Tell God All About It
"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." -- James 5:16b
I believe in prayer. It works. It just does. There's just something about laying it all out there before God, trusting Him to hear my heart and do what is best for me, that just gives me goose bumps.
Prayer has been on my mind as a topic for almost a week. I've been meaning to write about it. Sunday morning in church Pastor Meghan gave an excellent sermon -- on prayer. Do you think God was nudging me on? Yeah, me too.
She used the Lord's Prayer as a starting example. Our Father, we say. Not my Father or your Father, but Our Father. We are together in a relationship with God. We are praying together beause there is strength in that.
She spoke of the vulnerability that comes when we pray for one another and with one another. It is a baring of the heart, of letting down our defenses, and trusting someone else with our weak, exposed being. Like we do with God.
Prayer gives us so many opportunities to talk with God. While there is some comfort in uttering the same prayers again and again, I love the very realness of veering from the script. I love prayers that come from the heart.
And I don't want to mislead anyone. I think sometimes we believe deep prayers are all about anguish and hurt. Not always. Sometimes those prayers are full of thanksgiving and gratitude. Sometimes it is all about finding peace with the choices made and the results felt. Some prayers are quiet and empty, while others are full of rushed words and laughter.
See, prayer is about communicating with God. He is our Father. He is our Creator. But He is also our Friend. He wants to hear from us. Yeah. He knows it all anyway. But wouldn't you rather hear the details of your friend's life from her than from someone else? God's the same about us. He wants to hear from us. He wants to wipe our tears and join our laughter and cheer us on.
There is strength in prayer. There is celebration when a friend's nephew finally attends church and admits God exists. There is joy in a successful surgery. And there is comfort in knowing that a loved one isn't gone forever but is only temporarily separated from us.
We live in a fallen world filled with challenges -- illness, temptation, deceit. But God didn't leave us here alone. He gave us Jesus. He sent the Holy Spirit. And He remains forever available to us through prayer. Our prayers -- those times when we communicate directly with God -- are the certain knowledge that He is there and that He will one day destroy Satan and all evil. They remind us that God is in control -- and that we belong to Him. How awesome is that!
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