On the Wings of Prayer (Part One)

Posted by Tia Ciferno and filed in Encouragement for Daily Living

Ask and you shall receive.     Matthew 7:7

Oh, I love how the Lord teaches us everywhere and always. He is continually searching for ways to give us another treasure from His Heart if we are listening.

I recently received a treasure right in the El Paso airport! My friend Laurie had hosted me for a week in her home while I shared in many churches there. It was the day to say goodbye. Laurie was flying early in the morning to see her daughter, and my flight was on the same airline but many hours later.

Or so we thought.

That day there were severe thunderstorms which closed the Houston airport and delayed our flights, which were both headed there. Laurie and I waited for hours together. Occasionally I would go to the desk and ask if I could be moved to her flight, since it would be leaving (hopefully!) sooner than mine. Every time I asked I was told the plane was full.

Finally by mid-afternoon, a voice came over the speaker announcing that they were now boarding for Laurie’s flight. I checked once again with the desk. “Are you sure there are no seats on the plane for me?” I asked. “No, ma’am. The plane is full.”

Laurie and I said our goodbyes (again) and I sat down. Suddenly I heard the Lord say, “You need to be on this airplane. Pray and ask Me to make a way.” I was surprised at His urgency, but immediately began to pray and ask Him to find me a seat. I walked up to the stewardess who was taking tickets at the entrance of the walkway and asked if she was sure there were no seats left. She answered patiently, “Your best bet is to go back up to the counter.” Oh my. I had done that so many times already. But confident in the Lord’s direction, I waited in the long line again.

When I finally reached the clerk, she saw my familiar face, didn’t speak a word, took the ticket from my hand, printed a new one, grabbed me by the elbow and ushered me all the way on to the plane!

Oh, now I was sure there was a reason the Lord wanted me on that particular plane and in that particular seat. Soon I would discover that reason in the woman who sat beside me. But that’s another incredible story for another time.

My purpose for sharing this prayer story with you is to encourage you in the fact that if the Lord is the Lord of our hearts then He is the “Author of our Asking.” Julian of Norwich, a Christian sister who lived in the 14 th century wrote down what the Lord spoke to her one day about her prayers.

“I am the Ground of thy beseeching: first it is My will that thou have it; and after, I make thee to will it; and after, I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that thou shouldst not have thy beseeching?”

That might sound confusing. Let’s bring that into this century!

“I am the Foundation of your asking. First it is My will that you have it, and after that I make you to want it…and after that I make you to ask for it and you ask for it. How should it be then that you would not have what you are asking for?”

What a glorious dance this is! His Will and ours intertwined and swirling about the dance floor of life, touching hearts and changing lives, bringing Life to those around us as we say “yes’ to His leading to pray.

What is it that He has stirred in you to ask Him for? Then be confident, dear brother or sister that He will answer. It was His idea from the start.

Andrew Murray explains it this way.

Let us seek, not only just in our seasons of prayer, but at all times, to hold fast the joyful assurance: man’s prayer on earth and God’s answer in heaven are meant for each other. Let us trust Jesus to teach us so to pray, that the answer can come. He will do it, if we hold fast the word He gives today : ` Ask, and ye shall receive.’