One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

• Luke 11:1

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

• Matthew 21:22

For this is what the high and exalted One says—
    he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
    but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

• Isaiah 57:15

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

• 2 Corinthians 12:8-9

“Prayer is an act of worship. It becomes the heart-beat of a Christian’s faith. In talking to God in prayer we offer praise and thanksgiving, we request forgiveness and, in general, make known our needs to Him.
“We must learn patience. We must learn to wait upon the Lord. We cannot dictate to God as to how and when our prayers should be answered.
“We must never try to hurry the decisions of God, only request that His will, not ours, be done. When we pray we must come before God in faith, with humbleness, with submission and with a willingness for His will to be done.
“Where hope is great, disappointment will be the more intense. Yet when frustration occurs, disheartening and disruptive as it may be, faith must not be weakened. Impatience and exasperation must never rule when an immediate answer to our prayers is not forthcoming.”

• Roy Z. Kemp, Measure for Living

Boilerplate

In this new mini-series, I found an old book of mine in my wife’s things.  I did not know that she had it, but she loved collecting inspirational poems.  She had a knack for skimming over the subject matter that the Sunday school class would discuss.  Then she would thumb through the poetry and devotional books on the shelf and seemingly pick one at random.  Then she would open the book to a seemingly random page and read a prayer or two.  Then she would nod her head and place a bookmark at what she had found.  Then after the Sunday school class had wandered around the subject, going down various rabbit holes along the way, she would end the class with the poem and a short prayer.  And the poem seemed to summarize what we had talked about, even the side trails down rabbit holes.  It fit so perfectly every time.

I do not think she ever quoted this book, but it was a keepsake.  I had never read it.  The inscription in the front of the book states, “It has been a joy to have had you this year.  It has been a friendship I will cherish.”  It was signed by the woman who lived next door to my mother’s mother.  She taught piano and organ.  I took organ lessons.

Do not ask me to play anything on the piano.  I learned by gently gliding over the keys, not by striking them.  And after 55+ years of not practicing, I would be lost after a few bars of Swingin’ Shepherd Blues.

Discussion

In looking over the suggestions that the author makes about prayer, I have probably touched on each of them myself.

When I got out of the Army, I had a specific discharge date.  I could not simply wait for an answer.  When I was pressed by a potential employer, I was given a deadline to think about it.  I feel that I chose unwisely, and the charmed life that I had up to that point turned into one problem after another.  But would I have had the same stretch of bad situations if I had chosen any of the other options?  God put me where He wanted me to be.  The 2 Corinthians quote above has been often speculated, but whatever it was, it humbled Paul.  And maybe we need to be humbled also.  Does it matter what the nature of the thorn in the flesh was?  It did not keep Paul from doing what God wanted Him to do.  And if it was a physical malady, you can find out that you have more strength within you than you think you have.  Remember that God gives you the strength you need and His strength is unlimited.  But is our faith adequate?

I mentioned earlier that my options when I left the military were not good ones and I chose unwisely.

Three years before I eventually lost my job, I saw what was happening.  I knew that we were about to be sold as a company and most of us would not survive the take-over.  I had a different option, but I had a lousy job offer.  It was a monster pay cut.  I would have to move to an area of Houston, TX that was prone to violence and periodic flooding or have a snarled traffic mind-numbing commute.  Which I probably could not afford due to the pay cut.  And I had to pay for shipping my household goods by myself.

It seemed like bankruptcy either way, but then came the company’s administrative assistant from the company offering me escape from the take-over.  I had postponed my decision because I had three deaths in the family in three months: brother, father, mother.  The first day I was back at work after the third funeral, she called and said she needed an answer from me by the end of the day.

I wisely said, “No.”  There was no compassion regarding the loss of three family members.  And the answer had to be immediate with no thought of praying about it.  I chose wisely because a job that God wanted me to have would not be made without prayer and at the spur of the moment.

I lost my job three years later, but I was better prepared.  It was what God wanted at the time.

When we ask for something outside God’s will, the best answer that we can get from God is “No.”

We should not think that God has deserted us.  He may have just saved us from stepping in quicksand or a snake pit.

Closing Prayer

“Lord, make him rugged,
Make him firm and strong,
Sound of limb;
Give him a healthy mind.

Give him good reasoning. Let him stand
Impervious to calm or storm,
Serene, seeking no favor, standing firm, alone,
Staunch and secure against the stress of life.

Let him be just and merciful,
Know tenderness,
And teach him to be kind
But never soft or weak.

Make him courageous; let him fight the fight
Of the oppressed, the weak, the helpless ones;
Let prejudice and malice, hate and scorn,
Remain unknown to him.

May he know peace, humility. But if there be
The need to know deep grief, adversity,
May he not be embittered; may he know
Thy chastening is only for his good.

And, Father, may he always do Thy will.
Protect and guard him through each passing day.
Let Thy sweet love encompass him always.
My son! Our son!”

• Roy Z. Kemp, Measure for Living (A Father’s Prayer)

“Father, guide me.  Help me feel the poetry.  It is not like the other prayers did not speak to me, but being a father and grandfather, this one did.  Sometimes, we are on an island, bombarded from all sides.  But You are with us.  And when we operate within Your will, we are invincible.  For if we leave this earth, we are with You.  In Thy Name I pray.
“Amen”

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.