"I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail." Luke 22:32
A son hearing his father pray that the wants of the poor might be supplied said, "Dad, I wish I had your grain." Why, son? What would you do with it?" asked the father, a farmer. The son replied, "I would answer your prayers."
Is it not true that answers to our prayers sometimes lie in us? We pray for the worldwide mission program. A proper response to this prayer would be to support missions with our personal witnessing and generous offerings. We pray for good government. Again, a proper response to such a prayer would be that we strive to be law-abiding citizens. As parents we pray that the faith of our children may not fail. A proper response to such a prayer would be that we teach them the Word of God with all diligence.
Jesus prayed and then acted. He prayed for the apostles and for all believers through the centuries. His prayer was followed by action, for He went to the cross, suffered, died, and rose again for the salvation of the whole human race. He prayed for His disciples that their faith would not fail and then lovingly encouraged them to faithfulness. If the answer to some of our prayers lies in us, may God lead us to action!
PRAYER: Lord, help us to respond properly when we have prayed; for Jesus' sake. 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: Song 4-5 Acts 7:1-21
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