Praying for Success
"Then he prayed, 'O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today,
and show kindness to my master Abraham.'" - Genesis 24:12
In 1956, Ken Taylor, a graduate of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, was
the director of Moody Press. During this time, his children were having a
difficult time in reading their King James Bible. Starting with the book of
Romans, Taylor began paraphrasing the New Testament Epistles on the train
while commuting to work. The project took seven years to complete. Unable to
interest publishers in his Living Letters, Ken took out a loan for $2,000 and
had his paraphrase printed by his own private company in 1963. His family
began to pray constantly that the Lord would cause the paraphrase to succeed
and that it would bless many. For the first few years, few copies were
ordered. But then Billy Graham, while laid up in a hospital read the book.
After his recovery, Dr. Graham began recommending Living Letters from the
pulpit. The small publishing company Ken had founded to print his paraphrase
became Tyndale House Publishers. And the Living Letters Epistles grew into the
popular Living Bible, with over 40 million copies sold and a blessing to
millions of children and new believers.
Are you praying that the Lord would use you in a large way? Today in prayer,
pray that you may be successful in using your talents to bring glory to the
Lord.
"I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything but it came at some
time-no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably the last
I would have devised, it came." -Adoniram Judson.
God's Word: "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless
me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm
so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request." - 1
Chronicles 4:10
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2003, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN GENESIS
pkennedy@devotional.com