If you thought the title of today’s article is a clickbait – it is not! I am absolutely convinced God always answers our prayers, however, he often does it in ways different from our expectations. In fact, he exceeds them, immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). Tony Campolo tells a story of a conversation he had with a Pentecostal preacher who believed in praying for and expecting miracles on a daily basis. “Do you pray for miracles?”, he asked Tony Campolo. “Well, I guess it could happen, but it’s never happened to me…it doesn’t really fit in to where I am spiritually.” The Pentecostal chided him harshly, “Didn’t Jesus tell us to expect miracles?”
Campolo thought a lot about their conversation. About a week later, he was leading a big service somewhere. Thousands of people had turned out to hear him. After the sermon, he did something that just kind of happened. He said, “We’re going to pray now, and I don’t really know if anything could come of this but I’ve been thinking about the healing power of Jesus, and I’ve never really had anything miraculous happen to me. I’m not a healer, but Jesus said to pray for miracles and so if it’s okay with you I’m going to pray anyone who needs a miracle in their life. I can’t make any guarantees, but you come, and we’ll see. Who knows? Something might happen.” He said he was surprised at the number of people who came forward that night. But he was even more surprised by their requests:
· “My marriage is falling apart. I’ve tried everything and I need God to work a miracle in our relationship.”
· “My 14 year old daughter ran away last month and we haven’t heard from her and we don’t know where she is. We need God’s help!”
· “My son is in a rehab, again, please pray for a miracle.”
He listened and prayed and the people went their way. A week later, Campolo got a call. The woman on the other end of the line said, “Do you remember me? I’m the one who came forward for my husband. Maybe you don’t remember but you prayed for him. He had cancer.” Campolo was silent on the other end of the phone line.
The woman continued, “Well, he died.” Campolo’s heart sank. He felt so bad he almost fainted. But she continued. “I just wanted to call and thank you for praying for him. You’ll never know how much it meant, not only to me, but also to my husband. To be honest with you, he had become almost unbearable. The cancer made him so full of hatred and anger. He would lay in bed cursing God and cursing anyone who tried to help him. He had driven away his children and his friends. He was a monster. But something miraculous happened after you prayed for him. He was like a new person. And in the last six days of his life, we shared such joy together and such love together. Reverend Campolo, my husband didn’t get cured, but he sure got healed.”
Brothers and sisters, be encouraged to always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1). Pray diligently, remain alert and be thankful (Col 4:2).
Coram Deo,
Mark
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