Answered Prayer

We have a special surprise for you coming soon. Retired Pastor Dave Nygard will be our guest preacher in February to wrap up our next worship series titled Answered Prayer. You may remember Pr. Dave telling the story of a prayer that he and his mother had prayed for decades. I can’t wait to hear if that prayer was answered in the way that he and his mother had hoped for.

In Daniel 10:1-12 we get a glimpse of Daniel’s approach to prayer. He was seeking and counting on God to give him understanding in an anxious and uncertain time. He had been fasting from luxuries and rich food for three weeks when at last he received a vision in which he heard God say, ‘you are very precious to me.’ Then in vs. 12: "Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer."

Fasting does not need to be skipping a day or a week of meals. It is a combination of prayer and humbling yourself. You can make a sacrifice of a certain rich food, meat, wine, fragrant lotion or any other meaningful indulgence. Use the time dedicated to that practice to pray. Use the twinges of desire for that luxury as a reminder to pray. Pray for understanding. Wait patiently for God to speak ‘you are very precious to Me’ in many and various ways.

God loves us and promises to answer anything we pray in Jesus' name in the way that is best for us and according to His will. But this is very different than telling God how he ought to provide for your hopes and desires. The power of prayer comes in opening yourself up to alternate realities and scenarios we cannot come up with on our own. There are answered prayers all around us.

Pr. Kurt Hoover