Encouragements to Pray
God answers prayer; the feeble and the weak
He gives the very gifts believers seek.
But often faith must learn a deeper rest
And trust God’s silence when He does not speak;
For He whose name is Love will send the best.
Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure,
But God is true; His promises are sure
To those who seek.
There can be no greater encouragement to pray than to know God answers prayer. “Ask, and it shall be given you.” This is as true as the throne of God. “Seek, and ye shall find.” This is the road that leads to all we need. “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Luke 11:9) The great storehouse of blessings and every good will open to your knock.
“I will be your God.” (Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 7:23; Jeremiah 11:4; Jeremiah 30:22; Ezekiel 36:28) Think of this promise for a moment. The God of heaven, Creator of all, is your God. He will hear you when you pray. He will give you all things and give them to you freely. He loves His children with an enduring love. He is a Father to them. He cares for them. “I have heard this so many times,” you say. It is none the less true. Wonderful things have been wrought through prayer, and wonderful things will continue to be wrought through prayer. Faith will move God on His throne today as ever.
The Bible abounds in promises that are encouragements to prayer. “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him.” (1 John 3:22) These words stand true forever. They are true now as you read them. This promise, like all the rest of God’s exceeding great and precious promises, is conditional. We receive what we ask for if we keep God’s commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. All must be submitted to the will of God. Again, we read, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.” (John 14:13) These are very plain words. Every little child knows the meaning of every one of them. “Whatsoever,” that means anything and everything. “Ye,” that means you. It does not mean only those who seem very strong in faith, but it means you. “Shall ask in my name.” In the name of Jesus. We have given a chapter on “Praying in Jesus’ Name,” but might here say that the name of Jesus is accepted always. It is never turned down. If you can get the name of Jesus on the petition that you are presenting at the throne of grace, you will get what you are asking for. A few days ago there came to some of God’s people a request to pray for a sick child. Two or three days later came these words: “The Lord has healed the baby.” This morning a sister received in answer to her prayer the very thing for which she had been praying.
You are to ask, and God is to do. It is a most wonderful thing. It seems almost too wonderful that our asking will cause God to do something, perhaps something that He would never have done if we had not asked Him. Some get the idea that all things work according to established laws in nature and that, consequently, what is to be, will be—as if God had made this world, set it in order, and then gone into far-away depths creating and peopling other worlds, and never once thinking of this one. I am very happy to know that God is still mindful of this little world of ours. He does hear the prayers of His children, and He will do what we ask Him to do. A woman who had been afflicted for more than ten years, came to Jesus and in faith asked for the healing of her body. She was made whole the moment her faith touched him. If she had never prayed that prayer of faith, she would never have received the healing. The Bible speaks of Asa’s trusting in the physicians and dying. If he had prayed to God, he would probably have been healed. Here was something that the Lord did not do because He was not asked to do it. Do not understand us to say that the Lord never does anything for His children without their asking. He is daily doing many things for them for which they never ask. He is able and willing to do and also does do for them above what they think or ask. So He does many things for His children without their asking, but some things only when they ask. When you kneel down to pray, think for a moment, “Now God is going to do for me that which He would never do if I did not ask Him.” This will surely be an encouragement to you to ask Him for all you need.
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7) This promise has never failed. You may think you have asked and have not received; yet you have never asked according to this promise but you have been answered according to it. Our abiding in Him and His words abiding in us implies a harmony of our mind with the divine mind.
God says, “If ye ask, I will do.” This is positive. Elias asked that it might not rain, and it rained not for three years and six months. Then he prayed that it might rain, and it rained (James 5:17-18). Elias was asking; God was doing. That is what the Lord says to you—“If ye ask, I will do.” He does not say, however, that he will act the first time you ask. He did not give Elias rain the first time he asked. It was when the prophet prayed the seventh time that the cloud appeared. A certain disciple prayed that the snow might cease to fall. The seventh time he prayed the clouds passed away and the sun shone. It is not always, however, just on the seventh time of asking that the Lord responds nor on any other stated number; but the fact is, Jesus says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” (John 16:23) He does not say that He will give it the first time you ask nor the seventh, but He does say that he will give it if you ask. You are to ask, and the promise is, “Ye shall receive.” If you do not receive the first time, ask again, for the promise is sure. If you ask only a few times and then cease asking because you have not received, your failure to importune is proof that you did not have faith to begin with. “Ask, and ye shall receive.” (John 16:24) Now, if we believe this promise, we shall ask until we do receive. If we are asking for something not according to the will of God, He will soon inform us. God is a Father to all who love Him, and as certainly as the sun rises, He hears them when they pray. Do believe Him. Never regard the feeling, the emotions; stagger not at the promise of God through unbelief. You can be strong; you can triumph; you can rise and live above the clouds on the wings of believing prayer. Your prayer has gone up to the throne of God, where it is kept in memorial, and some time, some where, it will be answered. Be encouraged and pray on, believing. You will find an answer. Be childlike, and God will lead you safely. Do not fear to trust Him. Look above the circumstances surrounding and see the promise and believe it. It will never, never, never fail.
Unanswered yet? The prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail, is hope departing,
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Though when you first presented
This one petition at the Father’s throne,
It seemed you could not wait the time of asking,
So urgent was your heart to make it known.
Though years have passed since then, do not despair;
The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? But you are not unheeded;
The promises of God forever stand;
To Him our days and years alike are equal;
“Have faith in God”; it is your Lord’s command.
Hold on to Jacob’s angel and your prayer
Shall bring a blessing down sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done;
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered;
Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storm prayer stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, “It shall be done,” sometime, somewhere.*