I still remember the day Marta walked into my office, plopped herself down
and asked me to pray that she and Ward would be able to have children.
I still remember the day Marta walked into my office, plopped herself down
and asked me to pray that she and Ward would be able to have children.
I promised to pray and did so regularly. In time, they had three of the brightest,
sweetest children you ever have seen. They are young adults now and barely know
me, but I take joy in having prayed them into the world.
For Mack, I prayed God would send a wife. “Lord, Mack is a truly fine
person,” I said. “He has kept himself faithful to you. … You must
have a godly woman out there somewhere who would be right for him.”
He did.
I performed Mack and Kathleens wedding last year.
My son Neil was on an outing with his three children. The day before, he had
suggested they pray for good weather. On their way to the park, he asked 10-year-old
Grant if he had prayed for this beautiful day.
“No,” he said. “I forgot.”
He asked 7-year-old Abby. “I forgot too,” she said.
“Oh, good,” said her twin Erin from the back seat. “Then, it
was my miracle.”
I pray for Graham, the 8-year-old son of Ed and Sherry. Two years ago, he had
surgery for a brain tumor, which was followed by various complications. Even-tually,
Graham came home from the hospital normal in every way except one – he
had lost his eyesight.
The medical team could find no reason for the blindness. In time, Ed and Sherry
enrolled Graham in special classes for the newly blind in New Orleans. He has
adapted well, and the family has been an incredible witness to the rest of us
on how to handle lifes setbacks. However, we all continue to pray for
God to restore Grahams vision.
“One of these days, Graham is going to open his eyes and see,” I
tell Ed and Sherry. “When he does, I want to be one of the many who prayed
for that miracle.”
In Erins words, I want it to be my miracle. Put another way, I do not
want to miss the blessing of having asked the father for this miracle.
Ed asked me one day – “What if it happens in the middle of a worship
service? Is it all right with you if Graham comes walking down the aisle of
the church?”
We both laughed at such a precious picture. I assured him a revival would break
out in the congregation.
When tennis star Arthur Ashe came down with cancer, the world took note. Struck
down in the prime of life, Ashe demonstrated great courage and faith. But he
said one thing that has troubled me all these years.
“I have not prayed for my own healing,” Ashe said at the time. “That
would be selfish.”
Is it selfish to pray for your own healing, for a special blessing from the
father? Perhaps. It probably depends on your heart. Ashe was the father of some
children he dearly loved. From here, it seems he could have prayed for healing
for their sake. As a recovered cancer victim, he would have been given a megaphone,
so to speak, to direct the worlds attention to cancer research, to the
power of prayer, and to the special concerns of patients. He could have asked
for healing for their sake.
Is it possible God does not heal (or fill other needs) because we do not ask?
How we answer says volumes about what we believe concerning prayer. James 4:2
answers our question.
“You have not because you ask not,” it reads.
We all remember the prayer of Jabez, from 1 Chronicles 4:10 – “Oh,
that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand
might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil that it may not pain
me.”
During the past decade, millions have debated whether Jabez prayer was
selfish. But it is worth noting that God answered it. Plainly, the Lord decided
this man could be trusted with the blessing he desired. Give God credit for
blessing, but give Jabez credit for asking.
I encourage people to go ahead and pray for their healing or that special need.
Let God sort it out as to who gets the miracle. It is not like my little prayer
is going to upset the balance of the universe. Ask him!
To those who ask, “But what if its not Gods will?” I
say, “Then, he wont do it.”
In the late 19th century, American evangelist Dwight L. Moody was vacationing
in England. His ministry schedule had exhausted him, and friends thought the
voyage to Britain would do him good. One day, a pastor read that the well-known
American evangelist was due to arrive in London on such-and-such a ship. He
contacted Moody and invited him to preach in his church.
The sermon was so well-received that they agreed to continue holding services
indefinitely. Word spread and crowds gathered. Lives were being changed as people
turned to Jesus Christ at the preaching of this unlettered American layman.
One morning, the host pastor asked Mr. Moody to accompany him on a house call.
An invalid woman in his church would welcome their visit. That day, in a humble
cottage, these two men of God received the shock of their lives. The sickly
woman showed them newspaper clippings of the ministry of Moody that she had
cut out during the previous several years and saved.
She said – “For a long time, I have prayed that God would send you
to England, Mr. Moody. We need the touch of God in our land, too.”
The religious awakening that swept over much of England at that time through
the preaching of Dwight Moody was her miracle. (BP)
(McKeever is director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New
Orleans and a regular contributor of cartoons to the Baptist Message and others)