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| The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
Psalm 86:6
King James Version (KJV)
Another year is just about up and a new one around the corner. Were your prayers answered in the way you wanted this past year? What are you praying for in the year to come?
Prayers often exist in layers--what we need, what we want, and what we hope for in regard to others. All prayer is answered, but sometimes when it's not the answer we expected God to give us, we think that our prayer was not heard by God or he decided not to answer our prayer.
"No" is just as much as an answer as "yes".
When our prayers are superficial and pertain only to the here and now, perhaps we have not put enough thought into the prayer process. What we ought to do is frequently not what we end up doing.
If your prayer life seems futile and not to be working very well, don't stop praying. Pray harder. Pray deeper. Ask God for help in praying and don't just ask God to give you things and do things for you. Prayer is not meant to be superficial. Prayer is our direct line to God.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26
English Standard Version (ESV)
My answer to many of my children's requests was "No". My answer never made them doubt I existed or that I hadn't bothered to answer them. It didn't usually make them happy but now that they are older they understand why. Some day we will understand God's "no" answers.
ReplyDeleteA big "Amen!" to that. Excellent analogy. Time and experience is a great teacher.
ReplyDeleteLee
Great post, Arlee. Pam's comment was a wonderful analogy.
ReplyDeleteGood reminder. We tend to pray in a quick-fix this way. When we spend time on our relationship w/ God, more time just seeking His perspective, I think we understand the answers better.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this! So grateful to be spending New Year's Day catching up on blog reading. What a fantastic first post for 2014! Love it, Arlee! Keep it up in the New Year! ~d.
ReplyDelete