Thankfully, God doesn't always give us what we ask for!  Hopefully, that will not change any time soon.
          One day, probably because I had been pondering the effectiveness of prayers, I began to wonder why God doesn't answer all our prayers and what would happen if He did!  My fertile, hopelessly overactive, creative writer's mind took off at lightning speed, and this is the scenario that quickly painted its way across the blank page of my mind.
          Let's say that on any given day, many people are praying faithfully for the same person.  What if God answered each prayer just as it was prayed?  What if none of those people were asking God for the same thing??? Even worse, what if none of them was asking for God's will in the matter?
          This could be a recipe for disaster!
Cast of characters:
The needy one:
Annie
Has had major financial disasters for months and now is out of a job
The Pray-ers:
Betty
Annie's best friend, a prayer warrior, setter of hedges no matter what the problem, exuberant exhorter of heaven, always gives clear directives to God so He will know exactly what to do
John
Part-time minister, busy executive, Guinness World Record holder for the most succint prayers
Ruth
New convert, still believes that explaining the problem at length and prolonged prayers will bring the best results
Katie
Annie's sister, a non-believer, doesn't pray at all, but like the Good Samaritan, takes action
Caroline
Always cuts to the chase, quotes the Word as supporting documentation for every request, constantly reminds God that the heathen are watching, and His reputation is at stake; believes, like King Solomon, that money answers every problem

Ted
Never prays immediately, always leaves praying until bedtime, forgets to pray at all about 50% of the time
God:  answers
Act I
8:00 a.m.:  It's a busy Monday morning at corporate HQ when John, as temporary head of the flock, receives a tearful phone call from Annie asking for prayer regarding her sudden turn of more disastrous economic events.  Late for a meeting, John's booming, authoritative voice commands God audibly, "Get her a job!" as he quickly hangs up and rushes for the closing elevator, now late for his meeting.
God:  answers
Annie, after hanging up the phone, begins searching newspaper want ads for any kind of job.  She has to find something quickly!  There was not much there as she knew there wouldn't be except for an ad which read:  "manual laborers needed to help gut 83-foot yacht".  For some reason, this looked like a great prospect to her even though she was only 5 feet four and one-half inches tall and weighed 90 pounds.  Well, so what!  She was desperate!  Miraculously, when she called, she was hired over the phone to begin work the next day!  This must be an answer to prayer!  She dismissed her misgivings about being able to do that kind of strenuous work even though she was horribly out of shape and nearly 60 years old.  Well, it must be an answer to prayer, she concluded and began praising God for answering so quickly!

This site was last updated on: 7/20/03

Please contact me via e-mail for permission to do this as a skit at your church or other meetings.  I would love to hear of your experience in presenting this as a short skit related to prayer life.  Thanks, Lin