God Answers Prayer

Recently, my wife and I were reading in our morning devotion about prayer and healing. The Bible passage used for the devotion was James 5:13–18, where the apostle says, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him… and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well” (v.14) and “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (v. 16). This does not mean, as the devotion pointed out, that God is always going to answer in the way we think He should or even with a “yes.” Nevertheless, we are to persevere in prayer and believe that God will do what is best.
In that connection, we remembered what happened some years ago when an elder of our congregation visited a sick man in the hospital. This man had received instruction from me, but there was an important teaching of God’s Word he needed to accept—that a person is lost eternally who does not believe in Christ’s saving work. That teaching was difficult for this man because he was a Jew and he understood that this would mean he was accepting the fact that without Christ, his family would be lost eternally. But the prayer offered that day by the elder had a wonderful effect. The man’s health improved almost immediately. And he took that as a sign that he needed to believe what God’s Word says about Jesus. Not long after that, he was confirmed.
We also have a personal example of God answering prayer. Many years ago in Michigan, I was pastoring a congregation in Suttons Bay and a congregation nearby in Traverse City that was begun as a mission. The work there was difficult, and it was a struggle to gain members. One day, I went to visit an elderly man in Traverse City. As I came to the door, a preacher from a Christian church (not Lutheran) exited. We talked a little and he asked if he could pray. I said yes. His prayer reminded me of the prayer given at my ordination into the ministry because it contained important points about the work of a pastor. For example, he prayed for blessing upon the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. That evening upon returning home, I mentioned this to my wife. She asked: “Do you know what this day is?” What? Some thought was required. Then it dawned on me that it was exactly ten years ago that day that I had been ordained. Quite a coincidence, no? But that isn’t the end of this story.
The following Sunday (two days later), three new families were in attendance at Concordia, the Traverse City church. As they left, they said they wanted to join the church. So we have always said that a minister who was not a Lutheran prayed people into a Lutheran church.
God wants us to pray as James instructs. He wants us to believe that He answers prayer and that our prayers are powerful and beneficial. Let us do so with complete confidence that God is listening and will do what is best.
David Lillegard is a pastor emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.