Don't be afraid to pray

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Our faith in Christ gives us the confidence to go to the Father in prayer and ask for things that are not contrary to the glory and majesty of God. For it is up to us to understand the Father’s will and seek those things that are in accordance with His will. In doing so we know God hears whatever we ask and we can be confident that God will respond.

Pastor Bill White from Paramount, California told this story. Sarah, a woman who attends our church, had never prayed aloud in her life. She grew up moderately connected to the church, but when a relational crisis hit with her fiancé, she realized she needed more. She began attending church for comfort. Little did she expect that Jesus would also make her uncomfortable.

Sarah was on call for her job as an ultrasound technician for a local emergency room. One Friday night, she was called into work at 2 a.m. The doctor told her he thought the lady in Exam Room 2 was crazy, but that, for legal reasons, they had to run some tests. Sarah entered the room to find a highly agitated woman in her forties who could barely sit still for the ultrasound. The woman was bouncing off the walls and complaining of intense discomfort. At one point she even lay down on the floor. As Sarah struggled to conduct the requisite test, the woman blurted, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"

"Well," Sarah responded hesitantly, "I do."

With hope in her eyes for the first time, the woman pleaded, "Would you pray for me? I just need to calm down."

Sarah was dismayed—these things never happened to her before she started following Jesus. But now she was stuck. She fumbled with the machine, looking for a way out. Trying to avoid the inevitable she mustered up enough strength to say, "Maybe you could pray—or at least get us started."

"No! It hurts too much. You do it!" the woman begged.

With no recourse—right there in the ER—Sarah stretched out her hand and laid it on the woman. She prayed, "God, please be with this woman in her time of need. Please give the doctors wisdom to know what is wrong with her and how to fix it; and, God, please put your hands on her and take away her pain." It was short and sweet, but it was just what the Great Physician ordered. The woman calmed down. And as she did, Sarah had a sudden inclination to recheck her gall bladder.

There, wedged in the neck of the woman's gall bladder, was a 4-millimeter stone. Sarah immediately told the doctor, who overcame his disbelief quickly enough to order emergency surgery.

Often God will use others to take us somewhere we have never been before, such as Sarah who was not comfortable praying openly for others. God allowed her to have delight in her prayer seeing the miracle of her request. Let us never forget to pray for the things God would have us pray for.