“Can we buy some grapes?” my five-year-old sister Elisabeth asked me. “I really want some grapes.”
“We don’t have money to buy grapes right now,” I answered, and her face fell. “But you can pray and ask God for grapes,” I added, trying to cheer her up again. With that our conversation dropped.
Two days later we were visiting. When we were about to leave, our hosts gave us a big box of not only one kind of grapes but several kinds! Not only my little sister but the whole family could eat all the grapes we wanted (and share them with others, too).
Some people say that God answers the prayers of children a lot better and quicker than the prayers of adults. Is this because a child comes to God in simple faith and asks directly for what he or she wants? Is it because the child simply believes that because he or she has asked he or she will receive an answer? Now, I’m not saying that I quite agree with that theory. I believe any child of God can have the same experience in answer to prayer; but—you must come to Him as a child, believing that He will indeed answer—regardless of whether His answer is yes, wait, or no.
She Asked … and Received
Just a month or two before the grape story happened, Elisabeth told Grandma over the phone that she wanted a teensy-weensy violin. Her older sisters played violin, and she longed to be able to play it, too. Grandma told her that she could pray every day and ask God for the violin she wanted. She listened to her grandma’s advice. Every day she asked God for a little violin.
We had already gone to a violin master and had discovered that because of her size she would need a 1/10th violin. The usual sizes are 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, etc, so we were told it would be rare to find a 1/10th size violin.
As I listened to the little girl’s prayers day after day, I was surprised to find that her asking didn’t last very long. She only asked for a violin for about a week and a half. Then her prayers changed.
“Thank You for the tiny violin You’re going to give me,” she would say. Instead of asking, she thanked God for the violin she would receive, even though we saw no possible way she could get it!
Day after day, she would thank God for the violin He was going to give her. This all happened at a time when our parents had to be away for several weeks. During this time, they met a violin master who showed them around his shop and then presented them with a full-sized violin for one of my sisters and a—you guessed it—1/10th size violin for Elisabeth!
I wish you could have seen the delight on her face when they got home with that tiny violin! There had been no doubt in my sister’s mind that God would give her a violin. She had simply waited and thanked God every day for it. The delight of holding that dear little violin that she had prayed and then thanked God for was boundless!
Ask BIG
Several years ago, my dad spoke to an auditorium full of schoolchildren. He told them, “There was once a king who offered his friends anything they wanted, even up to half of his kingdom. One after another of the king’s friends asked for something miniscule. Finally, one man who came up to the king asked for something very great.”
Looking at the schoolchildren, my dad asked, “Who do you think most pleased the king?”
“Yes,” he added after a pause, “The man who asked BIG. The other friends scorned him and thought he was asking for too much, but the king answered, ‘Here is a man who believes in me and my greatness. I delight in honoring his request!’”
We have often heard sayings like, “Prayer is a privilege, not a duty,” “Prayer should be as natural as breathing,” and “Prayer is bringing your wishes and worries to God; faith is leaving them there.” Do we actually believe these things? And do we truly live like we believe it?
“Prayer Is a Privilege, Not a Duty”
One of the greatest privileges we have is to pray for others—to pray for souls. Praying is something every child of God can do. My dad has told many a saint of God lying on their deathbeds that they can still do the most important work of all—they can still pray for the souls of others. Many of us, including myself, do not realize just how important and potent our privilege of prayer is. God is ready, He is waiting, He wants to hear and answer prayer, but are we even asking? Do we truly care for the souls of others? Are we spending time in prayer, interceding for the lost—for our wayward brother, for our friend who is going through sorrow, for the neighbor who might not even like us but who needs God just as much as we do?
Jesus said in John 14:12-15, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it. If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (KJV).
Notice that right after He talks about greater works, He says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do…” This reminds me of the following quote from Oswald Chambers, “The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the ‘greater works’ will be done by prayer (see Jn. 14:12-13)” (Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R).
“Prayer Should be as Natural as Breathing.”
Is it to you? The New Testament tells us that “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Lk 18:1) and to “pray without ceasing” (1Thess. 5:17), yet do we really live this way? When The Holy Spirit brings someone to mind, do you stop and pray for that person? When you see a person who immediately reminds you of someone you have maybe not even thought of for years, do you stop to wonder how that person is doing and pray for them? Do you turn everything around you, every situation that comes up, into prayer?
“Prayer Is Bringing Your Wishes and Worries to God; Faith Is Leaving Them There.”
My five-year-old sister asked God for a violin. Every day she would pray a simple prayer of faith which later turned into a prayer of thanksgiving, and then she would bounce away to the next activities awaiting her attention. She didn’t stop to wonder if God had heard her prayer. She didn’t worry about whether she would get a violin or not. She simply took her request to God and left it there, trusting that He would answer, because He is a good Father (see Lk. 11:9-13).
Don’t Give Up!
What or who are you praying for right now? Can you think of times in your life when God answered prayer? When my siblings and I were little, my mom told us, “God always answers prayer. Sometimes the answer is a green light—yes! At other times the answer is a yellow light—wait! And sometimes the answer is a red light—no! He always answers, and His answers are always good.”
Sometimes we wonder why the answer is so long in coming or why the answer is no. There can be several reasons for this: 1) At times, what we’re asking for would not be good for us. 2) We pray for people to be saved, but those same people still have a free will. They must choose to be saved or not. 3) Our timing is not the same as God’s timing. We often wonder why He doesn’t hurry up and do something. But He doesn’t have time, He has timing. And His timing is always better than ours. If you wait on God, looking back you will always see that His timing was perfect—and much better than yours could have been!
Does God answer prayer? Yes, He does! Don’t give up! Keep praying; keep trusting and believing in Him. He loves when His children ask.
“Ask, and it shall be given you…”
