Key Verse: Entire Chapter
Key Words: Entire Chapter
As you read David’s prayer of forgiveness for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba, you find David prays specifically. Just a few of his specific requests are:
- Wash me throughly from mine iniquity (verse 2);
- Make me to hear joy (verse 8);
- Create in me a clean heart (verse 10);
- Cast me not away (verse 11); and
- Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation (verse 12).
Prayer can be so general as to be meaningless (“Lord, bless all the sick...Bless all for whom it is our duty to pray...Help everyone to do right”).
Wallace E. Johnson, president of Holiday Inns of America, is best known for developing the world’s largest chain of motels. Often overlooked is the fact that he built more than 1,000 low-rent houses a year for at least twenty years. His habit was to make a daily list of things to pray for. On January 1, 1945, when he was getting his start, Mr. Johnson wrote this prayer:
“God, please, let us build 2,000 units in 1945, and if it be in accordance with Thy divine purpose, let us accumulate enough money in that time to carry on our business. O Lord, help us to build a good house, an inexpensive house for both white and Negro citizens that has never been available to them before. And God, please, oh, please, help us to convince the bankers and businessmen of our community that these are safe investments, so that we can go on and on and on. Amen.”
That year, Mr. Johnson built 3,000 units and ended the year with $450,000 in the bank.
“But God never answered a prayer like that for me,” we complain. But did we ever ask him? Are we specific? Do we put it in black and white? Do we really want an answer, expect an answer, and look for an answer? Then pray specifically.
What to do:
✞ Be specific when you pray.
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