The Beauty and Mystery of Prayer
Prayer is a beautiful and mysterious gift God has given us. There are times we can actually see how God answers our prayer and experience living in a world that has been transformed by the lifting of our hearts and our voices to the Father in Heaven. You see a need for God’s intervention and you ask for Him to step in as only He can. And He does. The need is fulfilled. Things are made right again. We celebrate and give thanks for God working on our behalf and answering our prayers. It’s a beautiful thing to have the curtain pulled back, get a glimpse into the unseen world, and tangibly see at the power and grandeur of God’s goodness at work in our lives.
Then there are those times where our visibility is obscured. It’s not quite as easy to see what God is up to or how He is responding to our earnest petitions. We don’t have the obvious, immediate answer we have been asking, even pleading for. And yet these are the kinds of prayers that can radically grow our faith, if we trust in the all-knowingness and goodness of God. We choose to believe that there is more going on than we can see and that God, in His perfect timing and His perfect will, will answer our prayers in a way that brings Him glory and honor, despite the perceived lack of our requested outcome. This is a great mystery and reminds us that we are not God.
As parents and caregivers praying for our families, we long to experience those transcendent moments where we see our prayers powerfully answered. And when those moments do happen, it’s crucial to share them with the fellowship of believers to create an Ebenezer—a reminder of how God has helped us thus far. It’s exciting for us to share the following example of God’s provision through our prayers.
An Answered Prayer
School can be a difficult environment for some children, from bullying to marginalizing the Christian faith in our nation’s history to just learning how to deal with others. This was the concern for a Moms In Prayer group in Pennsylvania. For more than fifteen years, they prayed for the school, the teachers, and the students in their community. They prayed specifically “there would be more of God.” Then, a Christian after-school program ended. Rather than feeling defeated, they began praying even harder. That’s when they heard that a Bible2School program was coming to their school and they proclaimed “this is answered prayer.”
You can see how this was a clear and powerful answer to the prayers of these moms. Not only was this process growing and discipling the children of these faithful mothers, it also became an unexpected opportunity for another group. There was one elementary class at another school where none of the children attended church and they were unfamiliar with any Bible stories or worship songs. Through Bible2School, they were told about Jesus for the very first time! By the end of the year, when they played Bible Jeopardy, the children knew almost every answer.
This was God’s extravagant answer that was above and beyond the prayers that were offered up, which is why prayer can be so beautiful and mysterious! When you find yourself in that place of not knowing how God is going to meet you in your time of need, remember Godstories like these. Let them be a memorial that fuels your faith and trust in a Father who loves and cares for you more than you’ll ever know. You may not always see the answer, but you can rest assured that our God is always working things out for our good and for His Glory.
Learn how you can help bring Bible2School to your community or contact us if you have any questions — we would love to talk to you and pray with you!
Relevant Bible Verses
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
– Philippians 4:6
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
– Mark 11:24
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
– Romans 12:12
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