Prayer
This morning I read something that got me thinking:
He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer. ~ Oswald Chambers.
For some time I’ve believed, and this too comes from Oswald Chambers, that the duty of the Christian is to pray. What if God wants to act but cannot or will not until we ask?
That puts prayer in a whole new light. It makes me want to pray more and be more intentional in what I pray for. What are the needs of my family, my friends, my acquaintances and people I encounter everyday? What are the needs of my community, my church, the city where I live? The state? The nation? This world? My prayers barely touch on some of these. If I prayed for all of that, I’d have no time left for anything else. Is God telling me something? Does He want me to spend all of my time in prayer?
The Bible does say in 1 Thessalonians:
“16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
One of the sure ways we can help other people is to pray for them. But then, prayer without action is meaningless. As has often been said to test someones sincerity, “Put your money where your mouth is.” I would add, put your time and energy there, too.
How many times have I said, “I’ll pray for you” and not even done that? They are easy words to speak, but then they have to be backed up with the action of actually sitting down or kneeling and bringing that person’s need before God in sincere, heart-felt prayer.
Rest assured, God already knows the need. He’s just waiting for us to ask for that need to be met. He may not answer it in the way we want or on our time, but He will answer. As someone said, sometimes His answer is “NO”. Other time’s it’s “Not now or not yet.” And sometimes it is an immediate answer of “Yes” that comes so quickly we are stupefied.
My wife and I have seen answers in all of three categories. One time, while we were self-employed we were completely out of work. If you are self-employed, no work means no income. No money to pay the bills. No money for food, shelter, clothing…
So, we prayed for a job. No sooner had we uttered the prayer than the doorbell rang and the Airborne (yeah, it was a while back) driver was there with a job for us.
On the other end of the spectrum, I prayed for a corporate job for almost 20 years. When that prayer finally was answered, the job was perfect and closely matched the description of my ideal job I’d written years before. I worked at it for 5 years and was able to retire. Without God’s help, I know I never would have been hired, not at the age of 62.
Nothing is too big or too small for God to take an interest in. Years ago I needed a toothpick in the worst way. I was sitting in my car listening to a Christian radio station and had just finished eating my lunch. The thought occurred to me to pray for a toothpick.
I hesitated. Bother God about a toothpick? Then I thought, why not? They say He even knows the number of hairs on your head. So, I did, I asked for a toothpick. It went something like this, “God, I could sure use a toothpick right now.” When I said that, the thought popped into my head to look in the glove box. I did and what should I find, but one of those toothpicks in a cellophane wrapper that you get at restaurants. I was truly amazed and very thankful.
Why would God care about providing me with a toothpick? Maybe because He knew I would share that story with countless others, and maybe through it some of those people would be drawn into a relationship with Him or a closer relationship with Him. Maybe some of them would take prayer more seriously or begin praying, if they had not prayed before. Who knows how far the ripples will spread or what effect they will have. Surely they spread to the edge of the pond, to the end of our lives.
Finally, I read something else:
The only way to come to God is through prayer.
I don’t know if that is the only way, but it is certainly one way. Worship is another. Fellowship and Reading the Bible are other ways, too. But prayer certainly is A way to come to God. If you seek a relationship with God or a closer relationship with God, I can think of no better way to achieve that than through prayer.
Lately, I’ve been trying a new (to me) type of prayer called Centering Prayer. It is contemplative prayer where you sit quietly with God and use a “sacred word” to express your intention to sit quietly in God’s Presence and allow Him to work in your life.
It is a form of surrendering to God. In the practice, you sit in silence for 20 minutes or so and try not to engage with your thoughts. It is not easy for me, but it is a discipline. To just sit and not do anything or think anything for 20 minutes is totally foreign to me and, I suspect, to most people. We are not used to being still, being silent and not doing or saying or thinking anything. I’ve only been at it a few weeks. I hope it gets easier with time.
God also says,
Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.
In other words, it’s a two-way street. And, knowing God a little, I suspect that He takes giant steps toward us as we take baby steps toward Him.
Regarding prayer, I always try to remember this:
Much prayer, much power
Little prayer, little power
No prayer, no power
If you’ve never prayed, I hope you’ll give it a try. You’ll be amazed to see what happens. If you do pray, keep up the good work.
One thing I do to help keep me regular is to keep a prayer list/journal. As prayers are answered, I cross them off the list with a note about when and how they were answered. Seeing prayers get crossed off the list encourages me to keep praying and to pray for things I might not otherwise pray for. Of course, some prayers are for ongoing needs and will never get crossed off.
I hope you’ve found some blessing here and that you’ll take it with you and use it to encourage others.
