As I was reading Rod Dreher’s, Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, I came across a story about a specific answer to prayer that I had to pass along to you. It’s the story about how Alexander Ogorodnikov, who was unjustly thrown into prison by an oppressive Soviet government, saw God work in an unusual way. He was one of the most famous dissidents of the late Soviet period (195). Although he was a rising start amongst the communists, even catching the attention of the KGB, he converted to Christianity in his 20’s and ended up in prison.
Dreher quotes Ogorodnikov, telling one of his stories from prison:
When they put me in the cell with the other inmates, I said, ‘Peace be with you!’ One of the prisoners asked if I was a Christian. I said yes. He told me to prove it. Another inmate said, ‘We are the scum of the earth. We don’t even have cigarettes. If your God will give us cigarettes, we’ll all believe in him.
Dreher continues,
Ogorodnikov told his fellow prisoners that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and smoking fouls it. But, he continued, God loves you so much that I believe he would even give you cigarettes as a sign of his mercy. Ogorodnikov asked them all to stand and pray together for this. Everybody laughed, but they stood respectfully as he led them in prayer.
Ogorodnikov continues,
That cell was very crowded, but it became very quiet. We prayed for fifteen minutes, then I told them the prayer was over and they could sit down. At just that moment, the guards opened the cell door and threw a bunch of cigarettes into the cell.
It was incredible. There was the sign I had prayed for. The prisoners shouted, ‘God exists! He exists! And that is when I knew that God was speaking to me too. He was telling me that he had a mission for me here in this prison.
As I read this story I couldn’t help but think about what the psalmist said in Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens and does whatever he pleases.” God is often more eager to answer our prayers than we are to offer them. I pray this story encourages you to pray for the specific things on your heart today, whatever situation you find yourself in.
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