When it comes to prayer, nothing is impossible. The Holy Bible points out, “What is impossible to man is possible to Him.”
When Atty. Israelito P. Torreon and his debating team from the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) left Davao recently, they never thought that God would answer their prayers: that of becoming champion in the first Humanitarian Law Debate held at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
“Before we left, I told my students to believe that they will win,” said Atty. Torreon, who is the coach of the ADDU Law Debating Team and a faculty member since 1999. “As Ateneans, we are prayer warriors; hence, we made it a point to pray before we competed. God answered our prayers. He is indeed great!”
It was the first time ever for the ADDU Law Debating Team to win the coveted prize and the team was euphoric. “I was ecstatic and stunned at the same time knowing that God really does answer prayers,” said Atty. Torreon.
God does! That is the main reason why world’s boxing champion Manny Pacquiao always prays before his fights. I usually pray, too: before and after sleeping, before eating, when I travel, and even when I am alone. Prayer is my way of talking with my God.
World famous evangelist Billy Graham said prayer is more than asking from God. “Prayer is more than verbally filling in some requisition blank,” he explained. “It’s fellowship with God! It’s communion with the Lord through praising Him, rehearsing His promises, and then sharing our needs.”
“The prayer power,” says J. Hudson Taylor, “has never been tried to its full capacity… If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and might things which thou knowest not!’”
Christians around the world ought to pray. Jesus Christ Himself taught us how to do it. More often than not, we reason out that we don’t have enough time to pray – to talk with Him and to listen to what He wants us to do.
“How strange it is that you have time to eat, to entertain guests, to visit people, and to do many other things, but you cannot find time to pray,” wrote Watchman Nee in A Balanced Christian Life. “Last night, for instance, you acknowledged that a day had passed without you having really prayed. And hence you decided you would find time the next day to give yourself to pray.
“But on the next day, at the appointed time of prayer, someone turns up knocking at your front door and someone else is looking for you at the back door. How strange that at other times everything is quiet, but at the time of prayer, many odd things begin to happen. If you want to find time for other things, you have the time. It is only when you attempt to find time to pray that you cannot find it.”
In fact, don’t start you day without a word of prayer. Listen to the words of a poet: “I started early with my chores, but even so I started wrong. My labor yielded me no gain, I should have started with a song. I batted time this trying day to find my efforts were a loss. I had to leave some plans undone, tasks multiplied and I grew cross. Tonight, I ponder while I rest – all day I fought rebellious tares. Yet that has always been my lot, when days do not begin with prayer.”
Someone once told me that he quits praying because God does not answer his prayers. He does! “There are four answers God can give to a prayer,” wrote Robert Schuller. “When the request is not right, God says, ‘No!’ When you are not right, God says, ‘Grow!’ When the time is not right, God says, ‘Slow!’ When everything is right, God says, ‘Go!’”
Yes, God answers all our prayers. There was this story of a little boy talking with a church pastor. “In the church, I heard different men praying,” said the puzzled boy. “It must be awfully hard for God.” The pastor asked gently, “Why? What do you mean?”
The two were walking in the town’s park. “Well, the businessman is praying for a mild weather,” the boy said. “The rice farmer is praying for rain. The corn miller is praying for a sunny day. Now, all three are godly men. How does God know how to answer all their prayers?”
“How is the weather now?” the pastor asked. “Cooler and mild,” the boy replied. “And last week?” the pastor again asked. “Let me see – on Monday and Tuesday it rained, and on Thursday , it was hot all day,” the boy answered.
Hearing the boy’s answers, the pastor asked the little boy to stop walking for the meantime and sit in one of the park’s benches. “See how the Lord answered all their prayers?” Without saying a word, the boy nodded.
What does prayer mean to you? Allow me to quote Kenneth L. Wilson and tell me if his words are your own, too: “There’s something exquisitely about room service in a hotel. All you have to do is pick up a phone and somebody is ready and waiting to bring you breakfast, lunch, dinner, chocolate milkshake, whatever your heart desires and your stomach will tolerate. Or by another languid motion of the wrist, you can telephone for someone who will get a soiled shirt quickly transformed into a clean one or a rumpled suit into a pressed one.
“That’s the concept that some of us have of prayer. We have created God in the image of a divine bellhop. Prayer, for us, is the ultimate room service, wrought by direct dialing. Furthermore, no tipping, and everything charged to that great credit card in the sky. Now prayer is many things, but I’m pretty sure this is not one of the things it is.”
Again, prayer is not just asking something from God. But it is also asking something for Him. One night, a little girl surprised her mother when she concluded her prayer for her family and friends by adding, “And now, God, what can I do for You?”
