Your Questions About Prayer...Answered

An online forum with responses by Pastor Ed Glaize

How do I discern or hear God’s response to prayer?

Sometimes you will never know on this side of eternity what an answer to prayer might be. Who knows, when you get to heaven, a person you never met in person might come up to you and say, “Thank you for praying for me.”

And then, there might be times you will know an answer has been given: you get the job you prayed about…or maybe you did not get that job. A person is healed…or maybe healing did not happen. (This is a subject for another question.)

Also, you might pray about a decision and you get a feeling, an intuition, or a thought that you cannot explain — but you follow that leading and end up in a place you had never thought you would be…doing something you thought you would never do. (That is how I ended up here!)

One time, I was praying about making a decision, and my devotional reading for the day seemed to answer the question for me. (That is why I did not move from here when presented with the opportunity!)

You never know how God will respond. Just be open and believe that somehow God will respond, maybe in a way you did not anticipate.

How can I concentrate on my prayer when my mind keeps wandering?

First, the wandering mind is natural. It happens to even the most mature of saints. But as one saint said to a distraught person because his mind seemed to be distracted 10,000 times during prayer: “What a privilege to return to the Lord 10,000 times who welcomes you each time!”

Recently, I came across a reading describing the mind being like a bunch of monkeys in a tree! You will not still them by shouting. But by speaking quietly and gently, just as you would to a petulant child, peace will begin to be revealed.

I have found that a single word or simple phrase can be used to draw one’s attention back to God and to prayer. When you find your mind meandering, bring it back gently with a word like, “merciful,” “peace,” “beauty,” or another description of who God is for you. Do this over and over again as you find yourself less distracted in the life of prayer.

Check back each week as Pastor Ed answers another one of your questions about prayer! Want to submit a question? Click here to send one!