My blog on Monday was about prayer, and in the last couple of days, we've gotten some really good insights and suggestions, examples and questions from you on prayer. So instead of moving on to talk about Luke 11:37-54, I want to stay focused on prayer because it's so key in our relationship with God. And, I want to keep hearing from each of you about your prayer life and how you go about it because it's helpful to see how others pray, what helps, what people struggle with, etc.
So here's another thought about prayer. Prayer is not a formula. Prayer is me (and you) talking to God--plain and simple. Now there was a time in my life when praying didn't feel like plain and simple talking to God. I had in my head that in order to pray "right" I had to have these long, eloquent, formal sounding prayers. But then I hit a really difficult patch in my life. I was hurting, depressed and scared and as a result, the pretenses fell away and all I could do was just cry out to God from my heart--no big, formal words or structure, just something simple like Here I am God. I love You. This is what's going on and I need You so desperately. God answered mightily and as I look back now, I realize that how I approached prayer was different after that.
So what I've learned is that prayer, as part of my relationship with God, is a process that I absolutely need to work on now and forever. But here's the one thing I cannot forget--when I pray mightily, when I struggle, when I skip praying, you name it--God loves me (and you) and He knows exactly what's going on in my life. So the more I can open up and talk honestly with Him, the closer my relationship with Him becomes. That's something I want and need. Now maybe you're thinking Easy to write, Tami, but not always easy to put into practice. I agree. And that's why it's a work in process for all of us. So hang in there and keep sending your comments, examples, suggestions, and of course, your prayer requests! Tami W.
I hear what you're saying Tammi. I also used to think that on order to pray "right" you had to use those long multi-syllable words. I have since realized that God just wants us to come to Him with sincere and honest hearts, and open up to Him. I pray continually, multiple times everyday. Some are long prayers and some are not, but all are sincere. I think that's what's important is that we come to the Father with truly sincere and open hearts. Tammi, I am REALLY struggling in my walk these days. I am under intense financial pressure and can no longer operate as the financial head of my household even though I work every single day. I just don't make enough. Now, my hours have been reduced even more, but I still have a job thank God. Unfortunately with everything that's facing me I have had a hard time remembering that and being thankful for what I have. I have resorted to complaining often, something out of character for me. Please pray for me Tammi, I have to get my focus back where it needs to be...on God and the many blessings He had given me. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!
Dear Tami, Thank you so much for you thoughts and insite into God's Word. Sometimes those questions do get so personal that I don't know how to answer them. But your answers just remind me how great God is and how with support from wise counsel I can stay close to Him no matter how dumb I feel or whatever I've done. There's much I don't know how to handle in my life. But staying in God's Word with you has encouraged and inspired me to keep on keeping on. Thank you. Bless you and keep on getting stronger and being faithful.
I had a pastor who was my true rabbi, teacher. Once when I was struggling with prayer he said to sit at a table with an empty chair across from me and place God in that empty chair, as a friend would sit there, and just talk with Him regarding whatever is going on in my life. Since then I find myself having conversations, prayers, no matter where I am or what is going on in my life. It has helped me to realize that is exactly what our Father wants from us, a simple conversation. To interact in our lives and He wants to hear from us regarding all things going on in our lives. Yes he knows what is going on, but He wants to hear, relationship, from us.
Sorry, this is a little off the subject...
Just wanted to send support, encouragement and prayer to the first responder who is struggling with prayer and struggling financially with reduced hours and worries about providing. There are many believers out there (pre-poor economy) who are trying to do the right things (live w/o debt, tithe, etc...) and are still struggling. Take heart that you are not alone! Recently something which brought great peace was that thought that everything I -don't have- belongs to God too! Yes, even my inablility to take care of my basic needs at times. He "owns the cattle on a thousand hills" but He also owns our struggles and dark times. He will be faithful to walk you through!
Marvin,
Thanks so much for your comments today and for letting us (all of us here at Back to the Bible and all of us P4 folks) know that you need prayer and encouragement. We will definitely be praying for you and with you, and hopefully, we can be an encouragement to you along the way as well. Tami W.
Thank you for powered by 4. I've been a teacher since before I became a real follower of Jesus. I thought I was ok until God revealed to me that I was not His child. That's another story. My comment is this. Even though I've been a teacher for over 35 years, and even though I spend several hours per week preparing lessons, I haven't been as faithful in my daily Bible reading as I should. I'm looking forward to powered by 4 helping me in that area. Thank you again and please thank Dr. Kroll for his incredible teaching. I use a lot of his teaching as material for the married adult class I teach.
