You have a need and someone tells you they will pray for you. You get a phone call from a friend with a broken heart, you tell them you will pray for them. Sounds very simple and small huh?! 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Be joyful always; pray continually". Prayer is quite powerful even though it sounds so meek and helpless. I have been praying since I was a small child. Our parents taught us that God wanted to hear from us , so, I remember when as little girls, before my parents would put us to bed at night in our blue and white polka dot nightgowns we had to kneel by our bed and pray,"Now I lay me down to sleep..." We blessed everything from our family to the little neighbor lady down the street (little did we know until several years later, that she was praying for the salvation of our family every day!), our dog named Rags and our 2 parakeets. It was sweet and cute but what it really did was teach us to pray early. It taught us to take our concerns to the Lord and put our young trust in Him. My parents didn't know what they were instilling then, but it has been something that has grown in me from year to year and is a daily, sometimes hourly, part of what I am learning to be today. Do I always remember to pray first before something BIG, not always. Would I always want the answer to be favorable, well sure! I am human, but I am also spirit and I know God hears and I know He listens.
We want all of our prayers to be answered with a resounding "YES!" immediately or at least in the next day or so. God is the BEST parent though! Sometimes the answer is "NO!" and sometimes, it is just not an answer at all for the time being. If you have kids, you know what I mean about God parenting us. We have to sadly say "No" sometimes to our kids when we know what is best for them and it is always a delight to say "Yes" when we know it is a good request. God is such a wonderful parent and knows our every need or desire. He knows what is best and when we pray about something, he knows the answers better than we do, He loves us so much! I have had many requests to the Lord over the years and here are a couple of memorable and life changing ones:
1.
I prayed for the chance to be a Mama for 6 years and heard nothing. After 6 years, I said "Okay God, if you don't want that for me, just show me what to do next!" He gave me the words in my heart "Isaiah 12" ...then came Jordan, Lindsay and Heather! He wasn't saying "No" for all those years, it was just "not right now!" His timing is PERFECT!
2.
When my Mother died, I came home and found her, she was babysitting my little ones that day. I remember standing in the doorway of our living room while the EMT's were working on her and I prayed, "Lord! Please don't take her away from me now!" (We hadn't had a very close relationship while I was growing up and in the last year of her life it finally blossomed!) I felt a calm wash over me and a peace knowing the answer was indeed "No", she had to go home to the Lord. At the time it was so hard to comprehend. I couldn't help but trust God though, I knew He was there and had heard my prayer, He just knew what was best. Now, I look back and I love the relationship I have been able to forge with God when I thought I needed her.
I could go on and on about many times that prayer has played a part in pivotal moments of my life, but I hope you can think of some yourself!
I got a call from a dear friend of mine today. She was calling because another sweet friend of ours asked her to call 2 more of us and pray for her. She has been away from the Lord for a long time. Life has been pretty hard on her. She loves the Lord, but has drifted so far away. I have drifted many times and you may have too, so I feel for her heart tonight. My friend and I prayed for this lady and asked God to draw her close tonight and meet her where she is at. He will do that, I know He will, prayer is so strong and never boring! Ephesians 6:18, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the saints" ~God Bless You, Lori
No comments:
Post a Comment