Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Ephesians 6:16 "And pray in the Spirit on all occassions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
God hears our prayers. Every single one. Even the quick, desperate ones. When I was injured last year, my prayer was from the innermost depths of my heart. As I fell to the floor after being hit in the head, I prayed a simple prayer: "Oh no, God, not now! Please save me! Please let me stay here with my kids!" And He answered. He protected me and healed me from an injury that should have either killed me or left me with debilitating injuries. After over a year, I am restored and He has saturated my life with His presence in such an abundant way. He answered me, over and above what I prayed for. Not only am I here with my husband and children, but He has transformed my life and my relationship with Him.
The Creator of the universe, the One who created you, wants to hear from you! He wants to hear your prayers about your trials, concerns, joys, and praises. God certainly answers prayers of desperation. But daily, intentional, un-hurried prayer with our Heavenly Father will bring us to such a rich, intimate place with Him. It is where we can praise Him, thank Him, and pour out our hearts to Him.
When Jesus prayed, He often retreated to a quiet place to pray where He focused on His Father without the demands of the world swirling around Him. We need to find that quiet place, too. I urge you to intentionally carve out precious daily time with Him. A time when you can be focused on Him. Because He is certainly focused on you.
Dear Heavenly Father, Your Word tells us to pray on all occasions, about everything. You want to hear from us! I am so grateful for the time I can spend with You in prayer, sharing my joy, praise, thankfulness, concerns and storms. Thank You for hearing each of my prayers. I praise You that no prayer is too small, and no prayer is too big for You. I cherish my precious prayer time with You. Amen.
Dear Donna,
ReplyDeleteI just sent your Blog to a professor at Drew University who is studying to become a priest.
He is a friend from St. Andrew's and a fine person. He is in Virginia now at a conference and a very devout individual. He leads trips to the Holy Land and his wife is from Egypt. I was so impressed by the beauty of your words that I wanted to share them with Chris. Chris once sent us a card that was unique and shaped like a church with Mary and baby Jesus on the front. Inside the card, he expressed thanks to your Dad and me for encouraging him to go into the ministry or holy orders. Chris said that the Spirit must have been moving us to get him to think about it! He said, after a lot of prayer and thought he was on his way! Chris is still studying and had asked for us to please pray for him at that time. So your Blog has been sent to a friend who will love to read your words...as they go from person to person in God's world.
Love, Mom
That's awesome! I love how the Holy Spirit works through us! I love you!
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