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[jimwalton]

God does answer prayer. Prayer does work. There are thousands of stories of honest testimony of how God has answered people’s prayer about their circumstances. One woman adopted a daughter from Korea, and prayed that God would send a family to their neighborhood who also had an adopted Asian child. Within months the prayer was answered. Stories like this are far from unique.

Yet God has made it clear in his Word that almost all of what he does (we’re into the billions of stories now) is in the inner person, not in changing the circumstances. He mostly works inside of people, not outside of them. God does work in our circumstances; we just need to understand mostly how this happens.

We know how business works. We say, “this week Microsoft…” but really it’s the people at Microsoft who are making decisions, designing software, marketing the product. I know we all know that, but it helps to be reminded. It’s no different with the Ford Motor Company or McDonald’s. It’s the people who are the company.

In ways it’s the same when we talk about the government. We talk about how the FAA decided this, and how the FDA is wrestling with that, and how the Department of Homeland Security has changed policies or colors. But when we stop to think, we know it’s individual people doing the deciding and the acting.

What we need to realize is that it’s almost the same thing with God. God does almost nothing in this world except through his people, so when he is working in our circumstances, it’s almost always in the context of what people are doing. Almost all of his activity in the world, almost without exception, is through people. Because of the teamwork between God and his people, the lines between what we do and what God does are so blurred that you can almost never tell where God’s hand stops and where ours begins. And that’s even a misleading concept. It’s more like fabric that’s interwoven than “sides” or “hands”. In other words, it’s not so much like a layer cake where you can tell where one stops and the other starts. It’s more like chocolate milk, all shaken and stirred, and you can’t tell where the milk stops and the chocolate starts because they become the same substance. In short, it is absolutely impossible to quantify what happens because of prayer.

We live by faith, not by sight, and any skeptic would claim, “That’s just something you did.” That’s because God’s hand is my hand, and my hand is God’s hand, so of course that’s what it looks like to someone else, and to us, for that matter. God hardly ever broadcasts his involvement in the world. It’s hidden in our activity. We need to learn to have spiritual eyes, and even those might not be able to tell, but the Bible explains it all to us quite well, and we understand by faith that God’s work in the world is by our hands.

In the story of David and Abigail, she intercepted and stopped David, but said, “The Lord kept you from bloodshed” (1 Samuel 25.26). Even though Abigail made the decision to intervene, David says, “God sent you today to meet me.” This is how it works. We submit ourselves to God’s control, and then God acts through us. No one can tell what is God’s part and what is our part, because God and me work as a single unit of operation. God acts in the world almost exclusively through our activity. We live by faith, not by sight, and if God is going to help someone in this world, it’s because I choose to act.

In the story of Nehemiah, he bathed his intentions in prayer, but then he picked up a brick in one hand, and a sword in the other. He made a plan, and he executed his plan. We submit ourselves to God’s control, and then God acts through us, and there’s no way to tell where one stops and the other starts.

In the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus stopped on his way through Jericho to establish a relationship with a cheater of a tax collector. As an act of devotion, Zacchaeus pledges to give half of his possessions to the poor and to repay four times the amount of anything he cheated anyone out of. God acts in the world almost exclusively through our activity. We live by faith, not by sight, and if God is going to help someone in this world, it’s because I choose to act.

In Acts 2, the church was alive through the filling of the Holy Spirit. Despite that they devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer (42), verse 45 tells us they took care of each other by selling their own stuff and giving it away to people who were in need. God acts in the world almost exclusively through our activity. We live by faith, not by sight, and if God is going to help someone in this world, it’s because I choose to act.

You’ve heard the saying, “Nothing in this world happens except through prayer.” That’s true. But it’s also true that almost nothing happens in this world unless you do it. It’s true that we should pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you. Flora Robson said, “Ask God’s blessing on your work, but don’t ask him to do it for you.” By working together with God, we accomplish his work on earth.

