God began directing me to write a newsletter teaching others how to pray. I was submitted to follow his direction, but I was puzzled. I had been praying to receive a wife for several years and the prayer had not produced any results. I had become convinced that God was not withholding from me so the problem with the prayer had to be on my end.
I asked God, “How can I teach others how to pray when I have been unsuccessful in my prayer for a wife?”
“What instruction would you give someone who came to you with that prayer problem?”
One of the things I would do is have the person seek God to find if there was anything in them that was blocking the power of God’s word in them from producing the result. “Is there anything in me that is blocking the prayer?”
“You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts (wrong desires).”
Prior to this I had worked in prayer to submit my sexual desires to him. I thought that they might not be fully submitted. “I thought I had submitted my sexual desires to you. Is this not true?”
“Yes. You have.”
“Then I don’t understand.”
“When you think of a marriage relationship the physical unity of that relationship dominates your thinking. That is wrong. The spiritual, emotional, and intellectual unity of the relationship should dominate your thinking.”
“Was that sin?”
(If something is sin it has to be repented of as sin and we have to be cleansed from that sin. It is critically important that we measure sin according to truth and not our understanding.)
“No.”
I then worked with God to submit my thinking regarding the marriage relationship and put the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual unity first. “Do I have my thinking submitted now?”
“Yes.”
“Is there anything else blocking my prayer?”
“No.”
“Then how do I pray this prayer?”
God directed my thoughts to Genesis where he commanded, “Let there be light.” I never would have recognized that as prayer. He had me look more closely at the word let. We can let something happen through neglect, or we can let something happen because we don’t have the power and authority to stop it. When God commanded, “Let there be light,” he commanded Satan to let there be light because Satan didn’t have the power and authority to stop it.
“Command Satan to let your wife come to you. He doesn’t have the power and authority to stop it.”
“Satan, in the name of Jesus I command you to let my wife come to me. You cannot withhold from me.”
“Father, is there anything else I need to do?”
“No.”
I had a thought about a woman at work who worked with the wife of one of my co-workers - Frank. A few months before one of our secretaries had mentioned that Frank’s wife had been trying to match the two of us together.
“God, I don’t know anything about her. I don’t know what she believes. I don’t know if we can walk in agreement. I don’t want to hurt her by starting a relationship that will end badly. I’m stuck. If you intend for her to be my wife she will have to come to me.”
Then Satan challenged with a thought saying, “You’ve gone too far. You will never find someone who believes what you believe.”
The too far comment referred to my having decided to leave the church I was attending because of unbelief coming from the pulpit. I had sought God and felt that I could not grow in faith there. I needed to go deeper in God than I could go there. Thanks to God I recognized the source of the thought and understood it was a lie.
“Thank you. Your attack tells me two things. That is a lie - that means that there is someone who believes what I believe. You would not attack me like this if I wasn’t getting close to something. I’m going to keep going. Even if what you said is true and I never find someone who believes what I believe, I’m going deeper in God.”
The next day I came back to my desk at work and there was a young lady asking about Bible teaching tapes. “I work with Frank’s wife.” I was amazed at her being there and amazed at the word of God in her speech. I found that she believes what I believe and we are joyfully married.