How I Know G.o.d Answers Prayer.
by Rosalind Goforth.
FOREWORD
IT seems fitting that this little book of personal testimonies to answered prayer should have a brief introductory word as to how they came to be written. The question has been asked by some who read many of these testimonies as they appeared in the pages of The Sunday School Times: "How could you write such personal and sacred incidents in your life?" I could not have written them but for a very clear, G.o.d-given leading.
The story is as follows: When in Canada on our first furloughs I was frequently amazed at the incredulity expressed when definite testimony was given to an answer to prayer. Sometimes this was shown by an expressive shrug of the shoulders, sometimes by a sudden silence or turning of the topic of conversation, and sometimes more openly by the query: "How do you know that it might not have happened so, anyway?"
Gradually the impression deepened: "If they will not believe one, two, or a dozen testimonies, will they believe the combined testimonies of one whole life?"
The more I thought of what it would mean to record the sacred incidents connected with answers to prayer the more I shrank from the publicity, and from undertaking the task. There were dozens of answers far too sacred for the public eye, which were known only to a few, others known only to G.o.d. But if the record were to carry weight with those who did not believe in the supernatural element in prayer, many personal and scarcely less sacred incidents must of necessity be made public.
Again and again I laid the matter aside as impossible. But I know now that the thing was of G.o.d. As months, even years, pa.s.sed, the impelling sense that the record of answers to prayer _must_ be written gave me no rest.
It was at the close of the 1908-10 furlough--during which, as a family, we had been blessed with many and, to our weak faith, wonderful answers to prayer--that my oldest son urged me to put down in some definite form the answers to prayer of my life, and extracted from me a solemn promise that I would do so.
But months pa.s.sed after returning to China, and the record had not been touched. Then came a sudden and serious illness which threatened my life, when the doctor told me I must not delay in getting my affairs in order.
It was then that an overwhelming sense of regret took possession of me that I had not set down the prayer testimonies, and solemnly I covenanted with the Lord that if he would raise me up they should be written.
There was no more question of what others might think; the one thought was to obey. The Lord raised me up; and although he had to deal with me very sternly once more before I really set myself to the task, the testimonies that are given here were written at last--most of them in odd moments of time during strenuous missionary journeys among the heathen.
Thus it will be seen that these incidents of answered prayer are not given as being more wonderful, or more worthy of record, than mult.i.tudes the world over could testify to; but they are written and sent out simply and only because _I had to write them or disobey G.o.d_.
ROSALIND GOFORTH.
I
"GETTING THINGS FROM G.o.d"
"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before G.o.d? . . . Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."--_The Lord Jesus Christ._
THE pages of this little book deal almost wholly with just one phase of prayer--pet.i.tion. The record is almost entirely a personal testimony of what pet.i.tion to my Heavenly Father has meant in meeting the everyday crises of my life.
A prominent Christian worker, who read some of these testimonies in The Sunday School Times, said to the writer: "To emphasize getting things from G.o.d, as you do, is to make prayer too material."
To me this seems far from true. G.o.d is my Father, I am his child. As truly as I delight to be sought for by my child when he is cold or hungry, ill, or in need of protection, so is it with my Heavenly Father.
Prayer has been hedged about with too many man-made rules. I am convinced that G.o.d has intended prayer to be as simple and natural, and as constant a part of our spiritual life, as the intercourse between a child and his parent in the home. And as a large part of that intercourse between child and parent is simply asking and receiving, just so is it with us and our Heavenly Parent.
Perhaps, however, the most blessed element in this asking and getting from G.o.d lies in the strengthening of faith which comes when a definite request has been granted. What more helpful and inspiring than a ringing testimony of _what G.o.d has done_?
As I have recalled the past in writing these incidents, one of the most precious memories is that of an evening when a number of friends had gathered in our home. The conversation turned on answered prayer. For more than two hours we vied with one another in recounting personal incidents of G.o.d"s wonderful work; and the inspiration of that evening still abides.