Marvin - My family and I have been going through some hard trials recently too, but our situation is such that we can't do anything about it, ever, so it's pretty easy to put it all in the Lords hands. It's harder when we feel that we might be able to solve our problems ourselves, because we don't feel that we should just "give up." We worry about what we should have done, and what we can do to fix the problems, and rather than solving our problems, this just gets us upset and makes everything that much harder. It is actually good to be in a situaiton where we have absolutely no control, because we are literally forced to do the very thing that we should do, and as soon as we put it all in the Lords hands, our burdens become managable. Obviously, if there is something you can do to solve your financial problems, you need to do it, but in point of fact, your success will still be in the Lords hands, so why not just put it all there in the first place?
God's plan for you and your family may not be what you think is best, but you know it is a good plan, better than your own, even when you can't understand it. Accepting this, and internalizing the fact that everything is actually and always in God's hands, you will find peace, no matter what you are going through.
It is easy to say, "Put it all in the Lord's hands," and it's easy to do when you have no other options, but easy or not, it's always the best thing to do, and the results are always miraculous.
Lord, please help Marvin put his life in your hands and know that he is in your care. Amen.
May God bless you, Marvin. Know that we will be praying for you.
My comments to Marvin.
Marvin I certainly do not want to belittle what you are going through. All I can say is hang in there, have faith and let God take control. I have had a similar life experience and at the time I had a hard time seeing what God was doing in my life. I hope you can read down to the end. It turned out a little longer than I anticipated.
In 1984 I found myself in a difficult work situation. The economy then, as now, went into the tank. I found myself going from job to job just trying to keep working in some capacity. We then had a one year old child and my wife was home with him. I was trying desperately as the father and husband to provide for my family. Eventually all work in the field for which I was trained disappeared. I was in the building construction field and there was just no construction going on. I found myself unemployed. Thankfully my wife was able to get work and I remained at home to look after my son. This sounds better than it turned out to be as you'll read later. It at least allowed us to make our financial commitments and keep the food on the table. However, during this time my wife became pregnant, too much of seeing each other I guess. LOL. So much for family planning.
In 1985 I decided to retrain in another field. After six months of schooling I was able to find work in an industrial plant. I was very happy and after six months of working in the plant I felt is was time that my wife went back to being a mother of our now two sons. She was on maternity leave and I boldly told her this was it. She could put in her request to go on to part time. Would you believe that the very day she handed in the resignation from her full time job I received a lay off notice??!! She quickly went back to her employer who was happy to have her rescind her request. So early in 1986 my wife went to work full time and I became Mr. Mom to a 2 year old and a six month old.
I didn't do well at this at all. Maybe it's a man thing. I just felt that my wife should be at home and that I should be providing for my family. I went into a downward spiral dealing with depression and anger, anxiety and all the things that go with it. Where was God in all this. Well he was there but I wasn't tapping in. I thought I could handle all this myself. I tried to put on a happy face and show that I had it all together. Some days were good, some bad. At one point I even had the thought of ending my life flash through my head. Thankfully it never came to that. My wife was my rock through all this. She worked tirelessly at a job and at home to keep it all together. I was to proud to seek help from others, including God.
Finally at some point in the fall of 1987 I came to the realization that I couldn't carry the burden any longer and I handed it over to God. I know wife had been praying for me all this time but I admit I had failed to pray for myself. There were no flashes of lightening but I just felt so much better. And God answered. In early 1988 I was offered a position at the same industrial plant where I had started in 1985. After three years there I found another job at another plant that ended up being the job you only dream about. Sadly that job ended when we were bought up by a large corporation that eventually shut the plant down. I now am again unemployed but my life situation is a lot different. My children are independent and have left home. My wife still works part time and thus is supporting us but we're doing okay. I think I would like to be working sometimes but other times I happy that I am not.
One thing I did learn. God is in control although at the time you may not realize it. My experience definitely brought me closer to God. I have to admit however that when things were going well I took back some of the control and drifted away. I still wrestle with that to some degree but feel now that I am awaiting God's leading in my life. He is such an awesome God and he love's and cares us so much.
God bless you and keep you.
