Bill Hybels - Too Busy Not to Pray

I f you could ask God for one miracle in your life, knowing with 100 percent certainty that he would grant your request, what would you ask for?

Would you ask for your marriage to be put back together? Or for a situation in your job to change? Would you plead for a straying son or daughter to return? Or for a loved one to surrender to Christ? Would you pray for regained healthin your body, in your finances, in your prayer life?

Whatever your request might be, do you regularly and diligently, every single day, bring it to God in prayer, trusting that he will intervene in your situation?

CAN GOD HANDLE IT?

Most of us would admit that we dont pray often about our deepest needs. We grow faint of heart. We begin to pray, but we soon find our minds wandering, and we realize were using empty phrases. Our words sound hollow and shallow and we start to feel hypocritical. Soon we give up altogether because it seems better to live with almost any difficult situation than to continue to pray ineffectually.

In our nobler moments we reach out to God because we know he is holding out loving arms toward us. But then we often fall back and try to face our difficulties in our own power. At some basic and perhaps unconscious level, we doubt whether God really can make a difference in light of the problems we face.

So, even if we believe that God loves us and wants to help us, the question remains: is he able to do so?

For forty years our country has been drowning in a sea of red ink, the federal deficit dogging us at every turn. The gap has widened between the rich and the poor, CEOs pull down princely salaries while mass layoffs multiply, unskilled workers cannot find jobs with decent pay and public aid fails to stem the tide of urban poverty.

In spite of the dangerous economic and social situation, however, not one person has ever petitioned me to do something about itand with good reason. I dont have any power to effect change in national policy that would solve our economic woes. In fact, even though the problems grow more serious every day, it would be a colossal waste of your time to ask me to try. Which is precisely why nobody ever does!

Parts of our world are perennially torn by war and civil strife. In the Middle East, parts of Africa (such as Uganda, Sudan and Somalia) and areas in Southeast Asia and Colombia, government corruption, a disregard for human rights and a readiness to use force when words fail all contribute to the significant loss of human life every year. But again, no one has ever asked me to do a thing about these deplorable situations. Why? Because even though it is desperately needed, I obviously have no power to bring about peace on earth.

BELIEVING IN THE HEART

Many of us have pressing personal needs and serious problems that ravage our lives, but we neglect to ask God for help. Somewhere, far beneath our surface layer of faith and trust, we dont actually believe God has the ability to do anything about them.

The fact is, of course, that God is capable of handling any problem we could possibly bring to him. Creating planets didnt seem to be much of a problem for him. Neither was raising the dead. Nothing is too difficult for God to handle, but we wont see much proof of this until we actually ask him to handle it.

I used to make excuses for my faint-hearted prayer life, such as rationalizing my lack of perseverance in prayer with the idea that I didnt have any decent role models in this area to follow. I have too many responsibilities to fulfill, Id also think, trying to convince myself. Theres no way I have the time to pray properly.

But God convinced me that I was not being honest with myself. The real reason my prayers were weak was that my faith was weak.

In my head I have always believed in Gods omnipotence. I write about it and preach about it. But too often this belief hasnt registered where it really countsin my heart. And when my heart is not persuaded, I dont pray about difficult situations. I dont ask God to meet my most pressing needs.

During my summer study breaks, I spend several hours a day reading, planning and praying in a small room that overlooks the harbor in South Haven, Michigan. For some reason one morning, as I watched the waves lap at the shore, a thought hit me regarding what the problem was in my prayer life. In my heart I did not believe that God could do anything about the messes all around me. I wanted to believe he was able. I just didnt.

Admitting this to God was embarrassing, but in the end it was cleansing.

I decided I didnt want to stay where I was, for all practical purposes disbelieving Gods omnipotence. I launched an assault on my own lack of conviction, starting with opening my Bible and locating almost every passage that emphasizes Gods ability to accomplish anything he desires.

GODS POWER OVER NATURE

I looked first at passages that demonstrate Gods power over nature.

Exodus 14 and Joshua 3 prove that when God decided certain seas or rivers needed parting, he parted them. Exodus 16 and John 6 prove that when his people were hungry, he dropped food from heaven or multiplied bread and fish. Mark 4 says that when a storm endangered the lives of his disciples, he stilled it. And Joshua 10 assures us that when Israels troops needed more time to consolidate their gains, he even extended the hours of daylight on the earth.

One story I especially liked came from Exodus 17:1-7. Moses had become frustrated because his people were thirsty. So he brought their need for water to God, and God said, See that rock?

I can imagine Moses saying, Yes, but what does that have to do with water? If we need water, shouldnt we be looking at the ground?

God answered, I dont want you and your people thinking you stumbled across some artesian well. I want you to know the power of the One you serve. I want you to experience my power over nature firsthand by sending you water right out of the side of that dry rock.

And indeed he did.

I read and reread all those stories about Gods power over nature until I was convinced once again that they really did happen in actual time and space. What reassurance I found there!

GODS POWER OVER CIRCUMSTANCES

Next, I looked at Gods power to change impossible circumstances.

When the Holy Spirit came to the believers at Pentecost, many went out and preached that Christ had come back from the dead and was the Savior of the world. As a result, thousands of people were converted to the new Christian movement. This made both the Roman officials and the traditional Jewish leaders quite nervous; threatened by the crowds enthusiastic response to the Christian preachers, they feared losing their authority over them.

And so the Roman and Jewish leaders resisted the movement. First, they arrested several prominent Christians and scolded them publicly. Which did no good at all; the Christians said they couldnt help but speak about what they had seen and heard.

Next, the officials captured, tortured and imprisoned some of the disciples. This had no lasting effect either. Once released, the disciples spoke with even greater boldness about Christ.

Finally, Herod Agrippa, Jerusalems governor, arrested the apostle James, the brother of John, and had him executed. Acts 12 recounts the fact that he then laid plans to put Peter to death as well.

Unfortunately for Herod, he had Peter arrested during the Passover feast. Respecting Jewish traditions, he did not want to execute the apostle during Passover week, so Peter was slated to spend several days in jail before losing his head. To be sure other Christians wouldnt spring their leader, Herod made Peters security extra tight. Sixteen Roman soldiers were assigned to guard him. One was chained to his left wrist, one to his right. Sentries guarded the entrance to the cell.