A Christian minister once said to me: "Is it possible that the great G.o.d of the universe, the Maker and Ruler of mankind, could or would, as you would make out, take interest in such a trifle as the tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of a hat!
To me it is preposterous!"
Yet did not our Lord Jesus Christ say: "The very hairs of your head are all numbered"; and "not one sparrow is forgotten before G.o.d"; and again, "Your heavenly Father knoweth what ye have need of _before_ ye ask him"?
It is true that "There is nothing too great for G.o.d"s power"; and it is just as true that "There is nothing too small for his love!"
If we believe G.o.d"s Word we must believe, as Dan Crawford has tersely and beautifully expressed it, that "The G.o.d of the infinite is the G.o.d of the infinitesimal." Yes, he
"Who clears the grounding berg And guides the grinding floe, He hears the cry of the little kit fox And the lemming of the snow!"
No more wonderful testimony, perhaps, has ever been given of G.o.d"s willingness to help in every emergency of life, than that which Mary Slessor gave, when asked to tell what prayer had meant to her. "My life," she wrote, "is one long daily, hourly record of answered prayer.
For physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given marvelously, for errors and dangers everted, for enmity to the Gospel subdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that goes to make up life and my poor service. I can testify, with a full and often wonder-stricken awe, that I believe G.o.d answers prayer. _I know G.o.d answers prayer!_"
I have been asked the question: "Has G.o.d _always_ given you just what you have asked for?"
Oh, no! For him to have done so would have been great unkindness. For instance: when I was a young woman I prayed for three years that G.o.d would grant me a certain pet.i.tion. Sometimes I pleaded for this as for life itself, so intensely did I want it. Then G.o.d showed me very clearly that I was praying against his will. I resigned my will to his in the matter, and a few months later G.o.d gave what was infinitely better. I have often praised him for denying my prayer; for had he granted it I could never have come to China.
Then, too, we must remember that many of our prayers, though always heard, are not granted because of some sin harbored in the life, or because of unbelief, or of failure to meet some other Bible-recorded condition governing prevailing prayer. (See Bible Study on pages 129, 130.)
The following incidents of answered prayer are by no means a complete record. How could they be, when no record of prayer has been kept all these fifty years? Had there been, I doubt not that volumes could have been written to the glory of G.o.d"s grace and power in answering prayer.
But even from what is recorded here I, too, can say from a full heart, _I know G.o.d answers prayer_.
"He answered prayer: so sweetly that I stand Amid the blessing of his wondrous hand And marvel at the miracle I see, The favours that his love hath wrought for me.
Pray on for the impossible, and dare Upon thy banner this brave motto bear, "My Father answers prayer.""
II
EARLY LESSONS IN THE LIFE OF FAITH
"I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications."--_Psalm 116:1._
WHEN a very little child, so young I can remember nothing earlier, a severe thunderstorm pa.s.sed over our home. Terrified, I ran to my mother, who placed my hands together, and pointing upward repeated over and over again the one word "Jesus."
More than fifty years have pa.s.sed since that day, but the impression left upon my child-mind, of a Being invisible but able to hear and help, has never been effaced.
The most precious recollections of early childhood are a.s.sociated with stories told us by our mother, many of which ill.u.s.trated the power of prayer.
One that made a specially deep impression upon me was about our grandfather, who as a little boy went to visit cousins in the south of England, their home being situated close to a dense forest. One day the children, lured by the beautiful wild flowers, became hopelessly lost in the woods. After trying in vain to find a way out, the eldest, a young girl, called the frightened, crying little ones around her and said: "When mother died she told us to always tell Jesus if we were in any trouble. Let us kneel down, and ask him to take us home."
They knelt, and as she prayed one of the little ones opened his eyes, to find a bird so close to his hand that he reached out for it. The bird hopped away, but kept so close to the child as to lead him on. Soon all were joining in the chase after the bird, which flew or hopped in front or just above, and sometimes on the ground almost within reach. Then suddenly it flew into the air and away. The children looked up to find themselves on the edge of the woods and in sight of home.