Lord, Send the Angels

All I can do is pray. Ever feel like that? I do, often. That’s the way I felt the day of the big crash on the curve near my home. Car wrecks there had become common. I’d prayed for crying passengers and tended cuts, bruises and called police before. “Drivers aren’t sufficiently warned of this curve,” I complained.
This time the sound shook the kitchen, and I went running. A car load of high school students on their way home—the long way. A young driver, trying out his mom’s new car failed to negotiate the curve. He over-corrected himself on the wet pavement and slammed into a tree.

The young driver wandered around the road, dazed. Five girls screamed in pain, jammed into the car. Back to the phone I ran, called 911, called the church prayer chain, put hot tea in a thermos and hurried back.

“Lord, send the angels,” I cried as I ran. “Lord, send the angels.”
Cars had stopped. Someone helped one of the girls out of the vehicle. A lady comforted the crying girls. Another prayed for the one behind the driver who seemed hurt worst. Moments seemed like hours as we awaited the ambulances. Since others were around the car, I stood back and prayed. I prayed for their lives and for their salvation. And I kept praying, “Lord, send the angels.”

Guests from a nearby home brought blankets for those chilling in the Oregon rain. And finally, the ambulance and fire trucks arrived. The one girl was taken by life-flight to the university hospital. Others went to the local hospital.

Days passed before I realized the Lord had answered my cry. Angels had come in the form of people—those who prayed with and comforted the girls, those who brought blankets, and eventually the emergency medical people. Not enough could be done, though, and one girl died, a Christian girl, and the only one using a seat belt.
Shaken by the tragedy, I took around a petition for neighbors to sign asking the roads department to lower the speed limit, put in a speed bump, give better warning. I asked the high school to limit students driving to school to those who needed to drive themselves, and ban passengers in student-driven vehicles. Not much happened, though the roads department did put up an arrow, indicating the curve in the road. I’d done everything I could. Disappointment set in. What else could I do?

A girl lost her life. A family mourned. I didn’t want it ever to happen again. So this time I prayed, “Lord, send an angel. Station him on that curve. Prevent further accidents there.”

And, you know, that was many years ago, and there hasn’t been a serious accident there since, to my knowledge. Praying brings the best results of anything I can do.

Getting God To Listen

The Psalmist said, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Psalm 66:18

Sometimes it’s just plain hard to pray with a clean heart—like the times my husband and I come to our evening prayer time after we have had a dispute. We have very big needs in our family. There are misunderstandings, financial crises, health emergencies, moral issues to be dealt with and decisions that have to be made. They are the kind of issues that need resolution desperately, if we’re to be effective in God’s kingdom. But we know we can’t pray effectively about them, if we aren’t right with each other. So we try to live in harmony, but it isn’t easy.

Pete and I have a special place on the sofa where we sit at night when we pray. Sometimes we sit farther apart than at others. One night recently we were farther apart. We had argued about something. I honestly can’t remember what.

I sighed. I knew we needed to get things right between us, or God would not release His power for the answers we sought. But . . . what to do. It really wasn’t my fault, or so I thought. It seemed to me Pete ought to be the one to apologize. I waited. He didn’t say anything. So I reluctantly started praying, a sincere prayer to be sure, but powerless. Something wasn’t right, and I knew what it was. No use to pray, if God wasn’t listening. I stopped.

“I’m sorry for coming across so strongly about ____________________. Will you forgive me?” I asked.

He agreed. We talked a little more, clarifying the issue. The wall between us disappeared. The cloud cover shutting out God’s presence evaporated into sunshine. We each prayed with confidence, knowing God heard our prayers.

Lord, help me clean my spiritual house often so the filth doesn’t block our relationship.

God's Conditions for Prayer

Answers to prayer are not automatic. There are a few rules to follow. Here are some of the conditions I've found in the Bible.

1. Have a clean heart. The Psalmist said, "If I had cherished sin in my heart the Lord would not have listened. Psalm 66:18 So, I ask God to forgive me for any known sin at the beginning of a prayer. I ask Him to "Create in me a clean heart...and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

2. Believe. Praying is not just offering a wish list to God. It is asking and believing God will answer. Like the man with the epileptic son, I ask God to help my unbelief. Mark 9:23.

3. Pray in Jesus' name. Jesus made His disciples a promise. "You may ask me anything in My name, and I will do it." John 14:14.

4. Ask according to God's will. This rule is linked to the previous one. "This is the assurance we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of Him. I John 5:14, 15.

5. We must remain, or abide in Christ. John 15: 7 says, "If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

These are the basic rules. In coming blogs I will give you stories of my own and other people's answers when we have applied them. See you next time.