Prayer works

Have I mentioned how much I cringe when I hear people say something like "thanks for praying, it worked! >insert thing they wanted to happen<" 

It's like praying is the same thing as wishing on a star or tossing a penny in a wishing well. There's a sense of surprise when "prayer works." 

Prayer works. Hmmm...

When did things change? It used to be that we KNEW prayer worked because prayer was just part of our connection/relationship with God. We needed God like we need food and water. 

• I guess we have enough candy, soda, coffee, that we forget we need nutrition and water until we get sick. 

Now, it seems like we only turn to God in prayer when we have a specific want (yes, want, not always a true need). How often do we turn to God and just say "I need YOU" instead of "I want ---"

No wonder there's a sense of surprise, we are such children! 

My children are always asking me for things.

Here's an analogy for you. M'ija, 6 years old, has been nearly perfectly behaved all day. Her room clean, no fighting or arguing, etc. It's 30 minutes before daddy gets home for dinner and she asks "Mommy, may I please have some candy?"

In her mind, she has no reason to be denied this request. Yet, I say no. Her petition failed. 

She comes back in 5 minutes and asks again - I don't even answer her. Now, not only has her request been denied once, but now she is not being listened to. 

Sound familiar? She was denied the first time because something better for her is coming. She wasn't answered the second time because she already knew the answer. 

Don't we do this to God?

When we have a specific request that gets denied, sometimes over and over again, we feel like He doesn't care, isn't answering. Like praying "doesn't work."

Now, I know the analogy is a bit oversimplified, but hang with me a little longer. 

Let's talk scriptures. We know how powerful praying with faith can be. 

Matthew 21:22 " And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

John 14:13-14 "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

Yet to we remember this one also?

James 4:3 " Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

Then you have the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8.

But remember, she was wronged and the judge didn't do anything. At the end of the parable, Jesus tells us He is righteous and will avenge. 

Let's weigh all the verses together (and others I didn't reference) and I can sum them up - again a bit oversimplified, but I am not God. You want to full story, dig into the Bible yourself. Here's my summary - we have to be in the will of God. Our faith need to not be in His gift-giving, but in His Love, Power, Wisdom. 

See, prayer works, but it is not like wishing on a star. 

It's good to ask God for specifics, some people walk so closely with Him that is all they do. I admire that intimacy, strive for it myself. Personally, I'm not there. I tell God my desires, the specific answer I want, but I also pray more for His wisdom because I have received my wants enough to know that, quite often, I didn't want what I thought I wanted, and definitely didn't need them as I believed. 

So, prayers for peace and wisdom often accompany my requests for said desires.

See, He is my Father. Being a mother has taught me a lot about how this relationship is supposed to work. 

He loves me, wants me to trust him to tell Him things - things He already knows but means so much more coming from willing conversation.

He loves me, wants me to respectfully ask Him for things - and just as respectfully accept no as an answer. 

He loves me, wants me to trust His wisdom and knowledge.

He loves me, wants me to come to Him when I'm sad, hurt, angry, and let Him hold me. 

He loves me, gives me all the advice I need, but then let's me learn the hard way sometimes. He let's me make my own choices, even if it will hurt. He loves me enough to not be a tyrant - He gives me freedom.

He also loves me so much that, when I finally swallow my pride and return to Him, He holds me. He comforts me. 

He loves me enough to help heal my hurts and help me sort through the messes I make. 

I love my girls, they love me. I love for them to ask me things, talk, etc, yet nothing compares to when my girls just come up to me and love on me. 

These are all things I learned as a mom who loves her children. 

Matthew 7:11

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?