"And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9).
THEME
ACCESS TO GOD
In January, 1978, three of Roger and Patsy Hutson's children fell through the ice of a pond and drowned. Roger, a truck driver, recalled the agony: "I laid my head on the steering wheel and sobbed aloud because of the loneliness that filled my whole being . . . and because I had no one who cared. Then, in the emptiness, I became aware of the presence of someone else, someone who wanted to listen to me. . . . Jesus was in my cab, listening to me."
Jesus taught His disciples that God will respond to the needs of His children. The disciples could talk to God directly; and when they knocked, He would open the door. God was not ill with sleeping sickness; He cared about the people and the world He had created.
The prayers of Abraham, Moses, David, Hezekiah, and others fill the Old Testament. God has always been there to listen. But the New Testament adds a new dimension to prayer. It emphasizes our relationship with all three members of the Godhead.
God does not have an answering machine, but Jesus screens all His calls; no one talks to the Father without going through the Son first. The Holy Spirit, like a trusted friend, whispers in our ears just the right words. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, we learn God's direct number and dial with confidence. As we rely on the Holy Spirit and make His words ours, we stop stuttering and boldly tell God the intimate details of our lives.
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SEP 23
LUKE 11:1-13
"When you pray, say: 'Our Father . . .'" (Luke 11:2).
Dr. Robert A. Cook, president of The King's College, told an audience at Moody Bible Institute that he had talked with Vice President George Bush the previous day. Two hours after that, he spoke briefly with President Ronald Reagan. Then, smiling broadly, Cook told us, "But that's nothing. Today I talked with God."
Prayer takes on new power and fervency when we become conscious of God's greatness and glory. When saints of past ages caught a glimpse of the Almighty, they were awestruck. Job, who had complained bitterly about his misfortune and had made some self-righteous statements, finally met the Lord and cried out, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6). Isaiah saw a vision of God and exclaimed, "Woe is me, for I am undone!" (Isa 6:5). Ezekiel observed the glory of the Lord and declared, "So when I saw it, I fell on my face" (Eze 1:28). The apostle John, after seeing a vision of the glorified Son of God, said, "I fell at His feet as dead" (Rev 1:17).
To all of these men, the vision of God's greatness and glory brought an overwhelming sense of their weakness and depravity. Yet God invites us to talk to Him, and He wants us to address Him as "Our Father."
--H.V.L.
Our highest privilege is to talk to God.
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SEP 24
LUKE 5:12-16
"And when you have shut your door, pray to your Father"
(Matthew 6:6).
In a letter to friends, hymnwriter Wendell P. Loveless told about a visitor to the United States who wanted to make a telephone call. He entered a phone booth, but found it to be different from those in his own country. It was beginning to get dark, so he had difficulty finding the number in the directory. He noticed a light on the ceiling, but he didn't know how to turn it on. As he tried again to find the number in the fading twilight, a passerby noted his plight and said, "If you want to turn the light on, you have to shut the door." To the visitor's amazement and satisfaction, when he closed the door, the booth was filled with light. He soon located the number and completed the call.
When we draw aside in a quiet place to pray, we must block out our busy world and open our hearts to the Father. He then will illuminate our darkened world of disappointments and trials. We will enter into communion with God, sense His presence, and be assured of His provision for us. Our Lord often went to be alone with the heavenly Father. Sometimes it was after a busy day of preaching and healing, as in Luke 5. At other times, it was before making a major decision (Luke 6:12).
We too can have the confidence that "if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (1 John 5:14). But we must remember that to "turn on the light," we must first "shut the door" by getting alone with God.
--R.W.D.
One of the great secrets of prayer is prayer in secret.
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SEP 25
EPHESIANS 3:13-21
[He] is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
At the time of his death in 1956, Jim Elliot was trying to reach the Auca Indians of South America for Christ. Just three years earlier, after watching an Indian die in a jungle hut, he had affirmed his willingness to serve God and die if necessary among these people. Then he added this petition: "Lord, let me live until I have declared Thy works to this generation." Jim Elliot didn't expect God to answer his prayer by letting him be speared to death before he was thirty years old. But neither did he have any idea that within three years his name would be known all over the world and that his journals would challenge many to give themselves to the Lord's service. He's been in heaven for more than thirty years, but he is still "speaking" to thousands of people.
God loves us deeply and listens to our prayers, but He doesn't always give us exactly what we ask. Since He "is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think," we can be sure that if He doesn't fulfill all our requests it's because He wants to give us something better.
When we don't receive everything we ask for, we need not be discouraged. God loves us and delights in giving us what we desire. But He also knows the end from the beginning, and sometimes He says no in order to give us something better. When we reach heaven, we will find that He did indeed answer our petitions "exceedingly abundantly above" all our fondest hopes and dreams.
