My Devotion My Heart

January 20, 2019

My Devotion

My Heart

Pray, and then Keep Praying

Teresa Jenkins

Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  Luke 18:1

The parable:  In a certain town there was a judge who did not fear God, or cared about men and a widow in that town who kept coming to him with a plea “Grant me justice against my adversary.”  For a long time he refused to help her, but finally he thought, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see she gets justice so she won’t wear me out with her coming.”  Then the unjust judge said, “Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night?  Will He keep putting them off?  I tell you, He will see that they get justice quickly.” (Luke 18:2-8)

I believe in prayer, I’ve seen it work, I’ve seen God answer prayers, but I confess I have not always understood prayer (and in some ways still don’t).  I’ve been intimidated when it comes to prayer, not sure how to pray, not sure what to ask God for, not sure what to say.  I would evaluate my requests, before I prayed checking for validity in my request, “is what I’m asking for the right thing to ask for?”.  Then there was the other side, believing God would hear or even answer my prayer.  It was so hard to fight off doubt.  Those of us with a pessimist nature, believe and practice, if I don’t get my hopes up I won’t be as disappointed and if the request is granted, then “Hurray!  All is great!”  It’s a never ending cycle that almost every time, silenced me from praying at all. 

Prayer is a very important part of Christianity.  It is a privilege, because it is our direct communication with God.  Jesus all through His ministry modeled prayer, taught His disciples about prayer, and left them instructions to pray about everything.  Mark 9 tells about the time the disciples could not drive out a spirit that made the boy deaf and mute since childhood.  Jesus rebuked the “deaf and mute spirit” and commanded it to come out of him never to enter again.  Later when Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples ask why they couldn’t drive it out.  Jesus replied, “This kind can only come out by prayer.”

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:4  One of my favorite verses on prayer.  Take away all your questions, your doubts, your fears about praying and just talk to God, turn to Him when you wake up, speak to Him, all day whisper, thanks, help, and peace.  God knows your heart and if there is any unclean thing there, He will wash it away, when we ask for His forgiveness, He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  As children of God we have a deep desire to be good, to do good, and God’s grace and mercy helps us where we are weak, it’s in those quiet moments when we come to Him in prayer, pouring out our all our pain, fears, and struggles to Him, He takes them and in HIS time works them all out for good and to His glory.  It is our lives that we reflect His glory through His answers to our prayers.  Those impossible moments in our lives that we literally think we aren’t going to make it through, the anxiety and weight of our situation is going to be the end of us, and then God, when it seemed like it was just in time was actually right on time, answered our prayer exactly as it should have been answered, and even better than we even imagined.

I challenged myself to pray more, not those canned prayers, first say this, then that and then finish, amen.  I’m still working on it and making progress, and pressing on toward the goal:  Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. …May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.  1Thessalonians 5:16-18, 23-24

In the most recent (still ongoing) situation, I surrendered to praying, following Jesus’ teaching on how to pray, acknowledging who God is, my Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name, Thy will be done…thanking Him for what He would do, all the while knowing it wasn’t going to be easy to watch or endure, but knowing as well the outcome would be good.  From the beginning my prayers started going up with “Thy will be done,” God began to move and I could see His movement.  There was no doubt it was God.  God worked on two people through this situation, the one I prayed for and me.    

Go on, pray, and then keep praying. God is for you. He is a good, good Father.