God’s answers are wiser than our prayers.
Unknown

On Sunday afternoon, June 1st 1975, Darrel Dore was on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Suddenly it wobbled, tipped to one side, and crashed into the sea. Darrell was trapped inside a room on the rig. As the rig sank deeper and deeper into the sea the lights went out and the room began to fill with water.
Thrashing about in the darkness, Darrel accidentally found a huge air bubble that was forming in the corner of the room. He thrust his head inside it.
Then a horrifying thought sent a shiver down his spine. “I’m buried alive”. Darrell began to pray – out loud – and as he did, something remarkable happened. He said later:
“I found myself actually talking to Someone. Jesus was there with me. There was no illumination, nothing physical, but I sensed him, a comforting presence. He was real, he was there.”
For the next 22 hours that Presence continued to comfort Darrel. But now the oxygen supply inside the bubble was giving out. Death was inevitable. It was just a matter of time.
Then a remarkable thing happened. Darrel saw a tiny star of light shimmering in the pitch-black water. Was it real? or after 22 hours was he beginning to hallucinate? Darrel squinted his eyes. The light seemed to grow brighter. He squinted again.
He wasn’t hallucinating. The light was real. It was coming from a diver’s helmet. Someone had found him. His 22 hour nightmare was over. Rescue had come. He was saved.
That true story is a remarkable illustration

The prayers a man lives on his feet are just as important as those he says on his knees.

Every work of God can be traced to some kneeling form.
J. John – in UK Focus, Aug 97 (HTB)

The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

C.S. Lewis

A tale is told about a small town that had historically been “dry,” but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that “no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not.”

J.K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 129.

I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, “No. It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.”

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, “No. His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.”

I asked God to grant me patience.”
God said, “No. Patience is a by product of tribulations; it isn’t granted, it is learned.”

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, “No. I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.”

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, “No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings
you closer to me.”

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, “No. You must grow on your own! , but I will prune you to make you fruitful.”

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, “No. I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.”

I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said, “Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.”

Quoted from www.cybersalt.org email list

Remember, God respecteth not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how long they are; nor the music of our prayers, how methodical they are; but the divinity of our prayers, how heart-sprung they are. Not gifts, but graces, prevail in prayer.
Trapp – Quoted from http://www.net153.com email list

Much of our prayer life is like that of the little boy who found himself losing his balance in a tree that he had climbed. He cried, “Help me Jesus;” but when his pant leg became caught on a branch, He said, “Never mind Jesus. My jeans caught me.”
Quoted from net153.com email list

Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant asking. The way to trouble God is not to ask at all.
Dwight L. Moody Quoted from the Sermon Fodder Email list