Daily Power #107

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

In college, I was on the tennis team, the only American among a rowdy group of Australians. After I became a Christian, I was always looking for ways to be a positive influence on my teammates and get them to take God seriously.

Once we were at a tournament and noticed a high-jump bar set up near the tennis courts. They started trying to jump and could barely clear more than three or four feet. So I set the bar at six feet and said, “If I pray and ask God to help me clear this and I make it, will you guys come to church with me and give your lives to Christ?”

They laughed, thinking there was no way I could clear such a height, and agreed. I prayed, they sort of mock-prayed, and I began counting off my steps. These guys didn’t know that in high school I had been a high jumper! A six-foot jump was almost automatic for me.

Only this time I didn’t clear it. I almost made it, but at the last second, my trailing foot slightly clipped the bar.

I didn’t understand—why didn’t God answer my prayer? I was pretty sure I could make the jump, even without God’s help. Since then, many other prayers, including much more important ones, have also gone unanswered. But I’ve learned to trust God’s plan even when I can’t see what he’s up to. So I pray for him to act, but I surrender to his will, not mine.

Prayer reminds us we are not in control, while keeping us close to the one who is.

Power Lift

Lord, today I yield to your will. You know my needs and concerns, and I trust you to meet them in your perfect way at the perfect time.