“Ask, and
it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it
shall be opened unto you” (Jesus
in Matthew 7:7)
“When you pray, you must
ask, seek and – knock!” (RA)
A
father was leading his family in their time of devotions. When he prayed, he
told God about the needs of the poor widow across the street. He listed the
things she needed, and he proceeded to tell the Lord just how to send them.
Tear
of sympathy tolled down his wife’s cheeks. But one member of the family – the
couple’s son – wasn’t praying. He was thinking. When the father said “Amen”, his son walked over to him and
with his hand held out said, “Dad, give
me your wallet and I’ll go over there and answer your prayer myself.” It
was obvious to that youngster that prayer and practice must go together
whenever possible.
Of
course, prayer must come first. But the reason of prayer is action and
practice. There are certain prayers that need extraordinary miracles to happen
(and we can’t do anything, except fully relying on God) such as when we pray
for people’s salvation, spiritual comfort for the broken, Spirit-anointed
ministry, healing, etc. But there are great many prayers that need us to pray
and at the same time need us to move into actions. When we pray for a job, we
need to find job. When we pray for the hungry, we need to provide food for
them. When we pray for good result in exam, we need to study.
Remember
this old-ever-relevant advice about prayer: When you pray, pray as though everything depended on God. When you
work, work as though everything depended on you. Both God’s sovereignty and
human’s free will.
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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