Praying in the haystack...

I am just now reading through the book on my dad's life and ministry, "Everything by Prayer", written by our good friend, Fred Hartley. I skimmed it after dad went to heaven, it was just too painful right then to read it word for word, the sense of loss was too fresh. But now... I am loving it, the tears still come, but I am re-living so much of dad's life...

Here's a neat story that came right from dad, one he shared with us many times during our growing up years...

He is describing an old Methodist minister whose praying caught my dad's attention immediately. Dad was 24 at the time and said "when I prayed, God was 'way out there' somewhere in the distance, listening. The answer, too, usually seemed off in the distance.... but when this Methodist lay preacher prayed, it was different!"

Fred writes what dad said...

"Eager to learn his secret, I went to see him one day. His name was Ambrose Whaley, everyone called him "Uncle Am". He was a retired blacksmith, a Methdist lay preacher. I soon came to the point: "Uncle Am, I would love to pray with you". At once he arose, led me outside across the driveway into a red barn, up a ladder, into a haystack! There, in some old hay, lay two big Bibles. I prayed first, as a I recall it. Poured out my heart, needs, burdens, wishes, aspirations, ambitions to God. Then he prayed - and there was "that difference" again. There, in that that barn, on our knees, at the eyeball level, I said "Uncle Am, what is it?... You have some kind of secret in praying. Would you mind sharing it with me?"

"I was 24, he was 73 and with an eagle-look in his eyes, he said, "Young man, learn to plead the promises of God!" That did it! Those 9 words have echoed in my soul a thousand times since. My praying has never been the same That word completely changed my understanding of prayer. Mentally, I "saw it" as soon as he said it. Saw what? When I prayed there was fervency, ambition, etc. And make no mistake about it, the Lord does not put a squelch on these either... But I lacked faith!...

There must be faith. Where does that come from? From hearing the Word of God. Uncle Am would plead scripture after scripture, reminding Him of promise after promise, pleading those promises like a lawyer does his case, all along the Holy Spirit pouring in His assurance. With this discovery, God really gave me a new Bible! That day I learned how to make the Bible my prayer book. It gave me new motivation for Bible study. I began to dig in"

...... And now, here I am, his daughter...so many years later, and learning and re-learning for myself the same lessons my dad first learned in that haystack! I am seeing in new ways that in order to pray God's promises... I need to KNOW those promises! My dad had to learn them with his own study of God's Word... so do I!

I am 'pleading the promises of God' in my own life and for my family and friends... It gives real punch to my prayers when I know that God has already given His promises for what I am praying about! Then I know it's not just me... but God who has said so! So, like my dad, it has made me want to know more about what those promises to me include, and they are all there, in God's Word!