The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:16
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Doing better
Thank you so much for your prayers! This toe injury was pretty traumatic for a few days, even though it was minor. Asya is doing much better now. She's walking well again, and her tooth is through, too.
Thank you for praying with us! We like to hear that you are. Of course, the Lord always hears, but we are encouraged when we know that you are standing with us.
“Sometimes people speak of God having answered their prayer, but what they mean is that He has answered it according to their desire and done something about which they are glad. If He does something different, they say sadly, ‘He has not answered.’ All this is a mistake.
“Prayer is always heard if the one who prays comes to the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus. ‘I love the Lord, because He hath heard’ (Psa. 116.1) can be our word always, and also that other word, ‘This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.’ (1 Jn. 5.14, 15) If we love Him, our real prayer is that His perfect will may be done, whatever the words are, and so it is certain that we have the petition even before we see it granted. The form the answer takes does not affect the fact.
“I know that sometimes we do not see how the thing granted is at all what we desire. And yet it is (I write for His lovers only). For after all, what the deepest in us wanted was not our own natural will, but the will of our Father. So what is given is our hearts’ desire; He hath not withholden the request of our lips. (Psa. 21.2) But God always answers us in the deeps, never in the shallows of our soul: in hours of confusion, it can help to remember this.” --Amy Carmichael