Prayer without a doubt is a process of learning. I try daily to have conversation/prayer with the Lord, in my car, in the grocery store, anywhere.
Where I really fall short is sitting and being still before the Lord. And honestly I am not sure why. Right at this moment I would say it is a combination of things.
Jay I really like your comment and am willing to give it a try. Thank you for sharing.
What I know in my heart is this. As long as I continue to seek the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind He will teach me with ever step and breath I take.
My the Lord bless all of you with His grace, peace and love.
Hi, Tami. The talking about prayer seemed to hit home for me. I'm a Truck Driver, and I have always thought that my "Church" was viewed and lived through the windshield. Everything that I see is God and God's handiwork. Not coming from a "Religious" background, I was told that praying was just talking to God. So, believe it or not, that is what I do. I drive down the road, and I talk to God, like I was talking to a friend. He knows all my most innermost feelings, and I hold nothing back. When I'm happy, He knows it, when I'm sad, He knows it, when I'm angry, or disappointed, He knows that also. Yet, He always shows me that He is there, sometimes by showing me a herd of Elk, sometimes by showing me a flock of birds, or just showing me that the grass is turning green again. I love my God, and He loves me.
The simplest things in life are free. I have often prayed without knowing that I was praying..Funny how many times I have been in a time of great need and words would escape my lips.." Help me Lord." My Father in heaven heard these words escape my lips and did send help on every occasion.
Now thinking back on it I have come to the realization that I do not need to be in need to whisper a thanks or any other thought that was in my head..The greatest feeling on earth is that he will hear everything I have to say.
A lesson I learned about praying: I used to only ask for what I thought was possible. Then I read somewhere that if we are to pray for anything it should be what falls in the will of God and not ours. (i.e. What will bring Him glory not us.) With this in mind during my morning prayer time, I was laminating on the loss that took place because I didnt come to Jesus in my teens when the Holy Spirit was really pushing and sturing me but waited till I was 38yrs old. All those years that I could have been serving the Lord I wasted on serving myself. It was almost a dare that I prayed that God to turn back the clock to my teens and I would serve Him and evangelize to any and every teenager I encountered. Well, a week later I was asked to help with the middle schools. I had not told anyone about that conversation I had with God. Two weeks later I found myself with two dozen plus middle schools kids coming to me for answers to some real tough questions. Everytime they would say to me "Tess, can I talk to you 'bout something?" My heart would race in fear and I would just pray the words would come. Some real good stuff came out of my mouth in those times.Those words had to come from the Holy Spirit. It was all new to me!
Since then I have realized how powerful prayer can be and how important it is to keep a prayer log. A prayer log can be a real faith builder.
Tess
Marvin, Charles asked us to post the below devotional from Prayer, Praise and Promises on his behalf. He thought it was relevant to your situation and would be an encouragement to you as well. Tami
Title: The Heart of the Problem
Author: Warren Wiersbe
Devotion: Psalms
Read Psalm 10:12-18
David cried out and said, "God, You've got to take care of the situation."
For several years Saul had been pursuing him. At one point David compared himself to a flea that was being chased. Saul's problem was that he was listening to liars in his court. Those who wanted Saul's favor were saying, "David wants your crown. He wants your throne. David said this, and David did that." They lied about him, and he could do nothing about it.
We have little control over the circumstances of life. We can't control the weather or the economy, and we can't control what other people say about or do to us. There is only one area where we have control--we can rule the kingdom inside. The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart. Once we get to that throne room inside us and let God take over, we don't have to worry about others.
David prayed in verse 12, "Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble." The word humble is a key word. What is humility? Is it thinking poorly of ourselves? No, humility is simply not thinking of ourselves at all. Humility means admitting that I cannot handle my problem by myself. God is going to have to handle it by working in me and through me and for me. But before God can work for me or through me He has to work in me.
If you want to get on top of your circumstances, get beneath the feet of the Lord. Humble yourself, and He'll lift you up.
We cannot control the circumstances of life, nor can we avoid them. But we can take a humble attitude toward God. He takes a special interest in us and will help us handle our circumstances. Have you examined the throne room inside lately? Are you willing to let God work in you and through you to accomplish His purposes?
This devotional is used with permission by the author. It may be used solely for personal, noncommercial, and informational purposes. Republication or redistribution of this devotional is prohibited.
That commentary by Warren Wiersbe is great.