The story is told of a couple that had been married for forty years. While celebrating their anniversary a magic genie appeared and said because of their long devotion to each other he would grant each of them a wish. The wife thought a moment and said, "I want a trip around the world." "Good choice," replied the genie, and, poof, instantaneously there appeared in her hands two first-class, prepaid tickets for a round the world trip. The husband's turn had come. He thought for a couple of minutes and then told the genie, "I would like to have a wife who is thirty years younger than I am." Poof. He was suddenly ninety years old.

Do genie's have a sense of humor, or did this guy get what he deserved? Either way, he should have been more careful about what he asked for. And so should we. Just remember, if you ask God for patience, don't be upset if He allows trying times to come into your life so you can learn it. The apostle Paul prayed that God would provide a way for him to get to Rome - (Rom. 15:32). Little did he know, or even suppose, that God would answer that prayer by getting him there at government expense as a prisoner of Rome. He did acknowledge later, however, that this had worked out to the benefit of the gospel - (Phil. 1:12).

Though God is certainly not a genie who passes out requests at random, He is nonetheless a prayer-answering God who wants to bless us by giving us the things we request of Him. He may say yes or no, or He may even modify the answer as He did in Paul's case. But regardless of that, we need to keep on praying knowing that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." - (Jas. 5:16). We should also keep in mind that our God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" - (Eph. 3:20). What an awesome God! Think about it - He can do more than everything we can ask or think! That calls for only one response - KEEP ON PRAYING!

Lonnie Ritchie

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