Waiting for an Answer

Sometimes we believe that our prayers have gone unanswered when all we really need to do is wait for God to move.

When I was a child and a teenager, I attended the Protestant Chapel on the Air Force base where my step-father was stationed. A number of chaplains served the congregation, so we never knew ahead of time who would be conducting the service on any given Sunday.  Some of the chaplains were fairly good preachers, but others made me wonder why they had ever chosen to go into the ministry.

Over the years I encountered a wide spectrum of chaplains representing every major Protestant denomination, but my favorite, by far, was an African American Baptist who absolutely believed what he preached. In fact, every Sunday morning I found myself hoping that he would be the one leading the service. One Sunday he told a story that has stayed with me for fifty-three years because it taught me the importance of waiting for God’s answer to my prayers.

When Chaplain Price was a little boy, he had wanted a bicycle more than anything, but his family was poor and could not afford to buy him one. He knew that the only way he was ever going to get a bicycle was for God to provide one for him, and he began to pray for a bicycle. He prayed fervently, but the years passed, and the bicycle never materialized.

Years later, when he was serving as a military chaplain, he arrived at an Air Force base where he was to begin serving. Since he needed transportation on base and did not yet have his car, he commented to one of the sergeants that he wished he had a bicycle. The sergeant then told Chaplain Price to come with him. He took him to a large warehouse and opened the door. To the chaplain’s amazement, he saw that the warehouse was filled with bicycles of every kind---beautiful shiny bicycles outfitted with all the bells and whistles.

“Take any one you want,” the sergeant said.

The chaplain was stunned. In relating this story he said that he knew at that moment that his prayers had been answered—not for one bicycle, but for a fleet of beautiful bicycles that fulfilled every bicycle fantasy that he had ever entertained.

The sergeant went on to tell him that the bicycles were his to use whenever he wished. All he needed to do was sign one out and keep it as long as he wished.

From that day forward Chaplain Price rode various bicycles around the military base daily, and they became his preferred method of transportation. He added that he never knew of anyone else who ever signed out a bicycle. But he did know that God had answered his prayers in a way much grander than he could ever have imagined.

I wonder how many of us pray fervently for something, and when we do not immediately see the answer to our prayers, we believe that God did not answer. I also wonder how many times, when we finally receive what we prayed for, we fail to recognize it as the answer to our prayers because we believe that too much time has passed. Part of living a successful Christian life is knowing that God always hears our prayers, but He answers those prayers in His time and in His way.

Men and women of faith have always had to wait for God to fulfill His promises: Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for the son that God had promised them. Likewise, the nation of Israel waited for more than 400 years for the deliverer to lead them out of bondage in Egypt.  Hebrews 11 tells of the countless men and women of faith who believed God and eventually saw the answers to their prayers—although none of them received all that God had for them because He wanted them to look forward to the even better things that he had waiting for them in heaven.

If you have been praying for something for a long time but have not seen the answer to your prayers, do not become discouraged. Know that God hears and that He will answer at the perfect time and in the perfect way. And, in the meantime, keep praying.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother.   Her newest novel, The Warrior, is available on Kindle and in paperback.  For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup

Praying for the Saved

We have all heard countless sermons on praying for the unsaved, praying for our country when it is on the wrong track, praying for dishonest politicians, praying for wrongs to be righted, praying for almost everything that impacts us in a negative manner. But, how many sermons have we heard on praying for the saved; praying for the godly who are living normal lives going quietly about their work and doing the right things? I, for one, have never heard a single sermon on this topic.

We tend to pray for unsaved family members and acquaintances while ignoring those who are faithful Christians. It is a little like giving all of the attention to the bad child while the other obedient children are ignored. We do, of course, pray for the saved when they are in danger—missionaries serving in dangerous areas, for instance. We also pray for the saved when they become ill or have a terrible accident that threatens their lives. Yet, we rarely pray for them with the same level of concern and the same fervor that we pray for the unsaved. Likewise, we may spend years praying for someone to accept Christ as his/her savior and then stop praying when they do.


Why is it important to pray for the saved? It is important because those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ are the backbone of this nation. The Bible says, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-15) This is an interesting scripture because the Bible does not say that if there are enough people who are called by his name; it says that God’s healing of our land depends on the prayers and actions of the saved and their willingness to turn from their sins and seek God. 

We should, of course, always pray for the unsaved, but after they accept Jesus we need to continue to pray for them. We should pray daily that every Christian in this world will be strengthened and filled with faith. We should pray that they will be bold in their witness and bold in their prayer lives. We should be pray that our fellow Christians will be wise and unshakable in their resolve to follow Jesus.

God has always accomplished great things using a few faithful people. When you pray for the unsaved, remember to pray for those who are fighting the greatest battles of our time on their knees. And remember, as long as God’s people are willing to seek Him and turn away from sin, He will hear us and heal our land.  

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her newest novel, The Warrior, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup

Privilege or Penance?

In the newly released movie For Greater Glory that deals with the Cristeros War that was waged in Mexico from 1926 until 1929, a boy of about twelve is taken to the local priest by his godfather because the boy has thrown fruit at the elderly priest to taunt him. The boy’s godfather tells the priest that he has delivered the boy to him for punishment because “prayer is a penance”.

As an evangelical Christian, I was very surprised to hear prayer used in this context, so I googled “penance” to make certain that I understood the definition as it relates to Catholicism. Penance, as it is used in Catholicism, I discovered, is punishment for sin; self-abasement; mortification to show sorrow for sin or a wrongdoing.

As I continued to ponder the theatrical exchange between the godfather and the priest, I could not help but wonder whether the reason why so many people resist prayer is because they consider time spent in prayer a form of punishment—a humiliating action meant to rehabilitate a woeful sinner. Thus, I have posed the question: Is prayer a privilege or a penance?

Certainly, an important component of prayer is confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness, but that is only a small part of a believer’s prayer life.  I believe that prayer is the greatest privilege that we exercise as Christians. When Jesus declared us to be his “friends”, (John 15:14) He brought us into a new relationship with God that had not previously existed. It was a gift, and part of that gift was the privilege of being able to come to Him anywhere, at any time, under any circumstances. We can, and should, come to Him to ask forgiveness, but we also come to him in thankfulness for His blessings in our lives. We come to Him to praise Him, to honor Him and to worship Him. We come to him in our deepest sorrow to find comfort, and we come to Him in our times of greatest joy to share with Him the contents of our hearts overflowing with happiness.

It has been said that prayer is the “most powerful force on earth”, and I agree with that statement wholeheartedly. Prayers have stopped armies, parted seas, healed the sick, and brought sinners to repentance—many people have turned to Christ as the result of the faithful prayers of another person on their behalf. We can never overstate the power of prayer.

For me, personally, however, one of the most satisfying aspects of prayer is the intimacy it allows us to enter into with Jesus Christ. To awaken for a few fleeting moments in the middle of the night to whisper, “I love you, Jesus” before drifting back into sleep is a privilege. To talk to Him while driving my car, or cleaning the house, or preparing a meal is a privilege. To know that He is always as close as the prayer in my heart, is a privilege.

I believe that prayer is both a penance and a privilege, but even the ability to come before the God of the universe to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness is a privilege.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother.   Her newest novel, The Warrior, is available on Kindle and in paperback.  
For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup