Praying - and the Passage of Time

In this Advent season, I was reflecting on the words of the angel to Zechariah, who had been serving as priest in the temple.  The angel said to him:  "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard."  Luke 1:13.  The words that followed from the angel indicated that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son and whose name is to be John.

I started to wonder, considering that Elizabeth and Zechariah were up in years this certainly was a shock.  Had they actually been praying well into their old age?  Did they really believe that God would send them a child when Elizabeth was well beyond the child-bearing age?  Maybe they had given up and maybe not.

Whether they did or not, God knew their prayers and right at this time in their lives brings an answer.

It made me think of the scenario where we might have given up on our praying for something we have eagerly desired.  That doesn't mean that God has forgotten our fervent pleas for what we truly wanted.  We all live in the wildness of our God, who can do beyond what we ever can imagine!

What is your attitude toward prayer?  If a prayer has not been answered after a period of time, do you call it quits or do you still live in expectation?

Thinking Aloud with God in Prayer

I have always thought of prayer as best when being conversational and informal as opposed to presenting a monolog to God.  A monolog can turn out to be very stiff and formal.  God has given us the privilege to come in prayer; and moreover, to do it as a child would speak informally to one's parent.  Yes, we can pour out what is deep within our hearts to God.

Therefore, we can speak very frankly and directly in terms of letting God know exactly how we feel.  I believe this is one of the gifts of prayer.  We don't have to feel as if we are millions of miles away from our Creator.  We can speak to God as if God were standing right next to us and whose ear is attentive to our every word.

I came across these words in Psalm 30 the other day that really hit home to me about prayer.  "To you, O Lord, I cried, and to the Lord I made supplication: What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit?  Will the dust praise you?  Will it tell of your faithfulness?  Hear O Lord, and be gracious to me!  O Lord, be my helper!" (Psalm 30:8-10)

The psalmist is using basic logic.  If he has died, he can no longer praise God.  In other words, the psalmist was pleading to God to be saved when in danger because then he could continue bringing praise to his Creator.  While I have never made such a statement in prayer, it made me think of how we can be at times very frank with God.  It shows our intent and our love for all that God means to us.

So, how is your praying?  Have you ever been very frank and upfront with God?

From Pain to Confidence

Sometimes its hard to have any confidence or encouragement when things aren't going well.  We are apt to think the worst.  Moreover, we might feel that our resources are limited or have run dry.

David, in writing one of his psalms, found himself in a situation where he was praying for deliverance from his enemies.  At the beginning he wrote:  "How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long."  (Psalm 13:2)  He was very blunt with God.  He felt he was on the verge of being forgotten.  (vs. 1).

Have you ever felt like this?  Whatever you are up against seems to be overwhelming.

Then at the end of the psalm there is a different mood.  David writes:  "But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation."  (Psalm 13:5)  It's having confidence in the midst of undergoing a great trial.  Perhaps, this is the paradox that people of faith have.  While the situation might seem to look hopeless, there can still be confidence that the situation can turn out okay.

It's more than just luck.  It's trusting in the God who has made heaven and Earth.  It is knowing that God's heart is always beating for you.  That's God's steadfast love!

So, when you pray, you can pour out your heart to God.  Let God know exactly how you feel; but then you can express your hope that you will prevail.

The WOW Factor in Prayer

The other day I was listening to a review of a new book,  Help, Thanks, Wow; The Three Essentials of Prayer, by Anne Lamott on National Public Radio.  It made me think that prayer is multifaceted, but what really captured my attention was the third component - the Wow factor.  It is all about praising God.

She describes this Wow experience as a time when you are speechless.  You recognize perhaps a moment of beauty in creation, or it might be something you recognize for the first time that makes a tremendous impact on you.

I also think of the situation where God has come through in prayer for you maybe in an unexpected way..  It is a Wow moment.  Or something just captures your attention about the greatness of God.  It is a Wow moment.  Do you have many such moments in your life, where you are just moved to give praise to God?  It made me think that maybe my own such moments are too few.  Possibly, I'm just not being sensitive enough to God's creation or how God is working in the world.

I hope that your prayer life is multifaceted and that there are those Wow moments for you!

Let Thankfulness Abound

Giving thanks has always been a part of the response of people of faith.  The psalmist declares:  "I will gives to the Lord with my whole heart."  Psalm 9:1  We notice it wasn't a half-hearted thanks, but it was a desire to give thanks with one's entire being.  Seriously, have you ever been in this mode?

As we speak to God, giving thanks is also necessary.  What would it be like to always be asking from God and never giving thanks?  After all, everything we have comes from God.  Sometimes, we need to look beyond the troubles, the problems, the trials, the tough challenges, and begin to focus on what we do have.  We can also be thankful that we have a God who is always with us through thick and thin whatever we experience.

As we are approaching the Day of Thanksgiving, a national holiday, we are to be mindful of our many blessings.  What will you offer up in thankfulness for our nation?  For your church?  For your individual life?

Being thankful will reap personal rewards for you.  You will begin to see a brighter side to life.

Looking beyond the Horizon

Praying may only take a few minutes.  However, what happens when you are finished? Does the content of your prayer slip away from you during the day?  How would it be if you when you prayed early in the morning, you were constantly on the lookout for God to come through for what you prayed.  This type of praying makes it blend in with the rest of the day.

Jesus has promised us that our prayers would be heard and they would be answered.  Are you always on the lookout for that answer?  Are you willing to take the long view with prayer?

Doesn't this anticipation  make it all the more worthwhile for us to pray?  We know that this activity goes well beyond just the few words we might speak at the time of the prayer.  We are waiting for God to come through and are continually watching.

I believe if your interest in prayer stretches beyond the actual time of praying, your day will be more interesting.  You never know how God will come through with a response.  You wait and watch for God's surprise.

A Life Consumed with Prayer

Life is fragile.  We never know what can happen.  We can have everything planned out for a vacation, for instance, and then something goes wrong.  Your luggage gets lost by the airlines.  Your car breaks down, even though you had everything checked out before the trip.

Life is filled with uncertainty.  We notice, too, how unrest can flair up suddenly in countries around the world.  Even despite our best diplomacy, something can still go wrong.

This is the world in which you and I live.  Perhaps, we need not be filled with anxiety over it.  We can feel that we are not entirely out of control.  We can believe that we will be not defeated.

I ask you:  How much is prayer a part of your life?  It's possible that everything can seem to be routine.  Everything seems to be stable in your life.  Yet, you cannot predict what can go wrong.

Prayer is a way for you to claim your walk with God.  God is "with you."  In prayer you are ever remembering this fact.  You are also placing your faith in the one who has complete control over history.  Won't you want to walk this path for your life?