Five Reasons Why Prayer Must Be Answered

​FIVE REASONS
 
WHY PRAYER MUST BE ANSWERED
_________________________
 
By George Müller

​I ASKED, “WILL you please give me your reasons for this confident faith?”  “Yes,” said he, “I believe my prayers will be answered because I have fulfilled these five conditions:
 
          “FIRST: I have no shadow of doubt in prying for their salvation, knowing as I do that it is the Lord’s will they should be saved, for He would ‘have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:4), ‘and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us’ (1 John 5:14).
 
          “SECOND: The second reasons is, I have never pleaded for their salvation in my own name, but in the all-worthy name of my precious Lord Jesus (John 14:14), that is on the ground of His merit and worthiness, and on that alone.
 
          “THIRD: The third reason is, I have always believed in the ability and willingness of God to answer my prayers. (Mark 11:24)
 
          “FOURTH: The fourth reason is, that I have not allowed myself in known sin, for ‘if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me’ (Psalm 66:18).
 
          “FIFTH: The fifth reason is, that I HAVE CONTINUED IN BELIEVING PRAYER FOR OVER FIFTY-TWO YEARS, AND SHALL SO CONTINUE UNTIL THE ANSWER IS GIVEN.  Luke 18:7: ‘Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?’”
 
          And surely this has made the difference between George Müller and tens of thousands OF God’s dear children.  Whenever the Lord showed him that it was His will he should pray, he continued in prayer until the answer came.
 
GOD DID IT 

A WELL-KNOWN evangelist relates the following incident: I first went to America many years ago, with the Captain of a Steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew.
 
          When off the coast of Newfoundland he said to me: “Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here five weeks ago, something happened which revolutionized the whole of my Christian life.
          “We had George Müller of Bristol on board.  I had been on the bridge for twenty-four hours and never left it.  George Müller came to me and said, ‘Captain, I have come to tell you I must be Quebec Saturday afternoon.’  ‘It is impossible,’ I said. ‘Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way—I have not broken an engagement in fifty-seven years.  Let us go down into the chart-room and pray.’
 
          “I looked at that man of God and thought to myself, ‘What lunatic asylum can that man have come from? I never heard such a thing as this!’
 
          “’Mr. Müller,’ I said, ‘do you know how dense this fog is?’
 
          “’No,’ he replied, ‘my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.’
 
          “He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers.  When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on shoulder and told me not to pray.  ‘First, you do not believe He will; and second, I BELIEVE HE HAS and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.’
 
          “I looked at him and George Müller said, ‘Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King.  Get up Captain and open the door and you will find the fog is gone.’
 
          “I got up and the fog was indeed gone.  On Saturday afternoon George Müller was in Quebec for his engagement.”