I was having dinner with a friend one evening. As we were catching each other up on the recent events of our lives, she began talking about a difficult thing her and her husband are going through. She gave me the details and it was something I honestly (and hopefully) will never have to experience myself. I asked what others had given in the way of advice. She looked at me half-heartedly and said they told me to pray about it…
This phrase “pray about it” is one thrown around in Christian circles ALL. THE. TIME.
I say it, you say it, we mean it and yet we don’t. It seems to be a cop out both to the giver of the advice and the receiver. We know it has value and we agree that it is part of our solution, but the problem is the we have put prayer into a commonplace column as if it has little effect on our situations. How many times have you said this:
“All I can do is pray…”
Admit it, you’ve said it more times than you can count, but is that what you think? Prayer is ‘all you can do’ in the sense that it is feeble attempt to put forth effort in the circumstances surrounding you? I hope this post will make you rethink saying that phrase, or at least revalue the word prayer. I want to put the life back into the offering of prayer and power back into the idea of prayer as the most valuable tool in your arsenal.
prayer
pre(ə)r/
noun
a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.
Prayer to Whom?
Prayer is a request addressed to God, the CREATOR of the Universe! It seems prayer is anything, but common. Furthermore, because we have freely accepted the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice, we have been adopted by God, so he is our Father AND the Creator of the Universe.If you were friends with the president and you offered to go to him on behalf of a friend, you wouldn’t offer that request casually or see it as ‘all you could do’ if in fact he (the President) was the one who absolutely could change the outcome of the situation. You would see it as THE solution and you would take great care in presenting that request. How much more loving, accepting, and powerful is the recipient of your prayers?
There is Power in Prayer
Spending time in prayer is a way of focusing on the spirit realm. When we pray we are speaking to a God we can’t see…and I purpose we are speaking about enemies we can’t see either.
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The word tell us that our opponent does not reside in this physical realm. He works in this realm, but to really do battle with him, we enter into the spirit realm. Our portal is prayer. I want to challenge you to meditate on the word prayer and ask Holy Spirit to open your eyes and heart to the vast power linked to prayer. If it has become monotonous our commonplace in your relationship with God, lets shake things up a bit to keep it new and exciting! Ask Holy Spirit what prayer really is and journal the answers you feel you receive. Happy exploring!