ANSWERS to PRAYER 360

When I pray I've learned to have two important "preparations of my heart" as I anticipate how God WILL answer:  First, I ANTICIPATE His answer.  That is, I look forward with a believing heart, that God will answer my prayers.  Second, I have learned to SUBMIT my requests to God for His approval of my requests, or His denial of my requests, or His altering of my requests.  But I always seek to pray according to God's will, which ultimately is praying according to God's Word.

Now, God DOES ANSWER prayers that I've labeled "PRAYER 360."  Remember, I have encouraged prayers for the souls of men and women by requesting that God would do His work of "conviction" (John 16:8-11) in their hearts and His work of giving them a "searching heart" (Jeremiah 29:13) to want to know God and a quest to find out how they can be right with Him. 

I want to give you some real examples I've experienced in the last two months of God's answers to my prayers.

1 - I have a neighbor, who for the last ten years, at least, has had a "mocking" response to my attempts to witness to him.  He's been pleasant to me but usually he would smile or joke when I brought up the subject of faith in Christ.  But over the last year or so I've noted his failing health and that prompted me to be even more earnest in my praying.  I particularly prayed that God would give him a heart to search for God and that God would lead him to talk with me.  About a six or seven weeks ago he saw me working out back of my house and he came right up to me and said that he had gone to his priest seeking to get back into his church.  He wasn't satisfied that there was much hope, so he came to see me.  Please note two things:  He sought his priest and then he came to see me.  God answered my prayer by giving him a "searching heart" and God led him to seek me out.  I've been to visit him and his family twice now.  I've given them a Bible and a Bible Story Book and several other pieces of literature and I've spoken to two of this man's adult children about their relationship with Christ.  I'm claiming this man and "his household" for Christ! 

2 - I've been praying for a man, G who is married to someone in my church, K.  I've prayed that G would feel that God is seeking him.  Here's what happened. A rather new neighbor, C has come into my neighborhood and I just met him two weeks ago.  I witnessed to C and found out that he works in the same warehouse where G works.  This new neighbor, C goes and sees G and let's him know of my witness to him and that I was his wife's pastor.  G in turn, came home and told his wife K that now he's got someone in his workplace who knows her pastor and is now talking with him.  G hasn't actually said he is seeking God, but I can sure see how God is seeking him!  I'll keep praying!

3.  Two new women came to our church three Sundays ago.  I found out that one of them is married and I prayed for her husband.  He came to our church two Sundays ago and came to me seeking how he can get right with God!  We met at our Men's Breakfast this past weekend and he recognized his need to trust Christ and he did!  You can't ask for a better answer to prayer than that!

These are just three examples of how God is more than glad to answer our prayers "for the souls of men."  Pray that your neighbors, coworkers, or other acquaintances would either start seeking God or would see how God is seeking them.