night or one morning when he went a little over, you know, he told them that the phone service was a little long, you know. Well, the man telling the book took a little of my time. So I'm going to go over as much as he went over telling the book. Now, should you have occasion to read two portions of Scripture before tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, those of you who will be able to be with us. You might want to read the hundred and twenty-six Psalms and the eighth chapter of Acts. And if you're real smart, after you've read those two portions of Scripture, one from the Old and one from the New Testament and put your thinking cap on, you'll find out what we're going to talk about tomorrow morning. Hundred and twenty-six Psalms and the eighth chapter of Acts. That's tomorrow now. Tonight we're going to attempt to answer some questions about why some prayers are not answered. And I want to say right now that we will not be able to give you all of the reasons that are in the Bible. I found that out. I put a lot of this down. on paper this afternoon, and there were about five or six passages, especially from the Old Testament, about why prayer is not heard and answered, that I will only have time to mention. But I will try to put them on a piece of paper, and perhaps tomorrow morning I can at least tell you what they are and give you the references. And then you can, I hope you're taking notes, because my personal experience has been that if I take notes, I can digest the message and think about it later. and it's a real help to me. About the only time that I don't take notes is when I think the speaker is so sorry, it's not worth taking. So I'll look out and, you know, see who's taking notes and get some indication there. Isn't it wonderful to be a Christian? You know, before I became a Christian, I really, and honestly, I honestly thought that when you became a Christian, you had to have a faith like a Missouri New That's right. It's like a little boy that was visiting his grandfather out in the country. And he says, you know, granddaddy, old Job must be a mighty good Christian. Why, son? Look what a long face he had. And he was sincere. Are you really talking? So it's a wonderful thing to know the Lord and to have the joy of the Lord in your heart. And it's unfortunate that some people just don't seem to exuberate and let much of the joy out that it's supposed to be on the inside of their hearts and their lives. Because one reason I'm getting the feeling better every day is because in just less than two days my sweetheart's going to be here. You see, I've been married twenty-eight years and you know what? I'm still in love. In fact, I'm much more in love now than I was when we got married. You know, there's a good illustration there. That's just the way it is with the Lord Jesus. The more you know him, the more you know about him, the better you know him, the more you love him. Psalm one hundred sixteen. Psalm one hundred sixteen. Now we're not going to read it all. We'll read the first few verses, probably verses one to eight. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice in my supplications. because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell get whole upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt sounderfully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Oh, what a promise. What a promise. Now, there are other references which I had planned to read, but I will be using them in the message, so we'll not read them. We'll just read them as we come to them. I would say that I would hope that verse eight is true of everyone that's here tonight. Our souls have been delivered from death by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and much of the anguish and sorrow and disappointment and misunderstanding and frustration that is a part of those who know not the Lord Jesus. We've been delivered from this because we know Him, and our feet, which used to fall a lot into sin, have been delivered from falling because we are secure in Him. He is our rock, the rock Christ Jesus. Now the question arises when we start thinking about answered prayer. and praying, who has the right to pray? The answer is very simple. Everyone has the right to pray, but not everyone can pray for the same thing. Because you see, the only prayer that an unconverted person can pray is, is a prayer for insight and for salvation. Now, he doesn't have to say the exact prayer that we sometimes call the Son of God's Prayer. God have mercy upon me, a sinner, and save me for Jesus' sake. But it should be something to that effect. In other words, he's praying to God to save him. But now, those of us who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, there are a number of things that we can pray for because we are privileged people. We are princes. We are the children of the king, and we have every right of a prince to come before our father, the supreme rule of the universe, the creator of all things, and to petition him for those things that we have need of. You will notice in Psalm and faith. And I would suggest to you that seeing prayer answered in our lives will produce and increase our faith as nothing else will. Now, it's one thing to hear other people talk about what the Lord has done in answer to prayer, or to read about it in a book, and how thrilling some of these experiences are of how God has answered prayer. When Jack Gawley gets back here from India, he'll be able to stand up an hour, an hour