Double Answer to Prayer

By Andrew McChesney

The first-year theology student ran to the worship room at Zaoksky Adventist University south of Moscow, Russia. Falling on his knees, he prayed, “Lord, why are You blessing me? I am so sinful.”

Twenty-year-old Vadim Antyushin felt an overwhelming sense of his unworthiness of God’s blessings.

Image © Pacific Press

He felt unworthy to study at the university and of the calling to become a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. He had just started his first semester of classes and, moments earlier, had unexpectedly received a gift of U.S.$100. It was a significant sum for him. “Lord, I’m unworthy of this money,” Vadim prayed. “You have provided all my needs, and I lack nothing. Show me what to do with the money.” Vadim exchanged the U.S. dollars for Russian rubles. After tithe, 6,000 rubles remained.

Vadim joined a small group of students who met once a week to pray and, a few days later, heard one of the students ask for prayers about his financial situation. Vadim listened silently. He didn’t know the student, and he didn’t know how much money he needed for his tuition. That night, Vadim returned to the worship room to pray. “Lord,” he said, “I would like to give the money to my classmate. Please bless this plan according to Your will.”

The next day, Vadim pulled aside his classmate to speak privately.

“How much money do you need for your studies?” he asked.

“Six thousand rubles,” the classmate replied.

Stunned, Vadim realized that God had answered his prayers. Not only that, but God had also answered the prayers of his classmate. Vadim joyfully gave the 6,000 rubles to his astonished classmate. The two embraced.

Two years later, the classmate has become one of Vadim’s best friends.

“He and I have gone through a lot together, and he has helped me in so many ways,” Vadim said in an interview. “Thank God that I have acquired such a friend. Thank God that He takes care of our needs long before we even know that we have a need. Before we ask, He knows what to give and through whom to give it. The main thing is to trust Him.”

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:19-20; NKJV).

This mission story illustrates the following components of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: Spiritual Growth Objective No. 5, “To disciple individuals and families into spirit-filled lives,” and Spiritual Growth Objective No. 7, “To help youth and young adults place God first and exemplify a biblical worldview.” Read more: IWillGo2020[dot].org.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “The Night of Wrestling,” Pages 195-203, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

“Jacob’s experience during that night of wrestling and anguish represents the trial through which the people of God must pass just before Christ’s second coming … Such will be the experience of God’s people in their final struggle with the powers of evil.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

God will test their faith, their perseverance, their confidence in His power to deliver them. Satan will endeavor to terrify them with the thought that their cases are hopeless; that their sins have been too great to receive pardon. They will have a deep sense of their shortcomings, and as they review their lives their hopes will sink. But remembering the greatness of God’s mercy, and their own sincere repentance, they will plead His promises made through Christ to helpless, repenting sinners. Their faith will not fail because their prayers are not immediately answered. They will lay hold of the strength of God, as Jacob laid hold of the Angel, and the language of their souls will be, ‘I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.’ …

Yet Jacob’s history is an assurance that God will not cast off those who have been betrayed into sin, but who have returned unto Him with true repentance. It was by self-surrender and confiding faith that Jacob gained what he had failed to gain by conflict in his own strength. God thus taught His servant that divine power and grace alone could give him the blessing he craved. Thus it will be with those who live in the last days. As dangers surround them, and despair seizes upon the soul, they must depend solely upon the merits of the atonement. We can do nothing of ourselves.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 201-203.

Discussion Questions:

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