Monday, January 24, 2011

Participanting In God's Work through Prayer

     When I say the word ‘prayer’ what do you think of? The word often brings a variety of feelings from quilt to power. For me, the topic of prayer brings many questions. I know that we are told to pray constantly, to be persistent, and to ask for what we need. Also, I know God has promised to provide for all of my needs. I know I must trust Him totally. I know that He is sovereign and cannot be manipulated. I know that He not only hears the masses; He hears me individually! How do these facts all fit together? I am not for sure if I will ever get the answers this side of Heaven. All I know is, I am taught through scripture to pray and to pray continually. If I don’t . . . I will miss out!

     We each know people we want to know Christ. However, sometimes after praying for them for a while, we give up. We do not see any changes and we really think they will never change; so we begin to think it is useless and we quit praying. That person for me was my father-in-law. Though I gave up, my husband did not. I cannot tell you how much I respect and admire him for the way he consistently prayed for his father. I mean he prayed with passion, with tears, and with his face on the ground. While we were living in Montana, we got a phone call late at night. A friend of ours had visited Dwayne’s father in the hospital several times and ended up introducing him to his new Savior, Jesus Christ! The joy for Dwayne was unexplainable.
     That experience showed me the importance of not giving up in prayer. It also taught me what we miss out on when we do. When Dwayne’s Dad became a Christian, Dwayne got to be a participant in that blessing. His faithful praying made him an active servant in God’s work and blessing. I, on the other hand, was an observer to God’s work and God’s blessing. I so wanted to jump ship and be a participant but I could not because I did not invest myself in prayer previously: I had chosen to be an observer.
     Prayer allows us to have an active part in God’s work and blessing. Don’t cheat yourself by going through life only observing God’s activity. Invest yourself in prayer, in others, and in God. It is your choice: are you going to observe or participate?

Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working”
John 5 17

1 comment:

Steph said...

There have been times that I have wondered if I should keep praying about something but I remember some of the times when I prayed for something so hard and so long and when God was ready and things fell into place it was such a huge blessing. Those are my reminders that prayer does work and is a direct line to our Lord!!!