The Mystery of Prayer

I am in the process of reading a great book on prayer. It's called the God Who Hears, by W. Bingham
Hunter. I don't know about you, but sometimes prayer is difficult for any number of reasons.

I think it is most difficult (for me at least), because it seems like you need to know SO much about God
and the Scripture before you can truly honestly feel as though
you are praying "correctly."

Hunter covers areas like:

• Are faithful prayers always answered?

• Why pray to a God who lets people hurt?
• Does prayer change God's mind?
• What can I tell an all-knowing God?
• How can I be intimate with an invisible God?
Newer version is on the left

There are a number of areas that are very important to me in the book; things I need to understand. What
makes it difficult for me is praying to Someone who is invisible. This part in Bingham's book is something
I can relate to:

“We pray to the God we can't see in the company of people we can see. Naturally we are
concerned about what impression our prayer is making on those people. So we tend to pray to
the group which is visible rather than to God who is invisible. We are also prone to focus on
how our words might impress God if He were like those we are praying with. And even when
praying alone we wonder, Do I sound sincere? Is He getting the point that I'm in a really
desperate situation? I wonder if it would help if I got down on my knees. Each of us struggles
to reconcile truths like "God is Spirit" with the more tangible material of daily life.”

The chapter on praying to an all-knowing God is excellent. How do you pray to someone who knows
everything and who has all things worked out (events, scenarios; we're not puppets though)? It is
daunting to say the least. How do you know how He will respond to your prayers? Well, we don't really,
which is why we should really take our cue from Jesus in Gethsemane, who ended His prayers there with
"Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

But notice that Jesus did not do that all the time. There were plenty of times when Jesus knew what the
Father's will was at that point. How? He spent a great deal of time in prayer just talking with the Father
and He also spent a good deal of time in the Word, learning. This is why when Satan tempted Jesus, He
knew immediately when He was trying to twist Scripture and Jesus' response back to Satan were
authoritative because not only was Jesus the Word, but He knew the Word and He brandished the Word
like the weapon it was when the enemy approached.

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If you're like me, you probably need to become better equipped at praying. Hunter's book will
certainly help point the way. The other two things we all need to do is simply spend more time praying
and more time in the Word.

I remember last year when I received a phone call from my sister's son-in-law in Georgia. It was odd that
he would call me and as soon as I recognized his voice, I knew something was up. Turns out my sister was
in the hospital and things did not look good. I flew out there the next day and she was in the I.C.U., in a
coma. I had spent all day praying that God would heal
her; raise her up off her bed. "Please God, don't let her
“Okay, Lord. If You are going to die!" I remember finding other Christians at the hospital
be calling her home to You, that I did not even know and they prayed with me.
Between their faith and mine, how could we fail?
would You please allow her to
open her eyes and be able to look
I prayed over the next few days as things remained the
at me – focused – so that I can
same, with little change. For some reason, I had reached
say good‐bye, knowing that she a point of thinking that she was not going to be going
will have heard me?” back to her house that she loved so much. It was just
different. I found that I could not even force myself to
feel as though there was any hope. I sighed, and prayed
something like, "Okay, Lord. If You are going to be calling her home to you, would you please allow her
to open her eyes and be able to look at me - focused - so that I can say good-bye, knowing that she will
have heard me?"

I went to sleep and went through the same routine the next day, spending most of the day at the hospital.
My brother-in-law, my nephew and I were just back from having lunch and had gathered in my sister's
room. The nurse came in with us and did some routine tests; felt her skin, used the stethoscope to listen
to her heart (she was hooked up to a bunch of machines, so I wondered why she was doing that, but I'm
sure she had her reasons). She then took out a small flashlight, lifted up my sisters eyelids and shined the
flashlight in, and then moved it away quickly. This would allow her to see if her pupils dilated at all
because of the light.

There was no movement and in fact, her eyes were both pointing way down into the bottom portion of her
eyelids. I asked the nurse what that meant. She told me that it was not a good sign at all; no dilation, eyes
drooping. Not good. The nurse smiled a sad little smile at me and then turned to go out.

I did the only thing I knew to do and asked the other two guys if they minded if I prayed. No one minded,
so we all closed our eyes and began praying for my sister. During my prayer, I looked up and - I'm not
sure why - but I lifted her eyelid up on her right eye. It was weird because her right eye was no longer
drooping. In fact, it was looking at me! So I continued praying and glanced up at her. Both of her eyelids
now were fluttering ever so slightly. Then all of a sudden, they both opened and stared right at me. There
was an intensity in both of them. Man, was I happy!

I started talking to her and she continued to look at me. I knew she was focusing because her eyes did not
wander and there was an intensity in her brow that had not been there moments before. I called her
husband and their son over and then after a few seconds, I left to call my wife and to give the two guys

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some time alone with my sister. I felt at that time that she was going to be fine (believe it or not, I had
forgotten my prayer just the night before)!

When I went back in, her eyes had closed. In fact, they never opened again on this side of eternity. We
went home and that night at about 11:00pm, her husband got a call and we were told there had been a
"change" so we headed down to the hospital immediately. When we got there, we were informed that my
sister had passed into eternity. My heart broke and I cried like a baby. I called my pastor who took the
time to pray with me over the phone and we waited until the people from the funeral home arrived.

It was not until the next day that I remembered my prayer in which I asked God to open her eyes and let
me say good-bye. Even though I did not say good-bye to my sister, I know that God gave me a wonderful
gift; a gift that I will always remember. He allowed her to open her eyes, so that she and I could "connect"
one last time before He took her home to be with Him.

I miss my sister terribly at times, but I know that she is in the best hands possible. I also know that I will
see her again and will share her joy and she mine. God did not answer my first prayer about raising my
sister back to health. He had set her time of departing in eternity past and nothing was going to change
it. In His love for me though, He provided me with a cherished memory that no one can take from me.

I think that is the most difficult part of prayer. God knows what is best and we do not. This is probably
why for those times when we do not know what His will is, that we end our prayers with "Not my will, but
thine be done."

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