Vol. 13, No. 4, November, 2008

From the Editor
Sr. Jan Nattermann, S.N.C.

In the next five issues of MY WITNESSES, I want to talk about five keys to answered prayer . How many of your prayers get answered? Most of the time, when we talk about answers to prayer, we mean YES answers. Jesus encouraged His disciples to pray with persistence, meaning to pray for a YES answer. This is what we usually mean when we say "God answered my prayer." But how many times can we say that? Not enough!

Consider these five keys to answered prayer. The first is: THINK GOD'S THOUGHTS. Often times we get off on the wrong foot, because we begin with our thoughts, not His.

When Jesus told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer and die, Peter said, "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you" (Matthew 16:23). But Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." One lesson here is that we need to think about things the way God thinks about them.

God's thoughts went beyond human reason; they went to the end result, to the Resurrection, the Ascension, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and His reign upon the earth.

In order to think God's thoughts, we have to go beyond the limits of our own human thinking, submitting our thinking to a higher wisdom. Even when it seems unreasonable, even when it seems impossible -- because nothing is impossible with the Lord, as Sister Brigid shares in her article, "God Will Provide." We do not usually see His overall plan but we have one thought that leads us along in a particular direction. As we do this, one step/thought at a time, God will reveal more of His thoughts. How?

When God's thoughts first come to us, they often seem impossible or unreasonable; like Peter we want to avoid them. But if we are alert, God will confirm His thought to us by bringing the same thought to another person.

So, the first step toward answered prayer is: THINK GOD'S THOUGHTS.