Dear Friend,

The More the Better?

It was another prayer request, one of hundreds we receive each year. A friend had received it from somewhere, and then passed it on to everyone in their email address book. These emails are nothing but modern versions of a chain letter, with the exception that it doesn't cost anything to mail, so it has probably gone to thousands of people.

I took no exception to the request. It asked for prayer for the healing of a cancer in the wife of a soldier serving in the Middle East. Towards the end of the email, there was an invitation to forward the request to your friends, ending with these words, "the more the better!" That's when I shook my head.

Think about it. Do we believe God is so reluctant to answer a believer's prayer that we need hundreds, perhaps thousands of people to pester Him into doing something? Didn't He hear the first person who prayed? "Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleeps and must be awakened" (I Kings 18:27)! Or is it, "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).

This "more the better" is the same attitude to prayer as a radio preacher I described in one of my earlier books, who talked about knocking on heaven's door until our fists were dripping in blood! Book, chapter, and verse, please!

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16), yes it does. Jesus said, "Pray to your Father in secret" (Matthew 6:6); that doesn't sound like a chain letter. And this is right after He said to not be like the hypocrites, who "pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." When you check out the prayer habits of the early church (Acts to Hebrews), you will find a few instances of congregational prayer, many examples of personal prayer, and a few requests for prayer, such as "pray for us" (I Thess. 5:25; II Thess. 3:1).

So why did I shake my head? "The more the better" attitude exhibits a poor knowledge of the Word of God to New Testament believers, and an even poorer knowledge of our rich, divine, loving Father God. Going against the grain of what the church at large is doing is often seen as controversial, but going against the grain of what the Word so clearly teaches has severe consequences. "There is no relief in unbelief." Pray for others? Yes, but do it God's way. -- Peter Wade.

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the thrill of potential

No, that's not Peter Wade! Its the cover picture from our book "God's Principles and Your Potential", now in version 1.1.

Look at the eyes of the boy. It captures the thrill of perhaps the first plane he has made out of paper, and he's about to see it fly! That's the sort of excitement we can have as we discover God's principles and see the potential He has seeded into every believer.

God's principles of nature are constant and unchanging. The airplane utilizes the principle of lift and thrust which allows it to overcome gravity. We do not doubt this, and when it comes to God's spiritual principles we likewise should not doubt that they will work just like He said they would.

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