Pray for rain and carry an umbrella!

Matthew 7:7-12

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.’

Food for thought

Jesus taught us many things; but he especially taught us to pray because he knows the power of prayer. The strongest action that you can take in any action is to go on your knees and ask God for help. Again, if we can beat the devil on prayer (if we can maintain prayer in our life) we can beat him on anything else. But if the devil can beat us on prayer (if he can make us drop prayer in our life), he can beat us in everything else. The devil smiles when we make plans; he laughs when we get too busy; but he trembles when we pray.
Pray for rain and carry an umbrella!
Another thing that Jesus teaches us is our attitude to prayer; it is how to pray. Consider this one: during a morning worship service, Ellen noticed a nice looking man sitting by himself on the back pew. As a single woman she had a vested interest in meeting him. She approached him with an extended hand and said, "Hi. I'm Ellen." He took one look at her and bolted out the door without saying a word. The following Sunday he returned to church and made this apology: "My name is Bob Price, and I owe you an apology for my rude behavior last Sunday. You see, my deceased wife's name was Ellen, and I had been praying, 'Dear God, please send me another Ellen.' When you approached me and said, 'Hi. I'm Ellen,' I lost it." Bob and Ellen have now been married twelve years and are both very thankful for the way God answered Bob's prayer.

So when you pray for a woman or man, be on the lookout; God will make her or him pass by; prepare yourself for one; dress yourself for one, talk and behave as if you have one. When you pray for anything, believe and behave that you have it. When you pray for money, fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money. This is what Jesus taught us to do in Mark 11:24 “You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you have it; it’s yours!.”

Jesus is also teaching us to pray without ceasing; to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the praying may be. Our main weaknesses is our familiarity with the word “impossible.” We know all the rules which will not work. We knows all the things which cannot be done. And Jesus is saying, JUST BELIEVE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE. If the thing you wish to do or get is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and do or get it! Put your dream across, and never mind what “they” say if you meet with temporary defeat, for “they,” perhaps, do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success. There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. In other words, pray and believe that you will get what you pray for.