Don't use prayer as a last resort
Use it as a first resort. This will help you avoid many
unnecessary disappointments. Story: I remember such times in
my own life-when my father suffered a heart attack, when a
job possibility blew up in my face, when a friend was
overdosing on cocaine, when my child got involved in the
wrong crowd. There was little I could do except plead with
God. Sometimes these prayers are prolonged. Twice in my life
I've spent the entire night in prayer.
Other times, however, my prayers are quite short. I've
recently learned a new prayer technique from the writings of
missionary Amy Carmichael. She learned it from the famous
Bible teacher Dr. E B. Meyer, who once told her that as a
young man he had been irritable and hot-tempered. An older
gentleman advised him to look up at the moment of temptation
and say, "Thy sweetness, Lord."
Amy Carmichael developed many variations of that prayer.
When meeting someone she didn't like, she would silently
pray, "Thy love, Lord." In a crisis, she'd whisper, "Thy
help, Lord," or "Thy wisdom, Lord."
Sometimes when I'm worried, I just lift my heart to heaven
and say, "Lord .... " followed by the name of one for whom
I'm concerned.
Looking back over the years, I've never faced a crisis in
which, in response to earnest prayer, whether prolonged or
instant, God didn't make a way. James 5:16 tells us: "The
earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and
wonderful results" (NLT). That's the great secret of those
who put their hands in the hand of the One who can part the
seas.
