Prayers that Work

In order to learn how prayer works, sometimes it helps to first learn how it isn't intended to work.

I know Jesus said, "Whatever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive it, and you shall have it." But that principle wasn't intended to dethrone other divine principles equally revealed in God's Word.

For example, a virgin might pray to have a baby. She might believe she's received. She might even confess it. But she still needs a husband! That's a divine principle - no woman (with the exception of Mary) ever conceived without a husband - and the principle of prayer can't dethrone it, can't bypass it.

Or, a 13 year old might desire to become a pastor. But he still has to wait until he grows up. When the time comes, he will also have to meet the character requirements. Plus God might choose him to be an evangelist instead! The principle of prayer needs to submit to other divine principles, such as: timing, appropriateness, prerequisites, and God's choice.

We see this with healing too. It seems many think we can just pray for anyone else's healing whenever we want - and believe, and expect to see them healed. Oh really? If that's the case, why couldn't Jesus do many mighty miracles in His own hometown of Capernaum?

Most of Jesus' healing miracles were done in an environment where His teachings had first been accepted. If that's not part of the recipe, then we could just clear-out all the hospitals through our prayer, without even visiting the sick or witnessing to them.

Jesus also explained that prayers will be answered whenever two or three agree together in prayer. So when someone asks you to pray for the healing of brother or sister so-and-so, do you know for sure that the sick person is actually agreeing and believing with you? If that isn't important, we could just pray for all the sick of the world to be healed in an instant, in one prayer.

I'm sure there were many infirmed at Lystra. But there was one crippled man, and the Bible says that when he heard Paul speak, Paul saw that he had faith to be healed. So Paul ministered healing to him - to that one individual. We are not told of any others healed in the same occassion. Paul saw faith. When someone asks you to join a prayer-chain for a certain sick person interstate who you don't even know - can you say you've seen faith in that person, in the same way that Paul saw faith in the cripple at Lystra and ministered exclusively to him?