Prayer DOES work
One of the recurring themes in Michael Cassidy's book is that of answered prayer. He first realized this after a lot of academic struggles, which finally came right when he got his degree in 1958.
He said “I saw in a light bulb moment that God does answer prayer, but in His own time and way. He can say yes, no, or wait. In 1956, he’d said “no”. In ‘57 He’d said “wait”, but in 1958 He said “yes”! And the no and wait times were for His purposes of disciplining and refining and purging to be fulfilled in me. He put me into fire, which for good reason, I needed.”
And then on his graduation day, his tutor saw Michael and said with a smile, “We all had to put in a bit of prayer for this, didn't we?”
Prayer Changes Everything
And so, he saw how prayers had been answered in his life. And I wonder if you need to take a moment and consider how God may have answered a prayer in your life. Maybe he said yes and something happened in your life recently. Maybe he's been saying wait or no, but either way, he's been faithful and he's been refining you and purging you to bring you to the right place at the right time.
And so, your prayers haven't been empty, even if it feels like God's timing has been different to what you thought. That’s certainly true for Michael and it's true for you and I too.
Holding Onto Promises
Years later, in 1973, African Enterprise put on the South African Congress on Mission and Evangelism in Durban, and Michael and his team discovered all sorts of spiritual obstacles in the way - any time they arrange something, it seemed to get blocked by the government or by some other high ups. At one point all overseas speakers to the Congress had been barred entry into the country. Venues pulled out. All sorts of bad stuff happened.
But he said this on page 234: “Curiously enough, I didn't fall off my perch in despair, but immediately felt the constraint to turn in my Bible to promises from the Lord which had meant much to us in the past. Isaiah 54:17 says “‘No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confuse every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me,’ says the Lord.”
God is Able!
And so, he and the African Enterprise staff went into a time of intercessory pray and he said, “Interestingly, nobody felt discouraged or depressed. We were all buoyed up in our faith and eagerly expectant as to how the Lord would work it out.”
They had a stack of scriptures like 2 Chronicles 25: 9 “The Lord is able to give you much more than this”; Philippians 3:21: “He is able to subdue all things to himself”; Ephesians 3:20 ”Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more than we ask or think.” They held onto these and prayed through these and amazingly everything fell into place for an amazing conference to happen.
So, there is power in prayer. Don't despair today if things aren't going as you planned. Rise up in prayer! Remember that God is able! Claim his promises and his victories for yourself in faith.
And may you like Michael Cassidy, find God to be faithful as we know He is.
