by David Scott Robertson
"… but I said to the king, 'May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, 'If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it'" (Nehemiah 2:3-5).
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It's Monday morning. Early. It's barely light outside. As is my custom, I'm heating a cup of water to make some hot tea and getting ready to settle into a time of prayer and Bible study.
I program the microwave to heat for two minutes. The timer starts the countdown and as I watch the digital readout of descending numbers, it hits me. In the time it takes for me to heat a cup of water, God can do a miracle in my life.
I find myself saying out loud "Lord, before the water heats up you could heal my eye disease." You could inspire an idea that will save millions of dollars or thousands of lives. You could translate me to the third heaven and show me things unlawful to share. You could let the revelation of the gospel bring a lost soul I've been praying for to a knowledge of the truth and he could get saved before the microwave announces it's finished. Two minutes is plenty of time for the Creator of heaven and earth to do just about anything He wants to do in my life, or anybody else's life for that matter.
It's also a great opportunity to invest two minutes in worship, in praise, in intercession, in praying in the Spirit, in holy silence listening. Really, two minutes is far more time than God needs to implement miracles in response to the prayer of faith.
The Bible tells the story of Nehemiah, the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes, who prayed for less than ten seconds one time and God answered that short (most likely silent) prayer by granting unusual favor with the king (Nehemiah 2:1-9). God's response to Nehemiah's short prayer is one of the most astonishing encouragements to pray about anything, anytime, anywhere that I have found in the entire Word of God.
The Lord heard His servant's extremely brief and simple prayer, and God caused the king to grant Nehemiah a leave of absence from work, letters to regional governors guaranteeing his safe passage, the king's generous permission to requisition all the free materials Nehemiah needed to rebuild the fallen walls and decimated gates of Jerusalem, PLUS the added bonus of all construction materials necessary to build Nehemiah a house to live in while on his assignment!
If you ask me, that's a whopping return for a ten-second-or-less investment in prayer! If God can (and did) respond to one man's prayer that took a few seconds (see Nehemiah 2:4), can you imagine what God can do if a full two minutes worth of faith-inspired prayer is offered up to Him? If that were the case, just imagine what God can do in your life in the time it takes to actually drink a cup of hot tea!
DSR
7/11/04