Prayer

Answered Prayer

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But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”   Matthew 14:30-31  

When Peter began to sink beneath the waves; he didn’t consider even for a moment trying to swim back to the boat. Instead he just cried out; “Lord save me!” and it was done. God is delighted to answer prayer but He is waiting for us to give him our biggest problems; ones beyond simply blessing our food and giving us a good night’s sleep. Sadly when I think of this story I realize how little I have really lived it. Maybe it is because I am afraid of a God who is too real and too big for me to handle. But oh how I am missing out on the immense value of answered prayer.

Are you like me, sinking in your struggle with an ocean too big for you to handle? Then instead of just saying words and then trying to swim why not cry out; “God I’m in trouble – I need your help right now!” God is listening and waiting to hear our voice. He knows the path ahead and His amazing plan is to walk it with us!

Walking on the Waters

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Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity… Hebrews 6:1a NIV

Sometimes when we read this portion of scripture we want to skip ahead to the gallery of faith heroes in chapter 11. These passages can seem dry and filled with a high theology disconnected from our daily life. But in reality they are incredibly practical and are put there to help us to reorient our relationship with Jesus from simply looking back to His work of salvation in our past. They are focusing like a laser on the right here and right now nitty gritty of our struggles today.

When the writer of Hebrews says let us go on to maturity he points us to the ministry of Jesus as our high priest. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” on the cross, He didn’t mean that He was now ready to retire to heaven. Instead He passed from His sacrificial role as the lamb of God to become our  eternal high priest who will pray for us for us every day till the end of time. Just as Jesus was watching his disciples struggling at the oars on the Sea of Galilee, while he was on the mountain praying, so he is watching over us as we are rowing across our own rough waters. In the same way that he came walking across the waters to help them, so He is ready to come and help us with whatever we face today.  

We must never undo what lies on the path behind but maybe today God is calling you and me to focus on His purpose for what lies ahead. What is on your path today? Jesus is already praying for you and if you look out you just might catch a glimpse of Him walking on the waters towards you!

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Still a Revolutionary Idea!

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On this National Day of Prayer I thought it appropriate to return to where the founders began on July 4, 1776.

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  Declaration of Independence

  • As we pray we must humbly remember that everything we have comes from God
  • As we pray we must believe that God will hear and answer prayer just as he did for the signers of The Declaration of Independence.
  • As we pray we should ask not only for God’s help for us but also for what He would want  us to do to help for others.
  • As we pray we must always remember that we are His creation and that without Him nothing else matters. No prosperity will ever be enough, no success can be final and no joy will last unless we put our trust in Him.

In God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? Psalm 56:11

On this 7th of May in 2020 in the middle of the Corona Virus Pandemic, it continues to be true that trusting God is still a revolutionary idea!

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