In the day of my trouble I will call to You, for You will answer me. Psalm 86:7
"God will answer me." Can we really be so confident? Yes -- God assures us that He will answer our prayers. "Ask and it will be given to you," said Jesus (Matthew 7:7). He even promised us the ability to move mountains by prayer if this should be necessary. All that is required is faith in Him.
Yes, faith! How often do we pray halfheartedly, doubting that God will hear? How often Jesus had to rebuke His disciples for their weak faith! And how often, in connection with His miracles, did He commend people for their faith! Effective prayer and faith go together.
In praying for spiritual blessings -- faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit -- we pray without qualification, for we know that it is God's will to give these blessings. In praying for earthly blessings, we are not always certain what God's will is. So we commit the matter to Him, knowing that He will do what is best for us and our loved ones. He has proved His love by giving His only Son into death to redeem us.
Adding the petition "Lord, strengthen my faith" to a prayer will work wonders. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22).
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we trust in You to take care of all our spiritual and physical needs. Above all, strengthen our faith. Amen.
(Devotions from "The Abundant Life" copyright 1998, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time e-mailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)
Today's Bible Readings: Exodus 23-24 Matthew 28
To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"