ONE MAN'S ANSWERS TO PRAYER by Arthur C. Custance
	Introduction	Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3	Conclusion

	CONCLUSION May I summarize something of what I have found in my own experience about this matter of prayer.
		First of all, I believe it is very important to look for and identify the answers we may have - and having done so, to give thanks.   One of the best ways to do this is to keep a record. But I think that anyone who does so may well discover in time that specific answers to prayer become less frequent as one grows older in the faith, not because the Lord is less willing to respond but because our needs become more diffuse.   What were formerly written down as details will tend now to be set forth almost as a psalm of praise and sometimes as a comment on a particular passage of Scripture that has experimentally come to life.
		Secondly, I do not think anything is too small to be made a subject of prayer, nor too mundane.   I believe we must accept No and Wait as legitimate answers: and we need to examine ourselves to see whether delay may not be due to a failure to do our part.
		Thirdly, I believe that the Lord is very patient and will meet our indecision and our desire for some guiding sign in any given emergency by accepting whatever proposals we may make.   But He will do it only so long as we demonstrate that we really will be obedient whichever way the sign points.   I think that the number of different kinds of "fleeces" which the Lord is willing to use is probably infinite in variety.   The really critical element in this kind of transaction with the Lord is that we must obey.
		Finally, I think we must always guard against the danger of making the Lord's special dealings with us a source of subtle pride, by giving our testimony with an inappropriate emphasis upon our own faith rather than upon the Lord's graciousness, for even the heart of the child of God is still desperately wicked when the old nature has the upper hand (Jeremiah 17:9).
		Do start keeping a journal. Who knows how someone may be helped by it in time to come - even yourself!

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