Prayer is connecting to God directly. However, God does not hear and answer everyone who prays to Him. Prayers are only for born-again believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will pray not for their own wills, but God’s will to be done.

In Genesis 24:1-9, we see the impact of Abraham’s faith and obedience to God. Abraham was about 140 years old at that time. He walked in faith and the Lord blessed him in all things (Gen 24:1). Abraham knew that Isaac must marry a godly wife but he was too old to help Isaac look for a wife. Hence, he entrusted his servant with this responsibility and made him swear not to get a Canaanite woman to be Isaac’s wife (Gen 24:2-3). Instead he was to go to Mesopotamia to find Isaac a godly wife among amongst Abraham’s kindred (Gen 24:4). Abraham’s servant was afraid that no woman would want to follow him back to Canaan and suggested to Abraham if he could bring Isaac along with him on this journey (Gen 24:5). Abraham rejected this because he was afraid that Isaac may be influenced not to return to Canaan (Gen 24:6). Abraham explained to his servant that it is God’s will for Isaac to get a godly wife and he has faith in God that He would keep His promise and provide a wife for Isaac (Gen 24:7). Thus the servant was encouraged to trust God for He is in control, and the woman who would not come to Canaan would not be of God (Gen 24:8). Hence, the oath was made and the servant understood what his master wanted and went ahead to perform the task (Gen 24:9).

In Genesis 24:10-14, Abraham’s servant prayed on Abraham’s behalf. He pleaded unto God for His help to show kindness unto his master (Gen 24:12). His faith in God made him pray specifically so that he would be able to identify the woman whom God had chosen for Isaac (Gen 24:13-14). This shows his total dependency on God to complete his task that his master had entrusted him to do.

Like Abraham’s servant, a believer’s prayer must be specific and according to God’s will. Our prayer must draw us closer to Him, so that we will be able to glorify God and be a blessing to the people around us. May God help us.