Prayers God answers.

• Author: Frenn, Jason
• Position: Religion - Essay

YOU MIGHT BE surprised to discover that there are prayers that God always answers. Regardless of faith or background, God's answers can come to anyone, everywhere, every time. His choice to answer is not determined by your spiritual depth, church affiliation, or degree of perfection. Instead, His standards are different than what you might think. He gladly lets us know which things He always will say yes to.

Direction is a perfect example of something people ask God for every day. The Apostle James states it well, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

Recently, I discovered this truth when a young man named Kevin walked up to me at the end of an open-air meeting in which I was speaking in my hometown. "Jason, you don't know me," he said, "but I have a remarkable story to tell you. A few years ago, I saw a close family member gunned down in a drive-by shooting right before my eyes. During the months that followed, I thought my life was going to end."

He went on to explain how he fell into a deep depression and turned to drugs and alcohol. By the end of a 12-month downward spiral, he wound up in jail, leaving his wife and two small children to fend for themselves. "Why am I here?" he thought. "How could I have messed up my life this bad?"

Nearing the point of suicide, he muttered a simple prayer: "God, if you exist, please help me put my life back together." Two days later, he saw a Bible lying on one of the tables where the prisoners were allowed to read. He picked it up and asked one of the guards if he could keep it. "Be my guest," the guard replied.

For hours each day, he read and prayed. After a week, he began to feel that there was hope. After a month, he began to sense direction and purpose. Three months later, he was released with a new lease on life. He and his wife moved to the mountain community with a fresh start.

Two years later, he was standing before me with his wife and two children. He was drug free and actively involved in his church. Was he living a perfect life? Absolutely not. Still, he had his family, a job, and a God-given purpose. God proved that life was worth living and did so by answering his prayer.

At the core of the Christian belief is the notion that faith is an essential component if we expect God to answer our prayers. Although it is true that "without faith it is impossible to please God," our faith in and of itself is...