The key to answered prayer

Sharing my own personal study this morning...
These are purely my ideas and what I felt God was teaching me today.

In Matthew 8:1-4 there is a man with leprosy who approaches Jesus and says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” This man believes that Jesus has the power to heal him and he petitions Jesus for that healing. Jesus replies, “I am willing. Be clean.” In this way, Jesus answers the leper’s prayers.
In Mark 5:25-34 the woman with the issue of bleeding also desires to be healed. She decides to herself that if she could just get close enough to Jesus to touch His robe then she would be healed and that’s what she did. She didn’t ask. She didn’t make a scene. She touched His robe and because of her faith, she was healed.

I think the leper’s story represents our need to pray to God and ask for whatever petitions we have. If the Lord is willing, He will answer them.
Yet in the woman’s story, I see that she had faith great enough for her prayers to be answered. She didn’t even have to ask. (Of course the Lord already knows our needs.)

This is a little bit of a conflict for me.
I’ve always known that my spiritual gift is faith and I’ve drawn on that gift many times for myself and others.
Yet I’ve also always felt strongly that it’s important to pray to God about our requests and needs and wants.

In the Bible, there are many stories about Jesus healing people. He does it in all different ways. In some situations, He’s asked. In some situations, He merely speaks words and the person is healed. In some situations, He doesn’t even go to the person who is sick. He just commands it and it’s done. (See Matthew 8:5-13 The Faith of the Centurion) The only similarity in all these stories that I can see, is that for every person who was healed by Jesus, they had to first have faith.

[In Acts 3:1-10 Peter heals a beggar who didn’t ask for healing and had no faith prior to his healing. But yet the Holy Spirit healed the man through Peter. This is because of Peter's faith.]

This faith is not just hoping that God will answer our prayers, but it’s based on a fundamental belief that God has the power to answer any prayer if He is willing. But therein lies our problem.
I think because we have seen or experienced so much evil and tragedy in the world, we don’t always believe that He is willing to answer our prayers. How could God allow bad things to happen to good people, right? And that’s where our faith falters.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of God’s loving-kindness.
Are there any examples in the Bible of Jesus denying healing to someone who sought it from Him? (The answer is no.)

The bleeding woman was healed without any prior petitions. Her faith was such that she believed she could draw on His power to be healed. She had no doubts as to whether or not Jesus was willing to heal her. She only had to walk closely with Jesus - not just close, but so close as to touch the hem of his robe - to have her prayers answered.

Am I walking that closely with Him? Is my faith strong enough that I believe Jesus is truly willing to answer my prayers whatever they might be?
It’s not until I believe He IS willing that then my prayers will be answered.
I must believe that God wants what’s best for me.

Matthew 7:9-11 - “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”

Matthew7:7-8 - “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

It's why I do what I do

So many times I sit down at my computer with the intention of writing something for the blog. My goal is to post once a week, but you can easily see how short I’ve fallen of that plan.

I want to write to tell you of all the amazing things going on in this city… but I can’t. If you know anything about me, you understand why that is so difficult.

I’ve spent my whole life writing about the world around me, and sharing everything I can think of with anyone who will listen. But for my family’s security and for the protection of the people I work with, for now I have to just ponder those things in my heart.

So then I try to write about the general experience of living overseas, but then I think to myself, “Who cares?!?” and so I don’t write anything. After all, I’m accustomed to writing for an audience. I’m not just writing for myself. (I do that in my journal.) I want to write to move, motivate and mobilize my friends at home. I want to give you something to contemplate that might change your way of thinking. But then I end up writing something stupid like how much I love salad.

Ugh!

I just feel so out of touch with civilization. The latest technology, who won the big game, what movies are playing and what new music is out – all these things we just are not aware of anymore.

It’s been two years now that we have been living in a foreign country, and I could not have fathomed how drastically different our lives would be.

We have a saying here that goes, “The days drag on but the years are flying by.”

It’s so true. Sometimes the days here feel so long – it’s because it takes us so much more time just to accomplish a simple task. We sit in traffic. We can’t easily communicate. There’s no quick running here and there to do this or that. Yet we have blinked and two years have passed by.

I guess that could be true of life no matter where you live.

My kids are growing up. Our hair is grayer or gone. Life is moving by and the Message just feels so much more urgent.

Maybe that’s why I’m having trouble writing.

I see the lost and dying all around me and I can’t just make jokes to cover it up.

Tonight I sat with a group of friends, discussing the Word and why it’s important to share His love with others. These people had huge smiles on their faces. They were leaning forward in their chairs. They were soaking up the Good News like a dry sponge thirsty for water, and I knew that the Spirit was there.

When we began talking with Father, I was holding back tears. He’s just so good.

And that message is the most important.

More than anything else I could say.

He’s good.

He loves.

He gives.

Why don’t I talk about that more?

Why don’t you?

I guess more than anything I could say about the last two years is that I’ve drawn closer to Him. Maybe that’s why He brought me here – to eliminate the distractions that take my eyes off Him, to provide peace, to restore my joy. But then that’s all about me, isn’t it? And I don’t think that’s it.

It’s not about me.

It’s about Him.

It doesn’t mean I won’t continue posting pictures on Facebook of my favorite foods. It doesn’t mean I’m going to stop sharing about all the ignorant and humorous mistakes I make in my attempt to assimilate into this Southeast Asian culture.

I’m sure I’ll still blog about living overseas and this crazy adventure we call life.

I just pray that in everything I do, He is the reason for it all.