Believing Prayer

Just a few years prior to my husband entering into Heaven he was asked to teach the teens at teen camp on prayer.  He was so passionate about prayer, because he was so dependent upon God for literally everything. I can honestly say that my husband prayed about everything from safety as we travelled to help with snapping a shirt button.  His desire was to encourage Christians to pray and believe God so that they too would know the fullness of God’s glory and realize the utter inability they have without Him.  He knew that without God, he could do nothing. He believed that prayer not only equipped the Christian to do the work of God, but that prayer was the  primary work.  He often said, Until you have prayed, you have done nothing.  I was always helped in my prayer life when he preached or taught on prayer, and it motivated me to pray more.  Since his passing, I have been even more helped by listening to his sermons and teachings on prayer.  The following is the outline that he gave when he taught the teens on prayer that summer at camp.  1. Adoration—Adore God. Tell Him how wonderful He is. Until you see God, you will never see yourself. 2. Examination—take an introspective look at your heart. Let God search you, then confess the sin that is found there. Sin in our life will turn His ear away from us.  3. Desperation—When you pray, be earnest in your asking.  Cry out to God for your petition and keep crying. Don’t stop praying until the answer comes.  4. Expectation—expect that God is going to answer. Stand on the promises of God.  Hebrews 11:6 says we can’t please Him without faith, and that when we go to Him we MUST believe that He is and that He WILL answer us when we diligently seek Him.  Believe His Word, stand on it, then expect Him to answer because He will keep His promises.  

Here's a segment of that sermon:

Segment

I can recall an incident that was often shared when he was either giving the story about his second wife’s illness or when he was teaching on prayer and faith.  It wasn’t long into her illness, maybe a couple of years, when they were in Washington state at a meeting.  One of the men of the church, Dr.Williams and his wife, Pam, were traveling to a restaurant in that Washington town when she went into a grand mal seizure.  She had not had a seizure since she had left the hospital to date, and so, Dr. Williams had not seen a seizure.  The man driving gave this testimony of that incident: My first thought was, We have to find a hospital fast! But Dr. Williams cried out, Father help!  That was the difference, Dr. Williams depended on God first, and then sought human help.  May you be encouraged today to become more dependent upon our Heavenly Father for everything.  Like Dr. Williams would always say, He is just looking for someone who will believe Him.

Click below to listen to the full sermon from Dr. Tom Williams

Sermon

Reflection:

Spend 5 minutes in adoration to God in prayer.

Let us know in the comments something you adore about God!