and a half and tell you about one prayer being answered right after another. Some of the young people that go up to these Bible schools and Bible colleges and go out to the mission field by faith, they'll be able to stand up and tell you one prayer after another being answered. But beloved, hearing about it and reading about it is one thing. But experiencing in your heart is another thing. Now, I regret to say that many, many Christians and many Christians who have known the Lord for numbers of years, for some reason, sometimes unexplainable on our part, cannot stand up and tell you of a lot of prayers that have been answered in their lives. Now, because of that fact is the reason for this message. So we want to look into the Word of God and see what some of the evident reasons are and causes of failure in prayer are in the lives of many of God's people. And as I have already suggested, I'll not be able to even list all of them. But tomorrow morning I'll hope to have a little piece of paper with it on it, and I'll read the ones to you that we do not get to mention even tonight. Now the first is in James chapter four. James chapter four, and I'm sure that most of you already know which reference we're going to read. And most of you have the King James, which is all right. I am frankly surprised that I don't see more of you with a copy of the New American Standard, translation. Many of the Lord's servants are using this now because they honestly believe that it is the best and the most accurate and closest to the original. using phrases and terms and verbs and nouns that are more in frequent use today. It is the official text of the Columbia Bible College in Columbia and quite a number of other Bible college and seminaries that I'm acquainted with right now. James chapter four, and we're going to read verse three. Now you have the King James, let me read it in the New American Standard. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your own pleasures. I'll read that once again. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pledges or your own pledges. Now, if you've been along the road a little way in the Christian life and have had any experience in dealing with Christians, you probably can stop and think of someone in your personal individual experience that you've known that have prayed for something that they really wanted. And they were dead set on heaven, but they never received it. More than likely, this person was praying for something that they didn't need. And God knew they didn't need it. It was a selfish prayer, and consequently they never received this thing. I know of a preacher. Well, I knew of him. He's in heaven now. But this was years ago. And this man really wanted to be a great preacher. And he asked God to make him a great preacher. But he was asking from a selfish motive. And finally, the Lord convicted him of his wrong attitude and wrong motive in his prayer life. And he came to the place where he said, Well, Lord, I just want to be your servant, just want to be your vessel, and just let you flow through me, and do what you want to me, when, where, how? And you know what happened? He became a great man of God, and God might lead you. I remember times in my life when I was asking God for things, and I was in dead earnest, and I really thought I really needed him. I'm sure I'm glad the Lord didn't give them to me. I couldn't even bought the gas to drive them. Of course, I suppose if he'd give them to me, he would give me the gas to drive them. But, you know, especially young people, because I know we've been along the way a little longer now, you know, but young people, they can really ask God for some stupid thing. Alright, this is one of the things. If we ask God for something, and it's because we want it for ourselves and not for the Lord's glory, you're wasting your breath. Might as well quit asking. I've known people that have asked God for money. They never got their money. I must say that I believe this is to pray for money for some project that doesn't really affect you except for the Lord's glory is a great thrill. We have a project in Columbia. I'm praying for it right now. We'd love to see an intervascular Christian Fellowship staff man in there full time at the university. Eighteen thousand students. Do we even have an intervascular staff man in there? And we're trying to raise six thousand dollars by the end of this spring so we can have it in estro and intervascular. Do we even plan to send him down there next fall? Now that's a challenge. Now this is different from what I'm talking about. I've known businessmen and Christian men and they've asked God to give them money selfishly. They never got it. But you know, if there's a man, a woman, and God can trust you as a faithful steward with his money, he'll give it to you. We use today the illustration of George Mueller. Here's a man, never wanted to ascent for himself, but gave away millions and millions of pounds during his lifetime that the Lord entrusted to him to feed and clothe and educate orphans and the princes. thousands and thousands of Bibles and New Testament. Let me read what I have you in my notes. Places of honor and power are not given to men who seek it as did the sons of Zebedee, but to those who drink the Savior's cup of sacrifice. Let it be remembered, however, that our Heavenly Father will heed our petitions for our daily bread, for the day-to-day actual needs that we may have in his works. Yea, he supplies them