Immediately prior to the fall of the former Soviet Union I conducted city wide evangelistic meetings in five cities in Ukraine. We battled the rain in every one of them. It would rain the entire day, and we prayed that God would stop the rain so that people could come to the stadium to hear the Gospel. God was not under obligation to stop the rain, but in His mercy, He granted our request. One hour before our evangelistic meetings began God stopped the rain in every city. It was such a thrill to see thousands listening and responding to the Gospel for the first time.

Meanwhile, while traveling throughout Ukraine and Romania I found some beautiful oriental rugs at a very inexpensive price. So I purchased one in Ukraine and one in Romania. However, when I attempted to leave Romania the border guard told me that I could bring the carpet from Ukraine out of the country but not the one from Romania. One friend said, "Sammy we could change the tags on the back of the carpet, and he would never know the difference. Then you could leave the Ukrainian carpet here and take the Romanian one with you." I must admit, I really considered doing it.

Just at that moment another friend spoke up. "Sammy I think he's right. You could take the Romanian carpet out of the country. But the next time you asked God to stop the rain I'll bet He doesn't do it." Conviction struck my heart. I was almost ready to trade intimacy with God and power in prayer for an old piece of carpet. What a tragedy that would have been! Perhaps that's why God hasn't answered some of your prayers. There may be an old piece of carpet in a secret closet of your heart. Confess it to God and get rid of it. The book of James says, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16 NIV). If you long for power in prayer, then you must clean up the secret places in your heart.