God primarily works in the world through us. His characteristic way of answering prayer about our circumstances is us. Generally speaking, prayers about circumstances only get answered when we answer them. In prayer we partner with God.

We thank God for our food. Did God give it to us? Only in the sense that he created the earth to bear food, and as we cultivate the soil and distribute the produce, people are fed. It hardly matters whether God blesses us through supernatural intervention or through the natural process of cause and effect. We thank God for our food, understanding how everything works.
We thank God for the day, or for good weather. How responsible is God for a day of sunshine? We understand how it works: the world turns, the sun comes up, and some days give us good weather, and others don’t. But we know that God created all that is, and he sustains the world by his mighty power, and so we thank him for good days. And some times we thank him for the rain.

We pray for safety when we drive. We will be safe if we drive safely, along with those around us. When someone drives poorly, there will be an accident. Is God involved in our driving, and in our safety? Of course he is, but we can’t tell, except every once in a while where it seems that circumstances simply don’t explain what we experience. Then we attribute the “good” to God. Was God responsible? There’s no way to tell, but as an act of faith, and understanding how things work, we thank him.

We pray for water for the people of Africa. We know that the people Africa get water when someone digs or drills a well for them. Prayers are answered when people get involved to the point of bringing about the circumstances they are praying for.

You have heard it said, “God helps those who help themselves.” That’s not too far off the mark, but it can be perceived cynically, which is far from the truth.

Before I leave this subject, I need to make one disclaimer: we all know of times when God answers prayer and it has nothing to do with anyone doing anything. God does it. It’s true, and it happens enough times for us to know that God does work in the world around us, in spite of us, and sometimes completely without us. The Bible has an abundance of such stories, so much so that we interpret them to mean that it’s the way God usually works.
Though he can and certainly does work in circumstances, sometimes without any human involvement at all, it is clear that his routine and predictable way of answering prayer and working in the world is by changing people inside and by partnering with them to change their circumstances and the circumstances of others.

We see this illustrated in the episode of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in Daniel 3. They knew God could protect them, and said so boldly to the king. But they didn’t necessarily expect that God was going to intervene in their circumstances by changing those circumstances, and they also said that boldly to the king. They walk the difficult balance of believing that God can and does answer prayer, but not just assuming that he will change their circumstances.
Instead, the Bible teaches us that what God is in the business of is changing hearts, and changing lives by changing souls. The real places of God’s activity are what the Bible teaches us: encouragement, strength, guidance, peace, etc. When we pray for ourselves, the Bible intends that we most often and most diligently pray for those: the power to grasp God’s love, understanding of the mysteries of Christ, resistance to temptation, and a spirit of love, encouragement, helpfulness, forgiveness, unity, and love. If you want to see answers to prayer, pray in the Biblical way. Jesus taught us how, Paul taught us what.

A perfect example of what I am saying can be found in Jesus is the Garden of Gethsemane. With his soul overwhelmed to the point of death, he dropped to his face in prayer. “My Father,” he prayed, “…may this cup be taken from me.” Was this prayer answered? If you are looking at his circumstances, the answer is a resounding “no,” for he faced brutal beatings, flogging, and death by crucifixion. But look at God’s involvement in his soul, as opposed to his circumstances. Between his prayer and his arrest, he is convincingly overcome by a peace that passes understanding. He transitions from sweating drops of blood to “Are you still sleeping?”, “Friend, do what you came for,” and “Put your sword back in its place.” God was not changing his circumstances, but he was working radical realities inside of him.

Luke records that “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” What God did was not change his circumstances, but he strengthened his inner being to be able to not only cope with his circumstances, but to be victorious over them. And that’s the whole point.

Back in the Matthew account, finally, we observe a spiritual resolve to obey, which I believe is an answer to his prayer. In Matthew 26.46, Jesus says with assertive confidence, “Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” His prayer of “may this cup be taken from me” is not answered with circumstance changes, but with peace, strength, and resolve to obey. This, my friend, is how prayer works.