This sermon is by George Müller. We don’t know the date or place he gave this, but we pray your heart is renewed in trusting hope to pray—and to keep on praying.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:13-15, NIV)
As we seek to understand the conditions of successful prayer, we must begin by comparing Scripture with Scripture because, again and again, we find that one part supplies what we may not understand in another.
Let us look at 1 John 5:13-15. Here is the first thing to consider: We have to ask God for the things that are according to His will. And if we are little acquainted with the will of God about any matter, we must first ask Him to teach and instruct us. He loves us with an infinitely wise love, and not like foolish parents who give their children all they ask for. He desires true happiness and blessings for His children, and therefore only gives what would be for their blessing and profit to receive. The Lord Jesus said we should ask in His name if we wish our petitions granted (see John 14:13-14).
Another point is that we exercise faith in the power of God and in His willingness to hear us (see Mark 11:24). We must be looking out for the answer. Few children of God doubt His ability to give, but many doubt His willingness, forgetting that large word of the apostle, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (see Romans 8:32, NIV).
Now, suppose we practice those things in prayer, there is yet another important point, which is found in Psalm 66:18 (NIV): “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”
There remains one thing more: We must wait on God till the answer comes. Here we frequently break down. We begin well, but we do not go on. If we have been praying month after month, and year after year, and our petitions have not been granted, the thought comes, “Will God answer?” At this point, many break down because the petition is not granted as quickly as they expected. Parents may pray for their children. They begin to do so, but we should never forget that we have to continue, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, until the answer comes. For God knows the best time to answer, and He will, in His own time, give us our requests. It may be for the trial of our faith, or of our patience, or to see if we are sincere, that He waits. For these and other reasons, the petitions may not be answered so quickly as we desire.
Young evangelists ask God for the conversion of many souls. They go on praying and preaching, but do not get answers. It may be that they are not prepared for the blessing. If their petitions were granted, it might be an injury to their souls. Therefore, He waits till they are prepared to receive the blessing. It’s so with Sunday School teachers. They ask God for good things for their children, yet do not receive the answer. Now let us go on, patiently and quietly waiting on the Lord. The blessing most assuredly will come.
Now, are we all in the habit of thus going on patiently, perseveringly, month after month, and year after year, waiting on God? Then let us begin afresh with renewed sincerity and faith. To all our petitions, if they have been according to the will of God, and in the name of the Lord Jesus, and with faith that the Lord is willing to give what we have asked, the answers must come. I myself have had to wait for a long time to get certain blessings. In many instances, the answer has come instantaneously, either in the same hour or the same day; yet with other things, I have had to wait years—ten years, fifteen years, twenty years, and more!—yet invariably at the last, the answer comes.
I say it to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ: Go on waiting, waiting, waiting. Begin afresh to bring your petitions before God. He will hear you. I have been praying for a certain thing for thirty-nine years and nine months, and the answer has not yet come. Last evening I prayed for it, and the evening before last I prayed again. When I was traveling in India and in America, year after year, I have been praying, and I am sure that in the end the answer will come. I have received tens of thousands of answers to prayer, but in this particular one, I have to wait. For the salvation of the parents of one friend, I prayed, and the answer came when the father was between eighty and ninety years old. This very individual had cast off his son entirely; for years, he did not allow him to come into his presence. At last, he sent for him, and then would scarcely allow him to go out of his sight; yet for twenty years, I had to pray for his salvation. So with the mother.
Therefore, begin afresh with greater earnestness than ever, and you will receive the answers at last. The Lord delights to bless His children, to give them everything that is for their blessing and comfort; and especially does He delight to bless parents in praying for their children. But if we have set them a bad example, and have let them go on in a self-willed course, then the first thing is to make an honest confession of our sin, and to own that we deserve all that may have come upon us. Let us humble ourselves in the dust before God, yet in pleading the merits, the blood of Jesus, and we shall find that God is ever ready in His pity and compassion to forgive us.
Oh, may He find in us sincere, faithful and trusting people! Then, with renewed earnestness, let us begin to pray.
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George Müller
