Does prayer work?

The Bible says that prayer matters.

But many Christians have doubts.  I admit I sometimes wonder.

Why do we doubt?

I believe it is because we don't see how God is answering our prayers.  We feel prayer doesn't work.  And we give up.

We're like the soldier under attack in the trenches.  The situation looks desperate in the soldier's eyes.  He feels the battle is lost.

But God is like the general who is receiving information from the battlefield and from aerial surveillance.  He knows the battle is won.

I often think of God's words in Isaiah 58: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

It all comes back to trust.  Am I willing to trust God even when I don't understand?

I realize now that many of the things I have prayed for over the years have been answered with a resounding "Yes."  Only, I didn't know it at the time.  And sometimes I even thought he was saying "No."

I am still blind to much of what God is doing in my life.  But I am learning that God is at work in every aspect of my life - from the smallest, everyday details to the big picture.

That doesn't mean that God will always give me what I want.  He will give me what he knows I need.

And perhaps some of his answers will come when I am long gone.  Here is pastor Robert Morris speaking about my great prayer hero George Muller and the friend he prayed for all his life.