Shortly after its opening in 1924, Dallas Theological Seminary almost closed due to bankruptcy. On the day the creditors were to foreclose, Dr. Chafer, the seminary’s president, held a prayer meeting that morning in his office. Harry Ironside was in the prayer group and prayed, “Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money.”

While they were praying, a tall Texan stepped up to the business office and said, “I just sold two carloads of cattle in Ft. Worth. I’ve been trying to make a business deal but it fell through, and I feel compelled to give the money to the seminary. I don’t know if you need it or not, but here’s the check.”

The secretary hurried to President Chafer’s office and interrupted the prayer meeting. She told the group about the tall Texan, the two carloads of cattle, and then handed President Chafer the check. It was the exact amount needed to pay off the creditors. With a broad smile, President Chafer turned to Dr. Ironside and said, “Harry, God sold the cattle!”

This is the way we want answered prayer to work. We pray and God immediately answers. I call them “snapped-finger answers.” We pray for money, and with the snap of our fingers, it appears. We pray for healing, and with the snap of our fingers, we are whole. We pray for wisdom, guidance, and discernment, and with the snap of our fingers, we are second only to Solomon. Basically, we want God’s service faster than McDonald’s, and His response time faster than the latest computer chip. Yet as Simeon will prove, some answered prayers take a while. These are the requirements of answered prayer that are hard to hear.

Answered Prayer Requires Patience

Simeon’s story is preserved in Luke 2:25-32, and his first lesson regarding answered prayer appears in verses 25-26.

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s hrist.

According to Old Testament law, a family conducted three ceremonies after the birth of their firstborn son. The first was circumcision (v. 21). It took place eight days after the boy’s birth. Second was the purification of the mother (v. 22-24). This sacrificial ceremony occurred forty days after her son’s birth. And third was the “redemption of the firstborn.” After God set apart the tribe of Levi to carry out the work of the temple, God allowed each family to redeem their firstborn son from temple duty. Mary and Joseph were conducting this ceremony on the same day of her purification. Therefore, Jesus was forty days old when Simeon saw Him. Simeon was much older and had prayed much longer before God answered his prayer.

The first lesson we learn from Simeon is that some answers to our prayers require patience. Years ago people would whisper the names of diseases for fear that by mentioning one, they might catch it—“They have cancer.” We do the same with patience. We mention it in hushed tones for fear God might hear us and actually ask us to have it. No one wants to be patient, especially with prayer. Therefore, why do some answers to prayer require patience? Why does God’s answer take so long? Here are some possible reasons.

You may be praying with the wrong motives.
James 4:3 states, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” God says you will wait a long time for His answer if your heart is not right when you ask. The primary motive for answered prayer is revealing God’s greatness, not settling our inconvenience.

You may be praying for the wrong answer.
T. W. Hunt’s Doctrine of Prayer is a wonderful work. He believes God reserves His answers to our prayers until we learn to pray for the right answers. After being told “no” repeatedly, we might get the idea that God wants us to ask for something different.

You may be praying for the wrong time.
God may not be ready to answer your prayer at that given time. The Jews had prayed for centuries for the Messiah to come. Yet, Mark 1:15 implies that God did not answer their prayers until the time was right—“fulfilled.” Jesus was born at that given time because of the Pax Romana. Because of the peace of Rome, travel was unrestricted. The story of Jesus could spread. Furthermore, the dominant language was Greek. His story would be recorded in the most descriptive language ever produced. One reason God may not be answering your prayer is that it is not the right time.

You may be praying against someone else.
This is not a competition of prayers. It happens when the answer to your prayer requires another person to be obedient to God. If that person refuses to hear God, or refuses to obey God, it will delay the answer to your prayer. A general example is praying for someone to be saved. The German preacher, George Mueller, would pray over sixty years for the salvation of two friends. The problem was not Mueller’s motives, request or timing. It was that Mueller’s friends were saying “No!” to God.

We need to realize that patient prayer produces unexpected benefits. During patient prayer, God will change your motives to model His, and your requests to match His. Furthermore, patient prayer waits on God’s timing, and trusts God’s relentlessness toward an unresponsive person. In the process of patient prayer your walk with God becomes closer and God’s work becomes stronger.

Answered Prayer Requires Watching

The second lesson Simeon teaches us about answered prayer is that it requires watching. Frank C. Laubach, creator of the “Each One Teach One” reading program, said, “The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says ‘Amen’ and runs away before God has a chance to reply.” Simeon didn’t pray and run away. His prayer was answered because he prayed and watched. Luke 2:27 reads, “Moved by the Holy Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying…” Simeon saw God’s answer because he was watching for the answer.

At a critical time in Jesus’ life, He tried to teach His disciples about watching and prayer. It was the eve of His crucifixion. Jesus was agonizing over His pain and God’s will. He brought only Peter, James and John with Him, and asked them to pray; yet, they kept falling asleep. Finally He woke them and told them in Matthew 26:40b-41, “‘Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’” Jesus combines praying and watching as a requirement for answered prayer.

This word “watching” is used three different ways in the New Testament. One refers to “staying awake” (Matt. 24:43; 26:38, 40, 41). The last implies “vigilance” (Rev. 3:2, 3; 16:15). I personally believe that answered prayer requires spiritual alertness—a spiritual watchfulness.

