Prayer. . .With God All Things Are Possible

Jesus told the parable of a man who went to another man’s house at midnight to get bread for a friend. Prayer involves three things seen in this story: knowing God, a sincere heart and persistence.

It would have done the man no good to ask for bread if there was no bread in the house. What if the man had been asking for an ink cartridge for his Hewlett Packard printer? There was no ink cartridge in that house. The man knew what was in the house and so he knew what to ask for. Jesus said “ask me for anything in my name” and “whatever you ask in my name” I will do. If it is in the house it is yours. All things are possible with God, but if it is not “with God” it remains impossible.

The prayers that you see answered in the Bible are not ritual prayers or prayers of rambling words filled with indifference. The great prayers of the Bible were spontaneous expressions of fervor, filled with the emotions of man’s soul. They were from a sincere heart.

Jesus says the man received the bread not because he was a friend, but because he was persistent in asking. Persistence is not the same thing as years of rituals filled with indifference. Persistence is a result of the first two: knowing God and a sincere heart . Persistence in prayer is then followed by persistence in life.

The great prayers of the Bible were spontaneous expressions
of fervor filled with the emothions of man's soul.