There are many times when we pray that it seems that our words go no further than our lips, and yet, there are other times when we know without a doubt that we have touched God in His very Throne Room of the highest heaven.
The Bible speaks of ‘Times of Refreshing’ that come from the Presence of the Lord. Jesus Christ was sent to earth in the ‘Fullness of Time’. There is a ‘season’ and a ‘time’ for every matter under heaven.
The Bible also speaks of a ‘Day’ with the Lord as being like a thousand years and sometimes as a ‘watch’ in the night. (3 hours equals a ‘watch’ for a guard)
Our ‘times’ are in His hand, and only He knows the day appointed for our death. This seems to vary from person to person whether they are a saint or sinner and not just according to genetics.
Prayer for a brother to be restored
I prayed for a man who had known the Lord, but had quit attending church. I visited him and had good conversations with him about many things, but he adamantly refused to attend church.
One night I was burdened to pray for him around 2 am for a couple of hours. I prayed intensely in the Spirit for this man’s restoration to the Lord. Unknown to me God was moving upon this man’s heart who lived about thirty miles away at that same time that I was praying for him.
His son, who was an elder in my church, came to me the next day, saying that his dad, who was the man I was praying for, was very angry with him. When I asked him why, he said that his dad said he heard him praying for him around 2 am disturbing his sleep, and that he never wanted to hear him praying like that again in his house! The son told him, “Dad, I wasn’t praying at that time. That wasn’t me.”
The son didn’t know I was praying. The dad didn’t know I was praying. God knew that I was praying. The angels of God knew I was praying. The man whom I was praying for was disturbed not by his son’s praying, but by my praying.
When I informed my elder that it was I praying, we both prayed together giving thanks that God had answered prayer and had indeed sent his Spirit and His angels to awake this man from his sleep and convict him of his need to reconcile himself back to his God.
Prayer for protection of a missionary
A missionary in Africa related the following story to his home church when he was home on deputation. It shows us the need to pray for our missionaries by responding to the nudge to pray in our hearts.
“While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident. Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, “‘Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs.
But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.” At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, “No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.”
At is point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story: “On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?” The men who had met together to pray that day stood up.
The missionary wasn’t concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.
The next time you feel that God is not hearing you, call to remembrance the times that you know that God did answer you.
“Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.” Hebrews 10:32
“And I will make every effort to ensure that after my departure, you will be able to recall these things at all times.” II Peter 1:15