George Müller, Amy DeBurgh, and Me

Guess what I just found out?  The word "amen" is another word that doesn't mean what I thought I meant.  I thought it meant something like, "May it be;" as if to end my prayers with one more "please answer this."  My definition was close, but not quite right.

Here is what DeYoung (can you tell I'm reading his book?) says about the word:
"Amen" is not short for "prayer over" but means "Truly!" "Verily!" or "This is sure to be!"

And "amen" is not just a nice sentiment--it's Biblical.  When we are praying within God's will (a.k.a. according to the Lord's prayer), a statement of confidence like "amen" is a totally appropriate ending.

I remember about a year ago, my mom started to pray for a whole hour every morning.  Within a week or two, she was telling me amazing examples of God answering her prayers.

And then about a summer ago, I read the biography of a man named George Müller.  Basically it was a whole book of instances where this man needed something, prayed, and got it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've always believed that God hears and answers our prayers.  It's just that I thought it happened to other people, not to me. 

What made Mom and George's experiences so different from mine? 

It wasn't that God cared about their prayers and didn't care about mine.  It was that they believed in God's ability to answer.  They believed enough in His willingness to answer that they continued to confidently ask even if He didn't answer right away. I had been making an incredibly stupid mistake.  I was expecting God to answer prayers I wasn't praying!

Praying for someone on the same night they give you a request is better than not praying at all, but not as good as bringing their needs before your Father day by day.  Firing off a 5-second request for help right when you need it is good, but it's not the same as diligently pleading for victory over a certain sin for days, weeks, or months.  I've come to realize that truth ever since I started writing in this:

This little purple journal is, I suppose, a prayer journal.  The front side of each page that I've gotten to is filled with prayer requests about people I love.  Some of the requests were given to me by these people.  Some are things I only wish the people I love would ask me to pray for.  

Just about every night, I go through as many of the pages as I can and lift up the requests to my Father.  I don't always remember to say amen; sometimes I drift off to sleep before I get to that part.  But let me tell you--I believe "amen!"  I believe that, when I pray, "it will be"--because I have seen it happen time and time again.  On the back of almost every page is written one or two or ten or twenty ways that God has answered that prayer.

"Amen" doesn't mean what I thought it meant.  But now that I know what it means, I'm not surprised.  It just makes sense.