according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. All right? If you happen to be taking notes, here's number three. A third frequent cause of failure in prayer comes from people praying when they really don't believe God is going to answer their prayer anyway. Do you hear about the young man? Hand them up to Spurgeon. Probably was one of the young men, kind of a preacher boy, studying to preach to know in Spurgeon's college after he got it started. And he said, Brother Spurgeon says, I'm real concerned. He said, I go down here to this church that they send me to and preach and said, nobody's getting converted. He was really concerned. Mr. Spurgeon says, Well, now, young man, you don't expect to see somebody preached every time you are saved every time you preach, do you? He said, Well, no, sir. He said, No wonder then. Look at James again. Chapter one this time, verse five and six. We know this verse by heart. These two by heart. If we don't, be good when we memorize before the missile comes over at six, twenty-five a.m. in the morning. case you're planning to get up and see you. If any of you lacks wisdom, this is in the New American Standard again, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and they will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. Now, dear friend, faith is not mere mental ascent. It's taken the promises of God as absolute reality and acting on them as if you see them. I want to read that again. Faith is not mere mental ascent. It is taken the promises of God as absolute realities and acting on them as if they were seen, present in. So let's stop and think now of all the times that we've prayed, primaries, services, in the hall, up in Columbia, every Thursday morning, the elders meet at the chapel for prayer at seven-fifth. That separates the sheep from the goats right there. Seven-fifteen. And I've prayed many times, Lord, make this prayer time worth my getting up to get over there and get to the prayer meeting and we've got to rush back so that I have a son that drives us through. Think of all the times that we've gotten on our knees and prayed collectively or individually. And deep in our hearts, we've prayed for things and we haven't really expected God to give us what we were praying for. Let me tell you a little secret about believing prayer. Base your prayers, beloved, upon a promise from the Word of God and claim the answer because you're basing it on the Word of God. Have you ever tried that? You're saying that, God, you say here that you'll do so and so and meet the conditions. Thank you for answering it. By the way, that's another secret. Thank you. ahead of time by faith and he's going to answer it. It was my privilege to be in You for Christ in the early days and I want to tell you I thank God that I was one of those foolish young men. We did some things that were so stupid in the eyes of the world but you know what? We didn't know any better than to believe God would do it, and He did it. The first time Jack Wordson went to talk to him at Madison Square Garden about having a Word of Life rally, they laughed at him. Man, what are you talking about? It's placed these nineteen thousand. But a Christian brother who had giving him some money to help rent it, said, go ahead and do it. The law will fill it." And he went down and put the money down on it, and the people that, well, they didn't even have any people to run the concessions. They didn't think they'd have it a couple of thousand, you know. The people at Yankee Stadium, when Billy Graham and his team in New York said, we want Yankee Stadium the nineteenth of July, nineteen fifty-seven, they said, well, there's no need to dust off those seats up on the top. You won't have that many. They didn't have enough police out there. They didn't have enough refreshment. I got thirsty and wanted to go somewhere to get something to drink. I had to walk six blocks to find something to drink. There wasn't anything to drink, cold drinks, orange juice, anything. That's how many people were there. Oh, it's wonderful to remember when you pray, beloved, remember who you're talking to. And you remember that with God all things are possible. And if the Lord burdens your heart to believe in something, go ahead and believe it. Well, that wasn't in my notes, but I'll give it anyway. You see, I believe what I'm preaching. I've seen it. I know how it can happen. Oh, ye of little faith, why did thou doubt it? One reading, many of our chapels are the size there, right there. We preach a pure gospel, right. We believe in a powerful God, right. We believe that God can do anything right. Why don't we act like it? The people that preach the Word of God should have the largest building. Folks now, I'll have to tell you, I'll be frank with you when they get so large, I believe it'd be good to start another one. I don't, I think that there's a real danger in having a real large fellowship. That's another question. Brother McKee and I were different there, but I still love him. All right. Now, Peter is a good example of what I've just been talking about, and I've got to go to my next point. But do you remember when Peter was in the ship and the Lord was out there on the water? And Peter thought that was the Lord. Do you remember what he said? Lord, if it be thou, be it me, come unto thee. And you notice, I'm glad the Holy Spirit put that in there. on the water. There wasn't any road out there, I passed. Did me come unto thee on the water? What did he do? He put his toe over and said, No, he just, if I know Peter, he probably jumped overboard. Probably did. But if it's you, Lord, I know that if you bid me to come, you'll make it possible. And if the Lord bid you to go, to India or to Moscow. Preach the gospel. He'll undertake for you and he'll make it possible. All right, here's another verse right quick. Matthew twenty-one. Matthew twenty-one, twenty-one and twenty-two. