Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 1 John 5:14-15, KJV

“Whenever a Chinese tries to tell a Westerner about Chinese temples and worship, he soon finds himself saying that it is all very confusing,” says Joyce Savidge in her book about the temples of Hong Kong. More than 600 Chinese temples are found in Hong Kong. Half of them are Buddhist and about an additional one‑third are Taoist, the rest a mixture of both. “Many worshipers,” says the author, “look on both religions as though they are one and the same. They are unable to say whether this belief is Buddhist or that statue is Taoist. And they are just as uncertain about their own position, often settling for Buddhism because it is best known. Others cannot put a name to their religion at all. They say that they just worship their ancestors and the gods.”

Within the temple is a beaker‑like container known as the chim containing either 64 or 100 thin slivers of bamboo, identical in length, about the dimensions of a chopstick; however, there is one difference. Each one is numbered at the top. When a person needs guidance, he will go to the temple and while kneeling before the vessel will shake it until one drops to the ground. A priest then reads the number and interprets the message– for a small fee, of course. Take your pick, numbers one to a hundred. But many of the Chinese of Hong Kong do not put much faith in the “numbers game.”

Their real god, they say, is the God of Wealth, and they have a panoply of deities connected with money: one dealing with salaries, another with gambling, of course, to make you lucky; another who copes with debts; etc. In reality the god they acknowledge is not a real person but a mystic influence connected with their ancestors. What a contrast to the clear assertion of the Christian that God hears and answers prayer.

San Hey Seng, the Cambodian who translated our Guidelines programming into his language, was born the son of a silversmith who made idols for the Buddhist temples of Cambodia. At the age of 12, young Lem Cheong, as he is known to his friends, went to his uncle, who had been a Buddhist priest for many years, and asked, “Uncle, have you ever prayed to Buddha and Buddha answered your prayers?” Somewhat taken aback by the brashness of the youth, the uncle, nevertheless, admitted that he could not remember any definite answer to prayer which he directly attributed to Buddha.

Later the young man put the same question to a Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary, “Can you ever remember praying to God and He answered your prayer?” Quickly the missionary responded by recounting several answered prayers. So impressed was young Lem Cheong that he became a Christian that very day. Over the years Lem Cheong has never considered prayer to be a “numbers game,” as those do who take their pick and try to spiritualize some meaning. Prayer to him is vital, personal communication between God’s child and his heavenly Father.

How is prayer with you? Is it a “numbers game” whereby you take your pick and hope for a positive response? Is it like putting a coin in a one‑armed bandit‑‑it does not cost much and you might hit the jackpot? Or rather, is it conversation between you and God? What oxygen is to the lungs and food is to the body, prayer is to the soul of man. It is vital to the growth and spiritual prosperity of a Christian.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him,” wrote the Apostle John, “that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14‑15, KJV). This is the positive assurance of God’s Word.

Resource reading: 1 John 5.