There was a small Kentucky town that had two churches and one whiskey distillery. Members of both churches complained that the distillery gave the community a bad image. On top of this the owner of the distillery was an atheist. They tried to shut down the place but were unsuccessful.
At last they decided to hold a joint Saturday night prayer meeting. They would ask God to intervene. Saturday night came and all through the prayer meeting a terrible electrical storm raged. To the delight of the church members lightning struck the distillery and it burned to the ground.
Next morning, the sermons in both churches were on “The Power of Prayer”. Fire insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery owner they would not pay for his damages. The fire was caused by an “act of God” and was excluded in the policy. Whereupon the distillery owner sued all the church members, claiming they had conspired with God to destroy his building. The defendants denied absolutely that they had done anything to cause the fire.
The trial judge observed: “I find one thing about this case that is very perplexing. We have a situation where the plaintiff – an atheist – is professing his belief in the power of prayer, and the defendants – and church members – are denying the power of prayer.
Tags: belief, court, prayer
American journalist and public commentator Bill Moyers served as White House press Secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965-1967. On a certain occasion, Moyers, who also was an ordained minister, was asked to say grace before a meal in the family quarters of the White House.
Moyers, usually rather quiet and softspoken, began praying softly. President Johnson, usually loud, confident, and assertive, interrupted him with “Speak up, Bill! Speak up!”
The former Baptist minister from east Texas stopped in mid-sentence and without looking up replied steadily, “I wasn’t addressing you, Mr. President.”
Tags: Johnson, prayer, quiet
I heard about a wife that invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to her six-year old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?”
“I wouldn’t know what to say,” she replied.
“Just say what you hear Mommy say,” the wife said.
The daughter then bowed her head and said: “Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”
Kids will do what you model for them, not what you tell them to do. Be careful.
Tags: hospitality, humor, mentor, prayer
Understanding God as a loving, heavenly parent is so important in our attitude and approach, for how we picture God will influence what we expect of our Creator in prayer. A schoolboy was asked what he thought God was like. He replied that, as far as he could make out, God was “the sort of person who is always snooping round to see if people are enjoying themselves and then trying to stop it!”
If we, like this schoolboy, picture God as a Cosmic Kill-joy, then we will not go to God very often in prayer. Then there are those who picture God at the other extreme, as a Colossal Vending Machine, whose sole purpose is to give us what we want. Just pop in a prayer and out comes our heart’s desire. A problem arises, however, when prayer does not work out quite so simply, when the expected results are not produced. Then, in disappointment and anger, we kick and scream at our Cosmic Vending Machine for swallowing our prayer.
Jesus likens God to neither of these extremes. To Him, God is like a Good Parent who will give us in prayer what is good for us, not always what we want.
Tags: God, prayer
Years ago I ordered a plant from a mail order seed catalog. At the bottom of the printed form there was the statement: “If we do not have the article you ordered in stock, may we substitute?” The variety wasn’t essential, so I marked ‘Yes’.
When my order arrived, it included something that was worth double the price of the article I had requested, plus several other items. The company explained, “We are sorry we do not have the article in stock which you ordered. We are sending you something better at our expense.”
The neat thing about prayer is that God sometimes substitutes something even better than that which we requested. He is always watching out for our good, and sometimes says ‘No’ for our own good, with a soon coming much better substitute.
Tags: better, prayer, substitute
Bible teacher and author F. B. Meyer was asked to speak to passengers while crossing the Atlantic on a ship many years ago. An agnostic listened to Meyer’s message about answered prayer and told a friend, “I didn’t believe a word of it.”
Later that same day, the agnostic went to hear Meyer speak to another group of passengers. But before he went to the meeting, he put two oranges in his pocket. On his way, he passed and elderly woman who was fast asleep in her deck chair. Her arms were outstretched and her hands were wide open, so as a joke he put the two oranges in her palms. After the meeting, he saw the woman happily eating one of the pieces of fruit.
“You seem to be enjoying that orange,” he remarked with a smile. “Yes, sir,” she replied, “My Father is very good to me.” “What do you mean?” pressed the agnostic. She explained, “I have been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send me an orange. I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke, I found He had sent me not only one but two oranges!” The agnostic was amazed by the unexpected confirmation of Meyer’s talk on answered prayer.
Before the trip was over he had put his trust in Christ. How has God provided for you?
Tags: prayer, provision
A Romanian pastor told the story of when his small kitten became stranded in a tree. To get it down, the pastor threw a rope over the branch and tied it to his car’s bumper. Driving slowly forward, he pulled the branch down to within reach. Just then the rope snapped and the frightened feline went flying through the air and was nowhere to be found.
The next day the pastor met a neighbor. “You’ll never believe what happened yesterday!” she exclaimed. “My little girl had been begging for a kitten, but I told her she could hav one only if Jesus gave it to her. So she ran outside, knelt down, and prayed, ‘Jesus, please give me a kitty of my very own to love and care for. Amen.’ Just then a kitten with paws outstretched fell right out of heaven!”
The Lord works in mysterious ways and He can for you, as well. Ask Him.
Tags: miracle, prayer, provision