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast to the sea, it shall be done. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. All right? Number four. Still another cause of unanswered prayer is unconfessed sin. Psalm sixty-six, eighteen. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear it. I plan to read from the new ASV here, but I will not. It's slightly different. It's a little better, but we'll stick with the King James. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now, beloved, brother and sister, In order for God to answer prayer, he first of all has to hear. And if there's unconfessed sin in my heart and life, sin that I'm aware of, sin that I know about, and I am going along merrily along my way, and I've not forsaken it, and I've not confessed it to God, I am wasting my breath to ask God to do anything because the Word of God says, And this truth is taught not only in Psalm six and six, but in other places. The Word of God says that He will not hear us. And so we've confessed that sin. Now I don't know what that unconfessed sin could be in your life. But there have been many, many people that could have been powers for God. God could have mightily used them, but unconfessed sin has robbed them of Holy Spirit-anointed power. He said, well, how can I know what it is? Well, I'll tell you, I think there are very, very few people that have unconfessed sin in their lives that don't know it. But I'll tell you one thing, I can tell you who will tell you. God will. The Word of God said, we read it right there. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberty and uprighteth not, and it shall be given him. And if you're not aware of what the hindrance is in your life, it's blocking your prayers and keeping God from hearing so that he can answer, get on your knees in a quiet place and really mean business, and ask the Lord, and he'll tell you. I go to the Father and say this. If there is unconfessed sin in your life that hadn't been confessed, it's more than likely what you're thinking about right now. That's between you and the Lord. The Word of God says that if you confess your sin, that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You'll notice that I used a moment ago this phrase, if we forsake and confess. So now that it doesn't do any good just to confess. We've got to be willing to forsake. You say, well, I've tried, brother, for you, and I just can't. All right, quit trying and tell God, and tell Him that it's too much for you, and you can't handle it, and you've tried, and you've tried, and you've tried, and you've quit, and you've turned over new leaves, and you've tried, and tell Him you just can't do it. You've made a miserable failure, and ask Him to just come in and take over, and He'll do it. Another verse, Isaiah One and two, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that he cannot save, neither he hither, that he cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, face from you, and he will not hear. There are other things, other reasons why prayer is not answered. Another one is very closely related to what I'm talking about right now. We read something about it. in Mark eleven twenty five you don't need to turn to it at the same time I'll read it hit whensoever you stand praying forgive if you have all against any one that your father also who is in heaven may forgive your trespasses beloved if you have all against any brother or sister man or woman anywhere in the world the Bible says get it straightened out don't expect me to forgive you for your faults and your failures and your sins until you are willing to forgive someone else. We had a wonderful example of what I'm talking about in Columbia. This dear man of God that died the nineteenth of December. I can't give you the whole story. It takes too long. But he was a wonderful man of God, a real elder, a real shepherd, And one night he made a mistake at the chapel. He tried in love to direct the young man at the close of a meeting who had been cutting up. He tried to ask him to come up front to see a film that a missionary was going to show. And the young man talked back to him. And so after the meeting was over, he put his arm around the young man and kind of laid him outdoors and tried in love to tell him how much it was helped. if the young man, young teenager at his age, would come up towards the front in the meeting. And the father of the young man came out and really let our brother know how he felt about it. Now, if anybody owed anybody an apology, it was the father of the young man. But this wonderful man of God, Dr. Giles, whose man heaven, He stood up the next Sunday night. Before we broke bread, he says, I have an apology to make. He says, I did something that I thought was right last Wednesday night, but apparently I was not right. And if I have offended anyone by what I did in trying to correct Bush and ask him to sit up front, if I have heard anyone, offended anyone, I'm very, very sorry, and I want them to forgive me. And I'll tell you, that was a sweet meeting, because everything had been