When we find ourselves feeling heavy and consumed with the circumstances we are currently in, we must do something to cope. We can choose from a plethora of escapes to remedy our pain: drinking, smoking, binge eating, seeking companionship — we get the picture: anything that will distract us from our reality. But the real question is: will these escapes temporarily numb our pain or will they thoroughly heal us?
I believe we all know the answer: temporarily numb the pain.
Our choice to neglect spending time with God on a daily basis, and indulging in any other activity – even if it’s not necessarily sin – will eventually leave us spiritually dis-eased.
God knows how to get our attention, and he has intentions to bring us closer to him. He allows us to experience things that may cause us to be unsettled, only to settle us. He relocates us from our comfort zones to his will, by causing disruption in our lives. The chaos we are experiencing is merely God’s strategy to get us to come to him for help. His word tells us that he is a very present help in the time of trouble! (Psalm 46:1). We do not have to reside in a place of disparity and hopelessness. Prayer produces power!!! Prayer causes change!! Prayer removes chaos and makes it obsolete!
Sometimes we know to pray and read our Bibles, but instead, we choose to do other things to pass the time.
We use convenient means to camouflage things about ourselves that we need to change, but prayer is so essential because it exposes who we truly are. If we avoid prayer, we miss the opportunity to adequately assess our spiritual state.
Don’t get me wrong, there are other spiritual tools that we can use like Christian music, journaling and fellowshipping with other believers, however, the question is: when should these things be applied? It’s just like medicine. If we have a throat infection, a doctor will give us an antibiotic to kill the infection, and stop it from spreading. However, to ease the pain during the healing process, he’ll also prescribe throat losangers. The throat losangers are supplemental, but are not the medicine needed to heal our infection. Likewise, that’s the role these other spiritual tools play in our lives. They help us, but ultimately, our healing comes from God through prayer and obedience to his word. Apply prayer. Use it as a prescription, and when God gives you the remedy through his word, we have to take it.
“How do we pray?”
We should start by acknowledging God as the source and the one who has the answers we need. If we do not recognize him as the one who can create a change or make a difference in our lives, we will not have the faith necessary to receive what we are praying for. Even if we don’t feel “worthy” of receiving anything from God, we must pray. Prayer is always the pathway to resolve any circumstance.
What about when we pray and things don’t turn out the way we want them to? Does God not hear us? Does he not want us to have what we desire? This is not the case!
In his word, God even tells us that he will give us the desires of OUR heart, but the problem is, at times we pray, and don’t believe God will actually respond to our prayer. Sometimes we feel this way because our lives aren’t aligning with God’s word, so we lack the confidence to ask him. It’s similar to when a child has been disobedient to his parents, but wants a new toy. That child is reluctant to ask his parents because he knows his actions aren’t worthy of a reward. That’s how we are with God if we walk in disobedience, and this makes prayer difficult for us.
If it seems as if God hasn’t answered our prayers, we must consider if our prayer is within the bounds of his word. Sometimes when we pray for things, we don’t have the correct intent, or aren’t ready to receive the things we’re asking for. God is looking at the BIG picture. He is responding to our prayer and prescribing to our conditions what is necessary to thoroughly heal us! God has a bird’s eye view of us and our current state!
Imagine you are in a room and can only see your surroundings from the space where you are. There are places in that room where your eyes cannot travel. This is descriptive of our limited spiritual vision prior to prayer. God has the ability to see the entire room from all angles, and even capable of viewing beyond the walls of the room. Therefore, he can assess every aspect of where we are. Isn’t it encouraging to know that this is God’s capacity? He knows what we need, and he covers the areas in our life that we are completely oblivious to. This is why it is imperative that we pray so that God can give us insight on issues and circumstances that we don’t have full perspective of. Through this, we can experience peace, calm, and trust because we know that we’re in a controlled environment.
When we fail to pray, we deprive ourselves of beautiful fellowship with the one who created us. Luke 18:1 tells us that “men ought to always pray and not faint”. In order to know someone, you must communicate with them. We must talk to God to know what he requires of us.
If you feel you cannot reach him, remember the measure of how far you are from him is the distance fromyour knees to the floor! If you are sick of the way life is doing you….prayer is the prescription.
Drop me a line if you are blessed by this or if you agree that prayer is vital!
