Some of my experiences where God manifested His care, love and power by answering prayers. Adapted from Understanding Prayer , Faith and God's Will
"Like all Christians, not all my prayer requests are granted. However, I have seen His answers, grace and deliverance on many occasions. One of my earliest answered prayers happened when I was a young convert and still in high school. During the midterm examinations, I received a poor grade in economics, which affected my overall average score. I prayed that God would move the teacher to modify the grade for this subject. A day later, she came to class and announced her decision to raise the borderline passes by one grade, with the intent of motivating us to study hard. And she added that she had never done that before in her twelve-year teaching career; she was the most strict and demanding teacher that our class had ever known, by the way. If she had habitually modified grades to encourage students, I might think that it would have happened anyway without prayer. In this exceptional case, however, it left me with no doubts that God was at work. It was real and encouraging to me at that time. Later, I would see that examinations were the easier tests when compared with other tough crisis along life journey....
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In 1996, my mum had a slight inflammation on the neck area. To determine whether it was malignant, she had to go for a series of medical tests. Not one to fret before bad news arrived, I was not worried initially. But two weeks later, when I brought her to hospital, my optimism evaporated; if the result was not good, I knew that there would be a very difficult time ahead for her. I started to feel troubled that it might not turn out well.
Occupied by work, I did not pray (which sounds familiar, I believe), and only found time a day later. It was about 10:45 in the morning, at a fast-food restaurant, which was very quiet at that hour. I started to pray, and soon, a soft but sufficiently distinct “voice” said to me, “She will be all right.” I said “voice” because I didn’t hear it, but I felt it instead. And at the very moment, I received an inner peace – calm and still – like being in the eye of a hurricane. Amazed, I wondered if God had spoken to me. While I could not be sure, however, I knew for certain that it was not me trying to be positive. The next day, I prayed again, and felt the same peaceful assurance, “She will be all right”; I distinctly sensed that the Spirit was telling me this. I was between awe and doubt. Was it really God, I wondered? When I prayed a day later, however, I did not hear from Him again. I supposed that even repeated occurrences would not have assured me fully, and I could only wait for the test results. A month later, the final diagnosis showed that the inflammation was harmless, as what the Lord had revealed earlier. That was a revelation that I would remember – to hear from God was not something that one could forget easily. At that time, it was not my first encounter as such, and neither was it the last. In time to come, He would continue to answer prayers convincingly. Some of them became milestones in my faith, which will be narrated in the chapter, “Does Prayer make a difference?”
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"Like all Christians, not all my prayer requests are granted. However, I have seen His answers, grace and deliverance on many occasions. One of my earliest answered prayers happened when I was a young convert and still in high school. During the midterm examinations, I received a poor grade in economics, which affected my overall average score. I prayed that God would move the teacher to modify the grade for this subject. A day later, she came to class and announced her decision to raise the borderline passes by one grade, with the intent of motivating us to study hard. And she added that she had never done that before in her twelve-year teaching career; she was the most strict and demanding teacher that our class had ever known, by the way. If she had habitually modified grades to encourage students, I might think that it would have happened anyway without prayer. In this exceptional case, however, it left me with no doubts that God was at work. It was real and encouraging to me at that time. Later, I would see that examinations were the easier tests when compared with other tough crisis along life journey....
....
In 1996, my mum had a slight inflammation on the neck area. To determine whether it was malignant, she had to go for a series of medical tests. Not one to fret before bad news arrived, I was not worried initially. But two weeks later, when I brought her to hospital, my optimism evaporated; if the result was not good, I knew that there would be a very difficult time ahead for her. I started to feel troubled that it might not turn out well.
Occupied by work, I did not pray (which sounds familiar, I believe), and only found time a day later. It was about 10:45 in the morning, at a fast-food restaurant, which was very quiet at that hour. I started to pray, and soon, a soft but sufficiently distinct “voice” said to me, “She will be all right.” I said “voice” because I didn’t hear it, but I felt it instead. And at the very moment, I received an inner peace – calm and still – like being in the eye of a hurricane. Amazed, I wondered if God had spoken to me. While I could not be sure, however, I knew for certain that it was not me trying to be positive. The next day, I prayed again, and felt the same peaceful assurance, “She will be all right”; I distinctly sensed that the Spirit was telling me this. I was between awe and doubt. Was it really God, I wondered? When I prayed a day later, however, I did not hear from Him again. I supposed that even repeated occurrences would not have assured me fully, and I could only wait for the test results. A month later, the final diagnosis showed that the inflammation was harmless, as what the Lord had revealed earlier. That was a revelation that I would remember – to hear from God was not something that one could forget easily. At that time, it was not my first encounter as such, and neither was it the last. In time to come, He would continue to answer prayers convincingly. Some of them became milestones in my faith, which will be narrated in the chapter, “Does Prayer make a difference?”
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