While believing prayer is powerful sometimes when God answers our prayers we seem to wish He didn’t. And the reason is simple. Oftentimes when God answers our prayers He says that we are the answer – and that makes us uncomfortable! For example, when we pray that God helps a needy couple financially that we have on our prayer list, God may say that we should be the one to supply the needed funds. Or if a neighbor doesn’t have a car and wants to go to the church you attend, rather than pray for a way for them to get there, God will often say you have a car why don’t you drive them to church.
You see the answer to some of our prayers for others comes in the form of us either being inconvenienced or us having to sacrifice some of our time and finances. And in both cases this will take us out of our comfort zones and our old nature often balks at this.
Another example that the Lord always wants to show us, when we pray, concerns knowing the will of God. Praying to know God’s will is a great prayer that I believe God loves to answer but are we prepared to carry His will out when He reveals it to us. I think pastor and theologian Donald Barnhouse summed up the problem here when he said: “I can say from experience that 95% of knowing the will of God consists in being prepared to do it before you know what it is.”1
If the above examples speak to your heart I have a suggestion that I hope will help you be more thankful and willing to be the answer to your own prayers. Rather than view the inconvenience and sacrifice that God is calling you to tolerate and make when you are the answer to prayer why not change your perspective and flip the script and view being asked to leave your comfort zone as a divine opportunity to bless someone else. When you do this not only will God fill you with joy and often with appreciation from those you are helping and blessing, but in the process you will be doing God’s will and bringing glory to His name. My friends sacrifices and being inconvenienced are often the stepping stones to bringing glory to God, accruing great joy now, and eternal blessings in heaven.
And instead of looking at the sacrifices we have to make when we are called to be the answer to one of our prayers, why not view our lives as commissioned servants and take time to reflect on what the great 19th century British missionary and explorer to the continent of Africa, David Livingstone, shared: “If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”2
1 Donald Grey Barnhouse Wrote, “95% Of Knowing The … – Shared by Wayne Major – Sermon Illustrations – SermonCentral.com
2 Quote by David Livingstone: “If a commission by an earthly king is considere…” (goodreads.com)