DON'T EVER UNDERESTIMATE

Scripture for the day: 1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.

Thought for the day: There are a thousand verses I could have quoted to remind us of the fact of answered prayer. “Ask and it will be given to you.” “The earnest prayers of a righteous person avail much.” “I cried to you from the pit and you answered me.” And the list could go on and on. The number of testimonies to answered prayer we could share with one another are almost certainly endless. Let me give you just a couple.

Dwight Nelson recently told a true (?) story about the pastor of his church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.

That's what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree snapped back upright with tremendous force and the kitten instantly sailed through the air - out of sight.

The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, 'Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,” and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?”

She replied, “You won't believe this,” and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, “Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.” She told the pastor, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.”

Never underestimate the Power of God and His unique sense of humor.

OK, so that is a silly illustration about the ability of God to answer prayer. Let me give you another, much more serious, and appropriate, example.

George Mueller, a prayer warrior without equal it seems, kept a prayer list on which were written five names. After five years of prayer one of them came to the Lord. In ten years, two more of them found peace in the Savior. He prayed on for 25 more years and the fourth man was saved. For the fifth he prayed until the time of his death, and this friend, too, came to Christ. Mueller had been praying for this man’s salvation for 52 long years! God doesn’t always drop answers out of the sky, but God always answers.

Now go take on your world. - Bill