For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
When Atty. Israelito P. Torreon and his debating team from the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) left Davao recently, they never thought that God would answer their prayers: that of becoming champion in the first Humanitarian Law Debate held at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
“Before we left, I told my students to believe that they will win,” said Atty. Torreon, who is the coach of the ADDU Law Debating Team and a faculty member since 1999. “As Ateneans, we are prayer warriors; hence, we made it a point to pray before we competed. God answered our prayers. He is indeed great!”
It was the first time ever for the ADDU Law Debating Team to win the coveted prize and the team was euphoric. “I was ecstatic and stunned at the same time knowing that God really does answer prayers,” said Atty. Torreon.
God does! That is the main reason why world’s boxing champion Manny Pacquiao always prays before his fights. I usually pray, too: before and after sleeping, before eating, when I travel, and even when I am alone. Prayer is my way of talking with my God.
World famous evangelist Billy Graham said prayer is more than asking from God. “Prayer is more than verbally filling in some requisition blank,” he explained. “It’s fellowship with God! It’s communion with the Lord through praising Him, rehearsing His promises, and then sharing our needs.”
“The prayer power,” says J. Hudson Taylor, “has never been tried to its full capacity… If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and might things which thou knowest not!’”
Christians around the world ought to pray. Jesus Christ Himself taught us how to do it. More often than not, we reason out that we don’t have enough time to pray – to talk with Him and to listen to what He wants us to do.
“How strange it is that you have time to eat, to entertain guests, to visit people, and to do many other things, but you cannot find time to pray,” wrote Watchman Nee in A Balanced Christian Life. “Last night, for instance, you acknowledged that a day had passed without you having really prayed. And hence you decided you would find time the next day to give yourself to pray.
“But on the next day, at the appointed time of prayer, someone turns up knocking at your front door and someone else is looking for you at the back door. How strange that at other times everything is quiet, but at the time of prayer, many odd things begin to happen. If you want to find time for other things, you have the time. It is only when you attempt to find time to pray that you cannot find it.”
In fact, don’t start you day without a word of prayer. Listen to the words of a poet: “I started early with my chores, but even so I started wrong. My labor yielded me no gain, I should have started with a song. I batted time this trying day to find my efforts were a loss. I had to leave some plans undone, tasks multiplied and I grew cross. Tonight, I ponder while I rest – all day I fought rebellious tares. Yet that has always been my lot, when days do not begin with prayer.”
Someone once told me that he quits praying because God does not answer his prayers. He does! “There are four answers God can give to a prayer,” wrote Robert Schuller. “When the request is not right, God says, ‘No!’ When you are not right, God says, ‘Grow!’ When the time is not right, God says, ‘Slow!’ When everything is right, God says, ‘Go!’”
Yes, God answers all our prayers. There was this story of a little boy talking with a church pastor. “In the church, I heard different men praying,” said the puzzled boy. “It must be awfully hard for God.” The pastor asked gently, “Why? What do you mean?”
The two were walking in the town’s park. “Well, the businessman is praying for a mild weather,” the boy said. “The rice farmer is praying for rain. The corn miller is praying for a sunny day. Now, all three are godly men. How does God know how to answer all their prayers?”
“How is the weather now?” the pastor asked. “Cooler and mild,” the boy replied. “And last week?” the pastor again asked. “Let me see – on Monday and Tuesday it rained, and on Thursday , it was hot all day,” the boy answered.
Hearing the boy’s answers, the pastor asked the little boy to stop walking for the meantime and sit in one of the park’s benches. “See how the Lord answered all their prayers?” Without saying a word, the boy nodded.
What does prayer mean to you? Allow me to quote Kenneth L. Wilson and tell me if his words are your own, too: “There’s something exquisitely about room service in a hotel. All you have to do is pick up a phone and somebody is ready and waiting to bring you breakfast, lunch, dinner, chocolate milkshake, whatever your heart desires and your stomach will tolerate. Or by another languid motion of the wrist, you can telephone for someone who will get a soiled shirt quickly transformed into a clean one or a rumpled suit into a pressed one.
“That’s the concept that some of us have of prayer. We have created God in the image of a divine bellhop. Prayer, for us, is the ultimate room service, wrought by direct dialing. Furthermore, no tipping, and everything charged to that great credit card in the sky. Now prayer is many things, but I’m pretty sure this is not one of the things it is.”
Again, prayer is not just asking something from God. But it is also asking something for Him. One night, a little girl surprised her mother when she concluded her prayer for her family and friends by adding, “And now, God, what can I do for You?”
For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
