re praying for the impossible go ahead and activate all the things associated with the impossible by implementing these things now.
In the early days of pastoring Joyce and I had reached the end of our financial rope. We had two children then and the cupboard was bare. It was a Saturday. Joyce went to the kitchen of our tiny apartment and set the table. She marched back into the cubicle we called “Living room.” We knelt along the couch, (of which one leg was a cinder block) and the girls prayed for our daily bread. I prayed a wimpy prayer half-heartedly quoting a few provision verses. Then came the Great Blonde’s prayer. It was a no-nonsense prayer something like this: “Lord, we have these two children you have entrusted to us. Larry left a good job to preach, and now Lord we have no food at all. Lord, I am asking you for food. I believe you will provide these need according to your riches. I have done what I could, as though the pantry and Ice Box was full. The table is set. I thank you for the food you will provide.”
The prayer was barely past the ceiling when a knock was heard on the door. I went to the door, opened it and there stood Bill Englebirth, a Native American who had been saved at the church. Bill was standing there with three large paper bags. He said, “Preacher, I hope this does not offend you, but I was at Gram’s farm and she felt impressed to send this to you.
Inside the three bags were two plucked chickens, one baked and ready to eat chicken, several boiled sweet potatoes and seven ears of roasted corn and other groceries. Also an envelope with a fifty-dollar bill.” (My pay at that time was sixty dollars a week when the church had it).
When you pray for the great impossible, go ahead and set the table. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Copyright © 2016 Larry Lilly
IT Prayer Answered! Oral Deckard
Most of us pray about mundane things, supposing this to be a mark of humility. There’s a bumper sticker somewhere that proclaims, “Pray for small things so that people will not think you’re arrogant.”
Contrast the above idea with the instructions of Dwight Lyman Moody who shook the United States and Europe with the Gospel of Jesus. His advice on prayer is recorded in this gem:
“We honor God when we ask for great things. It is a humiliating thing to think that we are satisfied with very small results.” D.L. Moody.
It’s been taught by scholars of many different Christian disciplines to act on your prayers. By this most mean while you’re praying for the impossible go ahead and activate all the things associated with the impossible by implementing these things now.
In the early days of pastoring Joyce and I had reached the end of our financial rope. We had two children then and the cupboard was bare. It was a Saturday. Joyce went to the kitchen of our tiny apartment and set the table. She marched back into the cubicle we called “Living room.” We knelt along the couch, (of which one leg was a cinder block) and the girls prayed for our daily bread. I prayed a wimpy prayer half-heartedly quoting a few provision verses. Then came the Great Blonde’s prayer. It was a no-nonsense prayer something like this: “Lord, we have these two children you have entrusted to us. Larry left a good job to preach, and now Lord we have no food at all. Lord, I am asking you for food. I believe you will provide these need according to your riches. I have done what I could, as though the pantry and Ice Box was full. The table is set. I thank you for the food you will provide.”
The prayer was barely past the ceiling when a knock was heard on the door. I went to the door, opened it and there stood Bill Englebirth, a Native American who had been saved at the church. Bill was standing there with three large paper bags. He said, “Preacher, I hope this does not offend you, but I was at Gram’s farm and she felt impressed to send this to you.
Inside the three bags were two plucked chickens, one baked and ready to eat chicken, several boiled sweet potatoes and seven ears of roasted corn and other groceries. Also an envelope with a fifty-dollar bill.” (My pay at that time was sixty dollars a week when the church had it).
When you pray for the great impossible, go ahead and set the table. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Copyright © 2016 Larry Lilly
IT Prayer Answered! Oral Deckard
RSS Feed