made right. And I'm glad to say that the other man who talked very meanly and harshly to him that night that this thing happened before Dear Dr. Giles went to be with the Lord while he was still rational, he was man enough to go in and said, Brother, I want you to forgive me for the way I talk to you. That's Christianity in action. That's what it is. If there's anything between two brothers or two sisters here in this meeting or any assembly anywhere in the world, and you just have something against them, you'd better ask the Lord to give you the grace and the courage to make it right. You see, the man in the world doesn't know the Lord. That's the way they act. But we're supposed to act different because the Lord lives in our hearts. We must remember that there are principles that are laid down in God's word. Now, someone says, what then are the principles? All right? We've given you four. Now, I'll list the positive things to you, and then we're through. First of all, if you want your prayers to be answered, you need to be sure you have a BA degree. Say that again. If you want to be sure your prayers are answered, be sure to get a B.A. degree. Born again. Now you can breathe. If some of you are a little worried, I was getting a little educational in mind today for a while. You've got to have a B.A. degree. There are other principles now besides the ones that we've already given. We're not going to read those over to save time. Here's one right here. John fifteen-seven. If ye abide in me, and my words about in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. This promise is very similar to Psalm thirty-seven four. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Another very important principle in prayer, I believe, is found in Second Chronicle, And the main truth that I'd like to bring out here is that if we expect God to hear and answer us, we've got to come to him humbly as we ask the petition. First John five, fourteen, and fifty. First John five, fourteen, and fifteen. And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that He hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. Now, I cannot go into all of the intricate details as to what is involved in knowing God's will, but I'll just say this, that if you spend time reading God's Word and if you spend time with the Lord in prayer, honestly seeking to do God's will, and if you are willing to do God's will when He makes it known to you, I won't worry about what you'll do. I want to reiterate one thing. Unless you are rightly related to the Lord in your heart attitude, don't ever expect God to hear and answer your prayer. I was at Lake Geneva with Phil Parsons. One night at the close of the message to the teenagers, three young ladies from a Midwestern city, the name of which I'll not call, because it's not important, came to me, and they said, Mr. Few, we believe that we have trusted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, but we aren't seeing anything happen in our lives, and we don't have the kind of joy you're talking about, and we don't have the kind of assurance you're talking about. And we just are not happy as Christians. And I asked them a few questions and so forth, and they didn't seem to be able to give me any help. And so I said, well, let's pray and ask the Lord to tell us what it is. I found out as I began to talk to these young ladies, all of them were about fifteen or sixteen years of age, that I knew their fathers by the first name. And I said, no, we aren't getting anywhere, and it's getting late, so let's just bow our heads and pray and ask the Lord to tell us what the trouble is. And it's a long story, and I can't really go into it, but I'll say this, that as I begin to pray, they begin to cry. And they really shed tears. And then I cut my prayer short, and I said, my girls, do you think you know what it might be that's hindering you from having joy in your soul? and really enjoying the presence of Christ in your life and being a witness for him at school and so forth. And yes, they said yes, yes, yes. You know what it was? These girls were rebellious against their parents who wanted them to live the way Christians are supposed to live. They were going through that area and time in their lives when they were rebellious because they were having to try to be different from their peers. And they were rebellious toward their parents. And they were having trouble with their parents. One of them says, my mother and I had a fight the night before we came up here over. Who was going to iron my clothes? And then another girl said, yes, and my father and I, man, we were... Oh, they told me. They were really disobedient, disrespectful children. I said, you don't have to tell me anymore. You've already told me enough. Girls, I'm sure you are willing. to submit to your parents and recognize them as the authority over you, representing God in your home. You can pray until you're black in the faith. You can read until you can't read anymore. And God will never speak to you from his word because you are not taken from his word what you're reading there. You're not obeying his word. I said, now you think you understand what I'm... Yes, but we do. We do. and I had to pray with them, and I've seen them several times since when I've gone to that city, and they're coming alongside in the Lord. But this has happened many times, and this happens with adults as well as boys and girls. One of the greatest thrills in living for the Lord Jesus is to pray a