Prayer: The Creator Listening To You By Ada Brownell

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Excerpt from Ada Brownell’s book, Imagine the Future You.

Isn’t it almost too much to think God will listen to humans? A cry for help in our own feeble words, and the Creator answers?

It happens all the time.

God wants us to bring our needs to Him and believe he will answer. The Bible says, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who comes to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Hebrews 11:6)

Also, we should pray fervently. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16)

According to biographers, prayer in Martin Luther’s early years as a monk probably was confined to what he later called “babble and empty chatter,” which was reading prayer books, saying memorized prayers, and counting beads.

As he became a mature Christian—who, like David, wasn’t afraid to challenge the world’s giants because the Lord was with him—Luther learned to pray so fervently and effectively that he moved the hand of God. When he talked to the Lord, Luther deeply affected those within hearing range and was strengthened and lifted up himself.

Luther used his native German and prayed frequently and fervently, and he fell asleep at night communicating with God. 1 H.G. Haile, Luther (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980), 278–279.

Luther got his emotions involved.

“Wake up your heart and teach it what kind of thoughts to think while praying,” he told his followers.

He warned against mechanical prayers, without thinking about what is being said. He also cautioned people to avoid praying because it was their duty to do so, saying such prayer would accomplish nothing.

The reformer often prayed facing a window, turning his back on those in the room with him.

Viet Dietrich once overheard Luther praying alone. “My heart was inflamed when I heard him speaking so intimately, so earnestly, so respectfully, confident his petitions would be granted.”

In one of his teachings on prayer, Luther advised Christians that when Christ said to “ask…seek…knock” it was to encourage Christians to be persistent when they pray. He advised them to ask, keep seeking after the Lord, and knock excessively. “Ask and receive means nothing else than, ‘ask, call out, yell, seek, knock, thunder!’”

This is exactly how Luther prayed himself at times. When his friend Philip was in a coma and appeared at death’s door, Luther walked in and began to lay the problem before the Lord. He quoted promises from the Bible that prayers will be heard. According to biographer H.G. Haile, Luther yelled and thundered the promises until he had “rubbed his ears” with the truths as well as the ears of other believers in the room. He continued praying in a loud voice until every listener in the room was hot with faith, too

Finally, Philip began to stir. They fed him and soon he was on the mend.

The powerful prayers of Luther were coveted, and even feared, by those who knew him.

Luther’s advice to keep knocking and asking and never give up goes along with what Jesus said: “Men ought always to pray and not faint!” (Luke18:1 KJ). Jesus then told the story of a widow who wearied an unjust judge by continually coming to him and asking him to avenge her of her adversary, until the judge granted her request.

God answers prayer.

©2014 Ada Brownell Order IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU at https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell

Imagine the Future You

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About the Author:

Ada Brownell

 

Ada Brownell, a devoted Bible student, has written for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colo. She also is a veteran youth Christian education teacher. After moving to Missouri in her retirement, she continues to write books, free lance for Sunday school papers, Christian magazines, write op-ed pieces for newspapers, and blogs with stick-to-your-soul encouragement. She is the author of six books. She is a member of Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers and American Christian Fiction Writers.

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