relatives, and colleagues know you are looking for a new job
BY
Because You
A
asked
and the type of work you’re seeking.
It seems clear, too, that “Knock, and it will be opened to
you” means to be diligent and persistent. Besides asking and answers to your questions
seeking, you have to keep at it. You have to keep knocking on
doors. You probably won’t have your prayers answered if you
send out only a single résumé or fill out just one employment
Diversity of opinion characterizes the body of Christ. Therefore,
application. You can’t just wait for that single prospective
it is understood that the opinions expressed in this column are
employer to call and when the call doesn’t come say, “God
those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views
didn’t answer my prayers.” No, you have to keep on knocking
of the Church of God or of the editorial staff of the Evangel.
until your prayer is answered.
If you have a question and can’t find the answer, send it to BYA
No matter what the life event is—employment, better health,
(Because You Asked), Church of God Evangel, P.O. Box 2250,
a new home, or a myriad of other wants and needs—God wants
Cleveland, TN 37320-2250, or e-mail jecossey@pathwaypress.org.
us to participate in the prayer-answering process.
Submission of a question does not guarantee publication.
“God will do for me what I cannot do for myself, but He will
not do for me what I can do for myself” is an axiom often heard in
self-help and recovery groups. For our prayers to be answered, we
not only have to ask, we have to seek and we have to knock. When
Q
I know I should pray more. Fact is, I
hardly pray at all—mostly at church.
My problem is that circumstances
we do, the probability that our prayers will be answered grows.
keep me from church a lot, so I feel unworthy
to call on God, and I don’t really know how to
Richard Bauman, author of Awe-Full Moments: Spirituality in
pray with the kind of words some people use
the Commonplace, writes from West Covina, California.
in prayer. Can you help me?
A
It is important for us to know that we aren’t
heard because of our performance, or because of
our perfection. We aren’t heard because of our
participation in church. We are heard simply because we
have a passionate desire to come into God’s presence.
Listen to the advice given by James:
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for
one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fer-
vent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was
a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly
that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land
for three years and six months. And he prayed again,
and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its
fruit (5:16-18, NKJV).
—Toby Morgan, senior pastor, Sumiton Church of God, Sumiton,
Alabama (Answer excerpted from Morgan’s book O God, Are
You Through With Me? published by Pathway Press)
EVANGEL • MAR 2008 11
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