Faith in Prayer…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee ☕

God is Good.

He is merciful, full of grace and understanding, dealing with each person according to their works, without partiality.

Matthew 7:7-12

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

What are we asking for?

Do we remember what we ask for?

Do we care enough to do the work for what we ask for?

Prayer is communication with God—but communication takes many forms.  A prayer of need asks God for what we think we lack.  A prayer of praise expresses our gratitude and love for Him.

Yet, when we bring our requests before God, do we actually need what we ask for?  Are we asking for a fish and expecting a fish to manifest?  God could be answering by teaching us how to fish.  If we are seeking the Presence of God, does it not make sense to pray and ask Him to reveal Himself?

And have we considered what work that might involve?

James 4:1-5

“Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.  You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  Adulterers and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?’”

Are we asking for the right things?

Jesus teaches that if we ask, we will receive.  He also teaches that God gives good gifts—gifts that are peaceable and full of wisdom.  But sometimes, the answer to our prayer is not what we expect.  God knows what we need better than we do.

So the question is:

Do we have the faith to trust Him?

Do we have the discernment to know when we are asking for what we want instead of what He wants?

Romans 8:26-27

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,  but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,  because He makes intercession for the saints according to the Will of God.”