Last week, a friend opened up to me about some genuine prayer concerns in her life. That is not uncommon. As a pastoral counselor for the past thirty-five years, people feel free to share some of their deepest burdens with me, and I consider it an honor. Yet many of these situations seem so daunting. This week feeling how powerless we both were to affect any change in the circumstances, I found myself thinking, "Well I guess we can pray about your situation." Before I spoke that out loud, I caught myself as I realized it isn't, "at least we can pray about it." It's "at the most we can pray about any situation." What a tool we have to accomplish God's will in this life, to foster healing, to claim God's intervention, to see His hands at work for His eternal purposes in this temporal world. What a privilege! And just in case you, like me, may momentarily see the circumstances around us as more than intimidating, let's recognize the power available to us to call on the Creator of the Universe and everything in it, the Author of life itself, and see Him move to accomplish good.
Here are a few excellent quotes about prayer that I will do well to remember. Perhaps you will too:
"Let the life of prayer flow into the busiest hours of your busiest day. It will be a defense against temptations. It will give you power in Christian service. It will hallow (or bless) all your influence. It will give you peace in the midst of dangers, help in weakness, light in darkness, comfort in sorrows, companionship in loneliness, and friendship for your hungry heart.
"If we know how to get help in prayer, we need never fail at any point in life, for then God's might is back of us as the ocean is in back of the bay." J.R. Miller was a Presbyterian pastor at the turn of the 19th century.
"When our Lord Jesus gave us the blessed command to enter our inner chamber, shut the door, pray to our Father in secret, all alone, He gave us the promise that the Father would hear such prayers and mightily answer them in our life before men. What a great privilege is the opportunity for daily prayer to begin each morning. Let it be the one thing our hearts are set on, seeking and finding, discovering and meeting God." Andrew Murray.
So, let's use this AMAZING gift God has given us to call on Him to make His will happen in this world. He doesn't need our permission, but he thrives on our belief.
Praying for you and with you,
Linda Newton