Pacifiers to Pizza

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Praying

Prayer is one way you can communicate with God. Many people think prayer as asking God to meet their needs. On the other hand, some believe that a repetitious “chant” will get God to answer them. Jesus gave you an example of one way of praying. It has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer: It says: Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed is thy name.  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

I could go over a list of rules and religious talk about what your prayers should be like. I do not want to do that. I believe that the Scriptures teach you to ASK – ask, seek and knock. In Matthew, the Word says that if you ask, it will be given, if you seek, you will find and if you knock, the door will be opened to you. Now, keep in mind also that God is your Father. Just as your children may ask you for candy every hour of every day, a good parent will say no sometimes, yes sometimes and wait at other times. Can you imagine if God told you yes to everything you ever asked for. You must have faith that He really is control and does know what is best for you. Picture this with me for a moment. You see a child and a mother in the grocery store. The child is begging the mother for a cookie. The mother starts out firm and tells the child no. The child is persistent that he wants a cookie. The mother stands her ground. After an hour of this, the mother is feeling exhausted by the battle and finally gives in to her child even though she knows it is not best. The child gets his way and finds that the cookie really was not worth the fight. In fact, it is stale and does not taste as good as he remembers it tasting. And, so it is with your Father. Trust that He knows best. If He says no or to wait, believe that He does so with good reason. Trust Him. Also, remember that if you keep insisting on your way, He might just let you have it and most likely, the new car smell will wear off faster than you ever imagined. God’s focus is eternity. While His desire is for you to enjoy this life, His priority is eternal.

Prayers do not have to be formal and you do not even have to bow your head and close your eyes. I pray while I am working, playing with my children and even when I am cleaning the toilet. God does not care how you do it, where you are or how you look. He just wants you to communicate and fellowship with him. He wants to meet your needs. He wants to comfort you in times of despair. He waits, arms and ears open, for you to just tell Him what He already knows. Prayer, ultimately, is your conversation with God. Through prayer, you can seek direction, peace, answers to every situation and just talk to Him about your day. He longs to have a personal relationship with you. A personal relationship with God means a “most intimate” relationship with Him.

At times, you may feel discouraged and it may seem that God is not hearing your prayer.  I like to call this “era” a desert. As you familiarize yourself with the Bible and with current Christian books, you will see what I am speaking of. A dessert is a time when you thirst and your thirst is not quenched. You long for God and you feel no signs of His presence. I recently walked through a time like this. Crystal Lewis even sings a song about it. Not one of you understands why God would seem to hold himself back from you in a way that seems so cruel. I believe, though, that when you are sincerely thirsty and you finally get to drink that water, it tastes so much better than it did when you were not thirsty. When you go “through a desert,” remember your helmet of salvation and your Savior is on His way. He hears you. He may even be carrying you through something that may have killed you had He not picked you up and placed you in His arms. Sometimes the situations in your life are so bad that you could not possibly imagine it being any worse. Times like this, I think of the poem, “Footprints” by Mary Stevenson.