Plan for: Thanksgiving | Advent | Christmas

Sermon Illustrations

R. A. TORREY--PRAYING, BELIEVING, AND NOT DOUBTING

After R. A. Torrey had been a Christian for more than forty years, someone asked him to visit a family and pray for one member who was dying with typhoid fever. God revealed to Torrey that the man would live. He told them that when he arrived. The doctor, who was there, said, "That's fine for you. But he cannot live. He will die."

Dr. Torrey said, "That's fine for you. But he cannot die. He will live."

Later that night, he showed the final signs of impending death. Then he recovered.

In his book, The Power of Prayer and the Prayer of Power, Dr. Torrey emphasized that he could pray for every sick person to recover, but he could not believe and not doubt for every sick person to recover. He could only do that when God revealed it, when God gave him the faith that a person would live and not die. Only then could he pray without doubt, believing in his heart that it would happen.

If God reveals to you that he is going to do something, you should believe it and not doubt it. If God reveals to us that he will do a marvelous thing when we step out in faith, we should step out in faith. If we don't step out in faith, we will miss the marvel.

Related Sermon Illustrations

Related Sermons