God-Focused Prayer Saves A Home

One Wednesday night after a class on the spiritual approach to
prosperity, a twenty-something young woman pulled me to the side and
with tear-filled eyes said, "Rev. White I'm about to lose my home. My
husband and I have not been able to make the mortgage payments and if
we don't come up with the money next week we will lose our home." Then
she asked the pivotal question, "Do you have any affirmations for me
that might help?" I looked at her and said, " I am not a spiritual
pharmacist. I don't dispense affirmations, but if you hang around for
a few minutes I do have a suggestion that I know will help."This once
tearful young woman sat in my office with hope in her eyes and an
eager smile on her face. I said to her, "What I am suggesting to you
will seem totally unrelated to your problem. It will seem impractical,
but it works if you work it."She took a deep breath and waited for me
to finish. "Every day I want you to pray, but not to save your home
and not to get some money. I want you to pray for a real and
discernible experience of God's presence. I would like to you to pray
for a deeper understanding of God."She said, "But how?" I told her to
start her every prayer with words similar to this: "God, I think that
I want to save my home, but what I really want is to experience your
presence." Then sit still in silence expecting to experience God's
presence-expecting to learn something of God.I assured her that her
mind will scurry all over the place, but simply remind herself of her
purpose. I explained to her that at first a little voice will say,
"You're not telling the truth, you really want to save your home."
Then I urged her to keep praying this prayer until she really meant
it- until she really felt like God was all that she wanted (at least
for the moment).Next week the woman strode into church with a smile on
her face, her blonde ponytail swinging behind her. After the class she
told her story. "Rev. White I did exactly what you said. It wasn't
easy at first, but I kept on. We didn't tell anyone what was going on.
We were too embarrassed. No one knew. Two days later a relative
visited us who was not able to make it to the wedding. He had an
envelope in his hand. The check was just enough to pay what we owed.
Rev. White, you don't understand. He didn't know that we needed the
money."God-focused prayer is powerful prayer. God-focused prayer takes
your attention off of the unwanted and focuses it on the only presence
and the only power-God. This is the secret of its effectiveness.
Reader, no matter what seems to be the issue at hand, know that what
you really want is an experience of God's presence. In that presence
problems do not exist.