Be Diligent in Prayer

I saw the most beautiful rainbow, yesterday. I went up the mountain twice during the day, to pray. The second time, it was beginning to rain when I left, but I really didn't care as I was determined, since I am mostly alone anyway, to pray as much as I can. When my wife comes home in one month and one week, I'll have less time. We'll spend all of our time looking into each other's eyes. Well, that will take three and one half minutes, or four. Anyway, I had worked five hours on this topic of Righteousness by Faith without much success and in a state of semi-discouragement, I went up the mountain to talk to the Lord about it.

He got through to me, or maybe, I got through to me that it is nonsense to fret over sermon material. I can't produce a good sermon on an ideal day. If the Lord doesn't give me the material as a revelation, a gift, then I am up the creek. I didn't ask for the assignments and if He wants to use me, then that is His prerogative, but He'll need to supply the talks. So instead of busting my head over blank thoughts, I've decided to have faith in God and relax. He never lets me down, anyway. So, as I am making my way home with a hard wind at my back and the rain soaking my backside, the sun came out and produced the sharpest rainbow I have seen in forever. The rainbow, a double, spanned nicely from one end of Eden Valley to the other. I took it to be God's promise to me as well as giving Eden Valley a favorable nod.

Honestly, I am praying more and more and more. "Only the work accomplished with much prayer . . . will in end prove to be efficient for good." DA 362. It is as if God goes out of His way to answer my prayers, when I go out of my way to pray them. That is so encouraging. In 2008, it took a year, it seems like, to reveal that He heard. Sometimes, it's immediate. In any case, my confidence grows. I'd like to encourage you likewise. Don't tell me God doesn't answer your prayers. Tell me instead, how faithful, how earnest, how determined, how persevering you are in petitioning His throne. God will do wonders for them that "believe that He is and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him." The key word here is "diligently".

So says the Preacher to his Tribe