Home > Prayer works Series 2

Luke 18: 1-8

We want to examine how prayer has worked in the lives of some people, God’s interaction with His children, and see what we can learn from them and their testimonies. The LORD Jesus Christ told a story of how His people should pray and trust God in Luke’s Gospel chapter 18, but ended verse 8 with a question, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Will He find people who still love God and live according to His will and trust Him for their daily needs within His sovereign power?  

Read Luke 18: 1-8 and Matthew 15:8.

Discuss your understanding of the story in Luke 18:1-8.

Matthew 15:8 reads, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”

  1. Why do some people pray, asking for something from God, but do not obey God’s instructions?
  2. What are your reactions to people who constantly disobey God but complain that God does not answer their prayers?

When Jesus talks of meeting faith on the earth at His return, He was talking about meeting people who truly love God, obey His guidance, and trust Him for what they need, and God will do it for them. Such people will also pray according to God’s will, not against God’s attributes, or against God’s word. He was not talking about a prayer machine that will just answer prayers uncontrollably, but within God’s parameters and Jesus’ teachings.

Let us re-group ourselves into groups of five persons in each group and read the following testimony.

My daughter had a job interview where she needed proof of identity and wanted to use her travelling passport, a bank statement, and a learner’s driver’s license. She got the first two ready, but just applied for the third proof of identity. She called the licence office on a Thursday and was told that it would take two weeks for her to receive it, meaning one more week to wait for her licence. She needed this for her interview the following Monday, and had to leave the home even earlier, on Saturday, for the university interview on Monday, to be able to work part-time to support her rent, as she was not on government funding or support. She needed the job, the licence, and must travel to the university town away from home. With her faith in Jesus Christ, she prayed for God’s intervention on that Thursday and Friday.

I was ready to embark on a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Oxford from Leeds on Saturday morning, around 10 am. The suitcases were in the car. I stood by the car door. My daughter stood at our house door and would not come into the car. “Daughter, let us go,” I instructed her to come out. “Dad, I will, I am just waiting for a moment. I want to see the letters that arrive in the post before we leave.”

Lo and behold, the postman arrived at my door earlier than usual that Saturday. He delivered letters into the neighbours’ letter boxes, and then came to ours, handling letters to my daughter at the door. My daughter looked through the letters, took her own out and dropped the rest on the floor inside the house and joined me in the car to start our journey. The only letter she had that morning was her learner’s driver’s license permit she was eager to receive. The letter did not wait for two weeks to arrive, as the telephone handler initially told her. The letter arriving at that time was:

  1. An answer to prayer to meet a need. The job interview criteria to be met in preparation for the Monday interview.
  2. The job interview went well in fierce competition for a job in the area. She got the job, a 20-hour student job, after the interview.
  3. The money from the job was a great help for her rent throughout her time at the university.
  4. Something had to shift for all these to take place. God showed up! PRAYER WORKED. Jesus Christ, her Saviour, went ahead of her.

Let us discuss other lessons we can learn from that testimony.

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Read the following Bible passages and discuss what you can gain from them:

  1. Mark 11: 24
  2. Matthew 7: 7-8
  3. Matthew 7: 9-11
  4. Mark 9: 28-29
  5. Jeremiah 33: 1-3

Faithful Christians do not have coincidences; God is always the one present in their stories to make things happen as they present their situations to God in Jesus Christ’s name.  

List various happenings in your life that are not coincidences but answered prayers.

  1. _______________________
  2. _______________________
  3. ________________________

Reflection: List or think of an area of your life that you need to work on to be more obedient to God’s guidance, biblical instructions, and more open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Pray and plan to begin to see changes in that area of your life. 

Return to your large group now for the closing session.

Get a diary or a booklet where you can draw a table with the following patterns. Entrust your life each day to the LORD Jesus, let Him guide you through the Bible, His word, and pray for His leadership. Fill in significant prayers or desires in your diary or ruled sheet of paper with dates. Watch to see how the prayers would be answered and put the dates they are answered under the appropriate column.  

S/No The date prayer was made Prayer points and godly desires Date answered
1            
2            
3            
4            
5            
6            
7            
8            
9            
10            
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