simple prayer by faith and see God answer the prayer. Brother Willie mentioned that we met first in Bristol, England. I'd like to close my message with an illustration about that trip. When I went to the first Inter-Vocity Christian Fellowship Missionary Convention in Toronto, Canada, I met some young people that were telling me about a conference that was going to be held in Europe, in Switzerland, in nineteen forty-eight. This was two years away. They said, you know, brother, for you, we'd like to have you come over and serve as a counselor and maybe speak here, there, and younger and so forth. Then I talked to some people with Youth for Christ, and they said, yeah, there's going to be a World Congress on Evangelism in Vietenburg, that same month, and so forth. And then I met some people from some of the assemblies in Europe, and they said, yes, if you can get over that way, we can arrange some meetings. So it seemed as though the Lord might just be leading in that direction. So I did a little figuring. I got in touch with some people, found out what it would cost, and how much money I should allow for train fare and boat fare and food and so forth and how much I should take, maybe give and share with a few missionaries. And I came up with a figure that was astronomical, I thought. And then I had to remember that I had a wife and a son back in South Carolina that had to live if I was gone three months. And so I totaled this all up, you know, and I said, well, and I tell you, Lord, I'm not going to tell anybody but you and my wife. And if you send in as much money as this trip will cost, above what I need to live on, then I'll know you want me to go." And so I had this little figure tucked away, you know, in an envelope and dotting you, and I knew, and the Lord knew. And I had one man to ask me how much it cost. And I said, well, I hadn't planned to tell anybody, but since you asked me, I'll tell you. And so I told him, I was having lunch with him in a restaurant down near the battery in New York City. He's in heaven now. When I told him, he said, Oh, brother, few, you must be a man of mighty great faith. I said, No, sir, brother, I'm not a man of great faith. I'm just a man of a little faith, but my faith is in a great God. So I went ahead and I spoke in different places and so forth and so on. And after the Lord sent in about a half of the money, I made reservations on this boat and so forth. And the last three or four days before I was to leave New York on the Queen Mary, Paul Sherbrooke, I was speaking in several of the New York Area assemblies. I remember the last night I was in one of the meetings in North Jersey, Orange or something like that, East Orange or something like that. And Brother Bill Kelly, who was in the travel agency, brought me to the boat to know, and he knew how to get on, and he knew where to go and show me where my stateroom was and all like that. And I still needed fifteen dollars to come to that figure, you know, that I'd arrived. And I just kind of puzzled. And he was, he started down the game and said, Oh, Shockley, I forgot to give you a letter. It came three days ago. And the letter was from Seattle, Washington. And it was from somebody I couldn't remember. How they knew I was in need of the money, I don't know, but it had a check in it. That's right. You guessed it. Fifteen dollars. And so we went to France, to Switzerland, to Belgium, to Harlem, And oh, how the Lord answered prayer. And why would I take Italian tracks with me if I wasn't going to Italy? I was in Holland, and I couldn't get a place to spend the night. So I got the first plane I could out of Amsterdam for London. Well, it would be the next day anyway. And on that plane was the Italian soccer team. And I had the privilege of giving every one of them a gospel track in Italian. I could take all night and tell you thing after thing out of Lord Bless. Then I went to England and had the privilege of preaching the gospel in England and going up there in Scotland, over into Ireland, preaching there, and I visited in Wales with Stephen Olford, came back to New York City, called Dottie on the phone, got a plane ticket to Columbia, and we got off the plane. in Columbia. I had fifty cents in my pocket. But you see, the Lord knew just how much we needed. And it's a wonderful, wonderful privilege to just trust the Lord and to learn to pray and to expect God to answer your prayer. You have not because you have not. There's a verse I meant to give you, but I just didn't have time to get it in there. You have not because you ask not. And most Christians miss out on a lot of the choice blessings in the Christian life because they are not ready to believe that our God is the God of the impossible. Shall we pray? Our Father in our God, we pray, you'd forgive us for going over time tonight. But we pray that you'd implant within our minds and hearts the wonderful, wonderful privilege of just acting just like we're little children. and we're coming to our heavenly Father or Mother to ask them for something that we know they know we need. Forgive us for all the times that we prayed when we didn't really expect you to answer. And forgive us for not expecting great things from you because you're a great God. We pray that you would so teach us to pray and faith believing that others might be encouraged. because we believe you to do the impossible. We thank you that you are a God of the impossible, and that you can do what no other power can do. In Jesus' name, amen.