Do you have faith that your car will start tomorrow morning? If you own a car that is in fairly
good running condition, you expect that car to start each and every time the key is put into the
ignition. There isn't usually any thought process of, "I wonder if this car will start today." Or, "I
haven't been a good enough person for my car to run today." And usually we don't think, "I'm not
even going to try and start this car, because it won't start anyway." We just automatically have
faith that when we put that key into the car, it will go. My son, Sam, brought this to my attention
just recently. Sometimes I think I have more faith in my car starting than I do in asking the Lord
to hear my prayers. It challenged me to take a look at my thought process regarding
my prayer
life.
Now Sam by no means is a quiet little boy, hence the nickname, "Ham." He's outgoing and has
made friends at his pre-school. Each time he is dismissed from class, he always asks to go over
to some playmate's house to play. He must really like to have friends or he just doesn't like the
food at home anymore. So which food group are pop-tarts anyway?
Recently it was Sam's turn to reciprocate and he had a nice little boy over that comes from a
Christian family. The two kids were in our basement - which is furnished. I didn't want anybody
thinking I had commended them to the spiders. Actually, this is Sam's lair of toy insanity. Every
toy he owns is on the floor while the toy box stands empty. In actuality if there were spiders,
they'd live in the toy box.
The two were quietly, let me repeat, quietly, enjoying a tape in the VCR while I was upstairs
working on some cross-stitch. The next thing I heard was total silence. The refrigerator stopped
humming, the fish tank quit purring, the dishwasher stopped sloshing and the flashing light on the
VCR stopped blinking. My first thought sided with terror. The two boys were in the basement
and I just knew the visiting child, the one I was responsible for right now that was not my own,
had touched two wires together. Standing barefooted in a puddle of water, he shorted everything
out and was lying dead on the floor from severe electrical shock. Well, if you're gonna panic,
panic big. So I jumped up and ran to the stairs and yelled for the two boys to answer me.
Silence. My nightmare had come true! So I made it halfway down the stairs and asked for an
answer again. This time I stood in total darkness and finally had a response from the visiting
child. The two boys were totally stunned because of the complete darkness and had received
momentary paralysis of the tongue. Unfortunately, it wore off in seconds.
Now I was stuck with two five year old boys in the middle of the afternoon that just didn't
understand we need energy to run the VCR, the TV, the computer and anything else that seems to
be the standard mode of entertainment these days. Five minutes turned to ten, ten to fifteen. I
was dealing with little boys screaming, jumping, running and asking, "Can we watch TV?" for the
hundred millionth time, and my answering with a "Duh, no power!" Are we having fun yet? 
It had been a half hour and Sam was going to take matters into his own hands. "Mom, should we
ask daddy to come home and fix the power?" "No, Sam. Daddy can't fix this power. The
electric company has to fix it." Then Sam says, "I know, let's ask God to fix it. He can do
anything." And before the playmate or I could say another word, Sam had folded his hands in
prayer, closed his eyes and started walking around and praying like an old time evangelist. He
was totally serious, "Dear Lord, weeeeee have a very daaaaaangerous situation, and yoooooou
are the only one that can fix it!! We've got to have lights!! Could you pleeeeease fix the power?"
Before Sam could even say "Aaaaaamen!", the refrigerator hummed, the fish tank purred, the
dishwasher started sloshing and the VCR light started blinking. We all jumped at the sound of
re-started energy. Sam, who had jumped the highest, looked at us and with a face beaming said,
"Mommy! God answered my prayer! He did! He did!" I could see in Sam's eyes the excitement
of God answering his prayer and the faith that had entered his little heart.
Now I considered Sam for a few moments. He knew where to go to get help, but from the look
on his face when the power came back on, I truly don't think he really expected what actually
happened. Could I assimilate myself to this same type of attitude when approaching the Lord in
prayer. I guess I would have to say unfortunately, sometimes I do.
I pondered this some more. I read two verses in I John. (14) And this is the confidence that
we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: (15) And if we
know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of him. I guess it can be as easy as the faith I have in my car to start when I insert that
key. If we approach His throne of grace, ask according to His will, believing, thanking Him and
ask in Jesus precious name, then we know He hears us. Turning that key of prayer in belief with
the fuel of His will starts the spiritual combustion. No matter what the outcome or the time it
takes, the "engine" is working. God heard it. And you know what? God is even MORE
dependable than my car which I so non chalantly trust to start. If you have the same problem as I
do in prayer sometimes, consider how easy it is to have "my car will start faith." Then use the
excelerator verses of I John 14 and 15 to speed you on to a more confident prayer life. Happy
motoring!
