Can I Get An Amen On That?

On Tuesday I blogged a little bit about the Bible study our ladies are doing this year on becoming a prayer warrior. Just studying the lessons have challenged me and made me change the way I think about prayer. I'm also attempting to put into practice the things that we're learning. And of course, as a mother it's my duty to try and share with my children the spiritual truths I'm learning. I had the opportunity to share with Matt yesterday, and although he didn't want me to, we both ended up learning more than we could imagine.

Tuesday night Matt and I had a discussion about prayer. Matt has been praying for a certain something for quite a while. He was getting discouraged and was pretty much at the point of deciding that God was saying no. He didn't want to pray about it anymore. I started asking questions about his particular request and about his prayer life in general. Then I summed up what we had learned.

1. Matt's prayer request, as far as we could tell, lined up with God's will for his life.

2. Matt is a child of God, and was faithfully asking his heavenly Father to answer this prayer.

Then I pointed out to Matt that God has promised to answer our prayers. He has obligated Himself, and therefore Matt needed to keep asking. Matt kept saying, "Do you think I haven't been?" I told him this wasn't about what he had done, this was about continuing to do. In this case, it was continuing to ask. As a Christian, he had the right and permission of God to keep asking for something that he knew was God's will.

I don't believe in putting timetables on God or setting deadlines. But I did tell Matt that I was going to pray that God would answer his prayer tomorrow, which was Wednesday. And then I did. I sensed that Matt was getting discouraged and his faith was wavering. I couldn't give him more faith, but I knew God could. So I asked God to answer the prayer, and I asked Him to answer it in such a way that Matt would see and know that we serve a God who answers prayer.

I believed that God could answer to prayer. And I begged Him to answer so Matt could see it. I prayed that night and I continued to pray. Several times during the night when I woke up because the pain in my legs from exercising wouldn't let me sleep. I decided to put the time to good use, so I prayed then. I prayed all day Wednesday as I thought of it throughout the day.

Wednesday night after church I had to stop at the store and pick up a few things. When I got home, Matt and his dad were outside, so I asked for some help carrying things in. Matt opened the car door and told me, "I just can't believe it." He went on to say that a man at church had approached him tonight and offered the very thing Matt was praying for. I said, "You mean God answered your prayer."

"Yes."

"Today. Today God answered your prayer."

"Yes. He gave me what I asked for today."

Is anybody else shouting yet, or is it just me????