Prayer, An Honest Conversation with God

Prayer is surrender--surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat-hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.   -E. Stanley Jones, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 73. 

Quite simply, prayer is an honest conversation with God. Prayer has the power to change things in your life for the better. Through prayer, you can experience a miraculous turnaround, an unexplained intervention, an incredible event or an unexpected outcome.

So which of the following are you currently asking God for?

• Lord, I need a healing...
• Lord, please protect me...
• Lord, please bless me...
• Lord, please direct my path...
• Lord, please forgive me...

If you’re like me, then you’re asking God to heal, bless, protect, guide and forgive!

God has awesome power. After all, He created the world. You could say that He really does have the whole world in His hands. But despite His awesome power, there are times when we unfortunately doubt the Lord. Here are some situations that cause us to doubt Him.

• Sudden tragedy or loss...
• When something happens that we just don't understand...
• Prayers that aren't answered in the way we want...
• Prayers that aren't answered fast enough...
• Overwhelming life situations and problems...
• When bad things happen to good people...
• When good things happen to bad people...

We must strengthen our faith in God, especially when things get tough in life. We must have confidence that the Lord will intervene in the situation. Through your relationship with God, you have more power than you realize.

We all want our prayers to be effective, don't we? In today's message, we will examine a couple of  Bible characters who had their prayers answered by God. By examining their successful prayers, hopefully we can enhance the effectiveness of our communication with the Lord.

Now, read Mark 5:21-42; a dead girl and a sick woman's request for healing. What do you think we can we learn from the success that these bible characters had with the requests they made of Christ?

The sick woman displayed confidence in the Lord. She knew she would be healed if she connected with Him. We must be confident in Him. It appeared that the young girl was dead, but with the help of Christ, she lived. With the help of Christ, it’s never as bad as it looks. Christ told the woman that her faith had healed her. Our requests are granted according to the faith we have. If we have strong faith, in His Word, He says that our requests will be granted.

Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:8; Hebrews 13:18; James 4:8-10; 1 Peter 3:12; 1 John 3:22-24; Philippians 4:6-7; Romans 12:12

Prayer: "Bestow upon me, O Lord my God, understanding to know thee, diligence to seek thee, wisdom to find thee, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace thee."     -Thomas Aquinas 

May God always bless you!

Jean