Answers to Prayers...$.65

In my morning Bible study, I learned of a man named George Mueller. I hadn't heard of him before, but now that I have...my mind won't let me go.

He was born in the early 1800's and spent much of his youth in the pursuit of gaining wealth...mostly from the pockets of others. As a form of punishment, his father sent him to a religious school to try and curb his appetite for stealing. Didn't work...but a few years later, he was invited to a prayer session with some other men and it was there that the Holy Spirit got ahold of him. He then spent the rest of his life devoted to the care of children and the desire to spread God's word. He never once had another job...he lived his life in full dependence on God's provision. And thru this man, over 120,000 students were taught, over a million Bibles sent out, and over a million dollars was brought in to support the school. All because a thief turned his life over to God.

And while all of that is highly amazing and very interesting, it isn't his story that got my attention...it was his thoughts on prayer.
He said: "It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly continue in prayer until we obtain an answer; and further, we have not only to continue in prayer until the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us and will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing."

Those words, coupled with the scripture that echos thru my mind even now, have challenged me to focus on my thought processes towards prayer...and on the God that I often treat as tho He were a vending machine that owes me a candy bar simply because I've dropped in my loose change.

How often do I just randomly throw a prayer up and just expect Him to get busy?
How little time do I actually devote to prayer for those things that really DO touch my heart?
How would my view of the world change if I actually spent the time trying to see the struggles and trials thru His eyes???

I don't have the answers but I throw the question out into the void that is the internet...and I will be back once I find some.

Looking up as always...
~Bina~