--H.V.L.
God always gives us what we ask for--or something better.
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SEP 26
PHILIPPIANS 4:1-7
By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6).
A friend of mine took his small son with him one day to run some errands. When lunchtime arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer." Dad got through praying first and waited for his son to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" "How do I know?" the child replied. "It was a silent prayer."
A lot of our praying is like that, whether silent or aloud. We don't say anything to the Lord. We call words to mind, but they are repetitious or insincere. What the Lord needs to hear from us is earnest, heartfelt prayer--prompted by the Holy Spirit and offered in the name of the Lord Jesus. The result, according to Paul, is "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding," that "will guard [our] hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Php 4:7).
We need to take prayer seriously. Closing our eyes, bowing our heads, and repeating nice-sounding words is insufficient. Our requests must be in line with God's Word, and they must come from sincere hearts.
--P.R.V.
True prayer does not require eloquence but earnestness.
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SEP 27
LUKE 22:31-46
"I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail"
(Luke 22:32).
While very ill, John Knox, the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, called to his wife and said, "Read me that Scripture where I first cast my anchor." After he listened to the beautiful prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, he seemed to forget his weakness. He began to pray, interceding earnestly for his fellowmen. He prayed for the ungodly who had thus far rejected the gospel. He pleaded in behalf of people who had been recently converted. And he requested protection for the Lord's servants facing persecution. As Knox prayed, his spirit went Home to be with the Lord. The man of whom Queen Mary had said, "I fear his prayers more than I do the armies of my enemies," ministered through prayer until the moment of his death.
Prayer is the working force of the Christian's life. Although we normally think of it as an element of worship, it is also vital in our service for God. By word and through example the Lord Jesus taught us that prayer is just as much a ministry as preaching, teaching, witnessing, and doing kind deeds in His name. The Savior did just as much on Peter's behalf by praying for him as He did by exhorting him. We may be assured that we are never useless as long as we can pray.
Prayer is our chief duty. If we believe this, we'll spend more time praying. When we are in circumstances that make it impossible for us to do much of anything else, we can still pray. We'll be exercising the greatest of all ministries.
--H.V.L.
God's soldiers fight best on their knees.
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SEP 28
1 JOHN 3:19-24
And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we . . . do those things that are pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:22).
While Josh McDowell was attending seminary in California, his father went Home to be with the Lord. His mother had died years earlier, but Josh was unsure of her salvation. He became depressed, thinking that she might be lost. Then he became obsessed. Though it seemed like an impossible request, he prayed, "Lord, somehow give me the answer so I can get back to normal. I've just got to know."
Two days later, Josh drove out to the ocean. He walked to the end of a pier to be alone. An old woman sitting in a lawn chair, fishing, started talking to him. "Where's your home originally?" she asked. "Michigan--Union City," Josh replied. "Nobody's heard of it. I tell people it's a suburb of--" "Battle Creek," interrupted the woman. "I had a cousin from there. Did you know the McDowell family?" Stunned, Josh responded, "Yes, I'm Josh McDowell!" "I can't believe it," said the woman. "I'm a cousin to your mother." "Do you remember anything at all about my mother's spiritual life?" asked Josh. "Why sure. Your mom and I were just girls--teenagers--when a tent revival came to town. It was the fourth night--we both went forward to accept Christ." "Praise God!" shouted Josh, startling the surrounding fishermen.
If we are obedient to God, He delights to give us what we ask when it is in His will. We should never underestimate God's desire to respond to our prayers. A surprise answer may be just around the corner.
--D.J.D.
When we get definite with God, He'll get definite with us.
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SEP 29
1 JOHN 3:7-18
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18).
A father, leading his family in their devotional time, prayed about the needs of the poor widow across the street. He listed the things she needed, and he proceeded to tell the Lord just how to send them. Tears of sympathy rolled down his wife's cheeks. But one member of the family--the couple's son--wasn't praying. He was thinking. When the father said "Amen," the son walked over to him with his hand held out. "Dad," he said, "give me your wallet and I'll go over and answer your prayer myself."
That youngster knew that prayer and practice go together. Our conversation with God must be followed by action. When we pray for the Lord to "send out laborers into His harvest," we must make ourselves available. When we pray for the salvation of friends, we must be willing witnesses. When we pray, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," this purifying hope should make us ethical in our business, good stewards with our budgets, and Christ-honoring in our lifestyle.
John explained this concept in his first epistle. He said we shouldn't restrict our love to words; we must demonstrate it with our deeds. And later he said that "whatever we ask we receive from Him because we . . . do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (3:22). The genuineness of our prayers will be evident in our willingness to practice what we pray.
--P.R.V.
Our good deeds are often the best answers to our prayers.
