Tag Archive | Prayer

How do You Pray?

Mar29

How do you pray? I’m not asking about kneeling or standing, sitting or reclining, eyes closed or wide open, everyday language or King James speak.

It’s a simple question. How do you pray? Do you believe things will happen when you pray? Do you utter a bunch of words that you’ve memorized? When you pray, are you just yapping for the sake of yapping? Yes, I know the word ‘yapping’ is hardly spiritual, but then a lot of prayer that clutters the air isn’t at all spiritual either.

How do you pray? Do you pray to the God of the Universe? The God who created babies, and grass, and the sand. The God who set the sun and moon in the sky and created the stars and the oceans. Think about it! If you are real in your praying, that is Who you are talking to when you pray. The. God. Of. The. Universe.

Do you pray believing? Believing that God is listening? I had a sweet conversation with a dear friend recently. She told me about selling their house a while back. She and her husband had been in that house for a long time; they’d raised their now-grown children there. That house had been their home. A home where love was the language, and God was in charge.

They prayed about selling their home. They prayed about who would buy it. They prayed for a Christian family to buy the house. They didn’t pray for a quick sale. They prayed for the right sale. They prayed believing. They. Prayed. Believing.

Have you tried that? Have you tried praying believing? Actually prayed and believed that God would answer? Not that gimme, gimme, gimme stuff. Or, “I prayed,” and five minutes later, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Scripture teaches, “You have not because you ask not.” And continues, “You have not because you ask amiss” James 4:2b – 4:3a).

My friends received more than 15 offers in a couple of days. Leaning into what and for whom they prayed, they chose a buyer. They didn’t select the highest offer. Since they had prayed believing, they chose the right buyer.

My dear friend went on to tell me so many wonderful things about the family who now owns and lives in her former home, including how well the neighbors have received them, how these folks have been blessed in their new home, and how the new owners have blessed the neighbors.

In their praying, my friend and her husband asked for the right direction. They didn’t ask amiss.

They prayed believing. How do you pray?

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FLOOD WALLS or FAITH WALLS?

Jun27

Many years ago, I lived in Huntington, West Virginia.  The Ohio River separates West Virginia and Ohio; normally that mass is calm, wending its way northward and staying within its banks.

However, one year we had an abundance of rain. As one who grew up in New Mexico where we measured our rainfall in drops, rather than inches, the idea of a flood was something new. There were flood walls here and there to contain the outrageous excess of water that accumulated from a flood.

I remember being in total awe of God in that man really thought he could contain billions of gallons of water with flood walls. And to this day, man thinks he knows better than God what can be controlled and legislated and ruled.

Along this same thought process of flood walls, I am reminded me that God had the foresight to set up a system of “flood walls” for His children.  He called it ASSEMBLING (gather together, fellowship, meeting, church).

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  KJV Hebrews 10:25 and in The Message: “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the bid Day approaching.”

Think about the enormous Ohio River! One lone brick (one Christian) will be swept away with a normal river flow (everyday life), not to mention FLOOD waters. But put a number of bricks (saints) together with good mortar (prayer) and the flood (adversity, pain, fear) will be pushed back or held at bay.

Jesus didn’t command us to get together on Sunday morning for His sake; He said if for ours.

Are your flood walls in place? Do you share your burdens with your brothers and sisters, or do you sit home alone with your problems and thoughts and let the flood of misery overtake you?

Are you denying someone the ability to share his or her gifts of faith or prayer or encouragement?  Or …

Do you want to find Peace that passes all understanding? Call a friend. Reach out. Ask for help. Give the family of God the opportunity to be the bricks and cement in your wall.

One or two bricks have no strength against a flood (of problems, concerns, fears, doubts), but a huge wall (your Christian friends) against this flood will help the one brick to stand strong, resist the flood and deflect the crash of waves of _______ (you fill in the blank).

© 2015 Cat Brennan (all rights reserved)