Nehemiah was a man who prayed and watched. When he heard of the deplorable condition of Jerusalem and his kinsmen, he wept and prayed for three months. Yet, he was watchful. Nehemiah was spiritually alert looking for the answer to his prayer. It came the day he was serving wine to the king of Babylon. The king asked Nehemiah why he was sad, so he told him of Jerusalem and his kinsmen. When the king asked what he could do, Nehemiah saw it as a possible answer to his prayer. He prayed quickly, and then asked the king to be freed to go home and rebuild Jerusalem and even asked to take lumber from the king’s forest to do the job. The king granted every request and God answered his prayer. However, Nehemiah would have missed it if he had not been watching for the answer.

In “Say it with Love,” Howard Hendricks wrote of a Dallas couple who sold their business at a loss and entered full-time Christian work. Finances were tight for the couple and their four boys. The youngest boy, Timmy, asked his dad, “Do you think God would mind if I ask him for a shirt?” “Of course not,” his dad replied, so they wrote it in the family prayer request book. Mother wrote, “Shirt for Timmy.” Then she added, “Size seven.” Timmy prayed for his size seven shirt every day. After several weeks, Timmy’s mother received a call from a Christian businessman who sold clothes in downtown Dallas. He said, “I’ve just finished my July clearance sale, and, realizing you have four boys, . . . Well, I was wondering if you might need any shirts?” Smiling, the mother said, “Yes, we do. What size are they?” “Size seven,” he said. Now curious, she asked, “How many do you have?” He answered, “Twelve.” That night when Timmy said, “Let’s not forget to pray for my shirt,” his mother said, “There’s no need, God has already answered your prayer.” One by one his brothers walked in, laying twelve new shirts before him.

Timmy and his family practiced the two requirements of answered prayer. First, they prayed patiently. It took weeks of daily prayer. Second, they prayed and watched for the answer.

Answered Prayer Requires Trusting God’s Promises

There is one last lesson we can glean from Simeon. It is that answered prayer requires trusting God’s promises. Verses 28-32 record Simeon’s praise to God when he realizes he is holding God’s answer to his prayer.

28 Simeon took him (the Christ child) in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Simeon was thanking God for keeping His promise. This is the third lesson on prayer we learn from Simeon. Answered prayer requires trusting God’s promises. 1 John 5:14-15 guarantees “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” When you combine Simeon’s experience with these words from 1 John you come to the following conclusion. Answered prayer requires praying according to God’s will. Praying according to God’s will requires knowing God’s word. Praying according to God’s word requires trusting His promises.

Often we make the mistake of thinking that prayer is all about talking to God. We think it is a monologue in which we tell God everything we need. Actually, answered prayer is a dialogue in which we understand what God wants in a matter and simply say, “OK.” In my mind, the only way to know what God wants in simple or complex matters is to read His word.

In his book A Passion for Prayer, Tom Eliffe wrote of two early experiences with E. F. “Preacher” Hallock from First Baptist Church, Norman, Oklahoma. Preacher Hallock was known as a learned man of prayer. The first time Eliffe heard him was during a revival. Young Eliffe remembered Preacher Hallock saying, “If I had to choose between reading the Bible and praying, I would choose to read the Bible. It is more important for me to hear what God is saying than for God to hear what I am saying.” The second time Eliffe heard Preacher Hallock was at a youth retreat. Here he said, “Read God’s Word, and ask Him to give you a Bible promise. No matter what the situation, God has a word for you in His Word.” When young Eliffe told his dad these words, his dad gathered the family together and said, “This man is telling the truth. From now on, our family will operate on the principle of Bible promises.”

This was the way Simeon prayed. He prayed believing God’s promise to him. Here is why answered prayer requires praying according to Bible promises.

• First, when you know Scripture, you can know God’s heart. This helps when faced with the dilemmas of the 21st century. You may not find a specific “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not,” but knowing Scripture will give a knowledge of God’s character. Therefore, you can pray confidently because you know God’s heart.
• Second, when you quote scripture in prayer, you are speaking God’s language. Remember, 2 Timothy 3:16 says all scripture is God-breathed. It’s God’s language. When you use scripture when you pray, you are talking with God, on His terms, using His language.
• Third, when you know scripture, you will know what God wants. Prayer becomes powerful through a difficult but simple change in our lives. When we want what God wants as badly as God wants it, and pray, our prayers will become powerful. All of this is proven in an old man who understood that answered prayer requires trusting God’s promises.

Important Enough to Wait

I recently read of a woman who telephoned the manager of a large opera house. She told him she had lost a valuable diamond pin at the previous night’s concert. The man asked her to hold the line. A search was made and the brooch was found. However, when the manager returned to the phone with the good news, the woman had hung up. He waited for her to call again and even placed a notice in the newspaper, but he heard nothing further. We hear this and think the brooch must not have been that important to her. If it had been important, she would have waited on the line, or watched for fliers, or read the paper for a notice.

Yet, could it be that many fail to see answered prayer because we treat our prayers the way this woman treated her brooch. If we pray but don’t wait, pray but don’t watch, or pray but don’t read and trust God’s promises, we will not reclaim the valuable answers to our prayers. Old man Simeon teaches us that answered prayer requires waiting, watching, and trusting God’s promises. Let’s follow his example and see what God might reveal.