Prayer - Part 3 Series

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Introduction

Hello everyone. This is Part 3 of our study on prayer. We will begin this lesson as we did the

previous two lessons and open with the following two passages of Scripture.

First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the

peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds

through Christ Jesus.”

In Part 2, we focused on what we do that erect roadblocks to God’s ability to answer our

prayers, but not His willingness to answer our prayers. We looked at the following reasons,

and this was not an exhaustive list by any means.

? Not praying in faith

? Habitually committing sin

? Ignorance concerning how to pray

? Husbands not honoring their wives

? Wives not submitting to (respecting) their husbands

? A lack of love for others

? Selfish prayers

? A heart of pride

? An unforgiving heart (attitude)

Again, this list is not exhaustive, and it only focuses on what we do that hinders us from

receiving answers to our prayers. However, there is another reason why our prayers are

hindered or delayed that we sometimes don’t think about, and we want to discuss it before

we continue this study on prayer. But we must first re-tell the story of Sis. Betsy, which has

been an important part of the foundation for this study on prayer. The “testimony” of Sis.

Betsy is one of our favorite stories about believing in the power of that prayer.

“Several years ago, there was a drought in one city and the pastor of the Church called for a

prayer meeting to pray for rain. The prayer meeting was held on a hot summer evening. All of

the members came out dressed in summer cool clothes since they would be there for a while

praying. Well, when Sister Betsy arrived at the Church, everyone heard her approaching as

her shoes were making a loud noise. As she entered the Church, everyone turned to see why

she was making such a loud entry. What they saw tickled them and some of the members

actually laughed softly.

Here was Sister Betsy entering the Church wearing rain boots, raincoat, a hat and carrying an umbrella. She looked a sight in the sweltering heat. Some of the members thought Sister Betsy had finally lost her mind – that her elevator was no longer going to the top floor. The pastor looked at her with much concern. He comes down from the pulpit and approaches her. He asks her, “Sister Betsy are you all right – are you feeling okay?” Sister Betsy looked at him confused by the question and replied, “I feel fine.” Then the pastor asked her, “Well I must ask, why are you dressed this way? Didn’t you feel how hot it is outside? You must be burning up in this outfit. What possessed you to wear all of this tonight in this heat?”

Again, some of the members continued to snicker and laugh under their breath while others now shifted to true concern for Sister Betsy’s mental state. Sister Betsy looked at her pastor and then scanned the faces of the rest of the members and made the following statement: “You know pastor, I too was confused when I walked into the Church. You see, I thought we were all coming here to pray for rain, and I expected there to be rain when we left. I am confused as to why none of you are dressed for rain since that is what we are supposed to be here asking from God.”

In that story only Sis. Betsy came to the meeting expecting God to answer that prayer that