Praying With Power: 12 Lessons: Bible Study Series

“WHEN I PRAY, YOU ANSWER ME; YOU ENCOURAGE ME BY GIVING ME THE STRENGTH I NEED.”

We pray. We tell God all our concerns. We make requests on behalf of our loved ones. We send our heart’s cry right into His throne room. And then, we must wait. No confirmation that a message has been received. No receipts. No quick answers.

When we have questions, we really like to get answers. It’s a system we’re accustomed to. Even when we cannot get in touch with someone immediately, we have options. We leave our name and number on answering machines. We leave messages on others’ voice mail services. We can even get confirmation that our e-mail messages have been received. We know they’ll get back to us at their earliest convenience.

But God doesn’t make any such promise to us. Sometimes, the answer comes before we can even finish praying. Sometimes, a door closes with such a resounding thud that we know the answer must be no. But more often than not, God makes us wait.

1. One of the comforts of prayer is, we know, no matter what the answer might be, that in His own time, God will answer. David knew this. What did he say in Psalm 17:6?

One of my physical responses to the poison still working its way out of my system has been hair loss. I was rather embarrassed to bring it up to God, but when I prayed my hair prayer, there was the immediate inner assurance that hair would indeed come, for the purpose of Marilyn “knowing” that God is God. The hair came! I cannot even begin to understand or explain the divine “why” of my hair experience. The hair is merely something visible that God is using tangibly to assure me of His divine power, His sovereign design to raise me up again in spite of how I felt or even look, and the outlandish lengths to which He’ll go to reassure me of His love and power.

Marilyn Meberg

2. There are times when God answers our prayers with amazing speed. Daniel had an example of this in his life. Read Daniel 9:21–23. Why does Gabriel say he has come?

3. The prayers God answers are often everyday prayers, still miraculous in their own way. What prayer does God answer in Psalm 34:4?

4. What kinds of prayers can God answer? Jesus answers this for us in Mark 11:24.

5. There is another example of answered prayer given by Paul in Philippians 1:19. What does he declare?

Usually, when we pray, we know exactly what we want God to do. We’ve given our situation much thought, we’ve checked out the pros and cons, considered our options, and we’ve decided how God should work. As we kneel in prayer, we unfold carefully laid plans, hoping for His stamp of approval. Once we get the nod from on high, we can move forward smoothly with life.

Unfortunately, God doesn’t operate this way. I think He delights in surprising us. Just look at all the surprises He slipped into the Bible! Sarah had a baby when she was ninety-nine years old. Jacob was reunited with the son he thought had been killed by wild animals. The eighth boy in a family of shepherds from Bethlehem is sought out by God’s prophet and anointed as the next king of Israel. The widow who shared the last bit of food in her house with Elijah found herself in possession of a pitcher that never ran out of oil. A poor, orphaned Jewish girl becomes the Queen of Persia and saves her people from a murderous plot. The man thrown into a den of hungry lions comes out alive the next day and receives a promotion instead. Improbable? Unbelievable? Incredible? Inconceivable? And yet, true.

Things don’t always work out the way we think they should. But sometimes that’s because God has something better in mind.

6. When I was little, I knew when my mom said, “No,” it meant no. “Maybe” usually meant yes. “I’ll think about it” most often meant no. And “We’ll see” generally meant yes. There are times, when God will tell us “No.” He doesn’t always give us what we want. Have you ever experienced a “No” from God that you were grateful to have received in hindsight?

Are you dealing with someone whom you feel will never change? Do you vacillate between wishing he would change and just wanting him to leave you alone? Have you given up expecting good things from that person? Nobody is so far from God that he can’t get back to the Lord. Our responsibility is to keep knocking at God’s door about that person, to keep believing God will answer our prayers. Thank God for what He will do. Patiently but expectantly wait on the Lord. Renew your hope!

Thelma Wells

7. Of all the answers my parents ever gave to my questions, the hardest to live with was “Wait and see.” It was enough to make an impatient child squirm with frustration. Does God make us wait? Yep. How does David encourage us to handle ourselves while we wait in Psalm 27:14?

8. Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope” (NKJV). So, while we await the answers we seek through prayer, we can gather hope from God’s Word. What promise does God give to those who are waiting in Isaiah 40:31?

9. Micah felt sure God would answer him, “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me” (Mic. 7:7, NKJV). But what do we do in the meantime? What should be our manner—our behavior—as we await God’s answer to our prayers? Look at David’s urging in Psalm 62:5.

My husband died at age fifty-two of cancer; our baby died when she was two weeks old; scores of people prayed, but God did not choose to do what I longed for. Why not? God simply does what He does because He’s God. I’ll never figure Him out.

Marilyn Meberg

10. Even when we know the answers we seek will come eventually, waiting can be hard. So here is one last verse of encouragement from the prophet Jeremiah. Look up Lamentations 3:25–26. What is God’s promise to those who seek Him?

God can answer our prayers for us even as we are asking Him. Here are a couple of stories from our Bibles where God did just that!

The prayers Paul wrote in His letters are the very same prayers we can and should be praying for one another. Lift this one up on your own behalf by rewriting it here.

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.—Philippians 1:11, NLT

Your little bit of a treasure this week is a seed—a bundle of potential, just waiting to be planted. It will remind you that when you pray, it is like planting a seed. God’s answer will come, just like the flowers will eventually come up from the earth. But we must be patient, waiting for the proper time, until we can enjoy the color and fragrance of the first blossom. Don’t become discouraged if God seems slow to answer your heart’s cry. Keep on praying, and planting, and someday there may be a whole garden blooming to His glory.