Prayer

Those who fail to pray because they do not feel close to God may not feel close to God because they fail to pray. You have to spend time with God. God gave each and everyone one of us free will. We all have a choice. God isn’t going to come busting in like gang busters to get us to spend time with Him. He leaves that ‘choice’ up to us. When I say ‘spending time’ that means reading your Bible, meditating on His word, and spending regular time in prayer with Him. He’s not going to hunt you down. He wants you to draw near to Him, to seek Him out.  

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could

Prayer

The person who only prays when he feels like it will not pray much.

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could 

Saying a Prayer

Saying a prayer and praying are two different things!

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could

Purpose of Prayer

The purpose of prayer is to get in step with God, not to manipulate or coerce Him into blessing personal plans.

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could

Prayer

Prayer changes things … sometimes it changes us and sometimes it changes our circumstances.

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could 

Prayer

Father, give me the strength to wait on You ...

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord.   Psalm 27:14

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Prayer

Father in Heaven, please give me a heart for you ...

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could

Prayer

I found a reference to this father's prayer for his son while going through some notes today ...

O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision."  I Chronicles 29:18-19

This is King David praying for his son Solomon!  He asked God to give Solomon ...

a perfect heart to keep God's commandments, testimonies and statues and to do them all ...

and a perfect heart to build the temple

David was concerned about Solomon's heart!  

Yes, that's the best place to start when we're praying for our children!

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could

Prayer ... part 3

Do We Have To Meet Certain Conditions Before God Will Hear Our Prayers?

part 3 in a series on prayer

By Patsy Norwood ~ 2007 – 2016 ~ All Rights Reserved

Prayer is a privilege reserved for God’s children. What an awesome thought ... a link to God that is just for Christians and no one else. It makes me feel special and loved, but not everyone enjoys this privilege. According to Proverbs 15:29 which says “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (NASB) and I Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (NASB) those who are not Christians do not have this privilege. John 9:31 affirms this also, “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears us.” (NASB). God does not hear the prayers of sinners unless the sinner is praying for help to find Him.

Cornelius, in Acts chapter 10 is an example of a man who was not a Christian but prayed to God continually. Even though the Bible says he was a devout man who feared God and gave alms to the Jews he had not yet been taught God’s plan of salvation. (Toward the end of the chapter God answers Cornelius’ prayer through Peter .... he and all his household learn of God’s teachings, are baptized and become Christians.) Cornelius earnestly sought God through prayer and God heard him. One ‘condition’ to having God hear our prayers, as indicated in the above verses, is that we must be one of His children or earnestly seeking Him before He will hear us.

The other ‘condition’ I would like to address is specifically for Christians. What happens when Christians get out of relationship with God? Does He hear our prayers then, after all we are still His children, albeit erring ones? II Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from heir wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins, and will heal their land.” (KJV) While this verse is God’s answer to Solomon’s ‘temple prayer’ in II Chronicles 6, it is applicable to the question we are trying to answer. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His principles were applicable in Bible times and they are applicable today. God has not changed nor will He. The word ‘if’ signified a condition then and it signifies one now. “If My people who are called by My name ..........” The condition is repentance. If we know we are not right with God than we must repent and turn from our erring ways before God will hear our prayers.

What about those who are not Christians that say they are sure God has intervened in their lives when they called out to him? Many would have us think that God is only a loving and caring God and that He would not turn His back on anyone calling out to Him in their hour of distress. Ladies, God is loving and caring, but He is also just. God said what He meant and He means what He said. In Isaiah, chapter 1, verses 10-14 God is talking to the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah. He is telling them that He has had enough of their hypocrisy and wicked ways. He continues on in verse 15 saying, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers I will not listen.. (NIV)” We find another example in the 27th chapter of the book of Job where Job is speaking out against his accusers and is taking a stand for righteousness. Verses 8 and 9 say, “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God requires his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? And again in chapter 35 when Elihu is reproving Job, trying to get him to admit to sinning against God thereby having brought all these hardships on himself, “There they cry out, but He does not answer because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it (verses 12-13). Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” confirms that God does not hear the prayer of a sinner or an erring child as does Proverbs 28:9, “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” Isaiah 59: 1-2 puts it in these words, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear, But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. There is no doubt that God is a loving and caring God, the Bible is full of example after example. What we don’t like to admit or think about though, is that he is also a just God. Here again the Bible is full of example after example. I repeat, God says what He means and He means what He says and it is in our best interest that we remind ourselves of this from time to time.

Let’s go back to the non-Christian and talk a little more about his/her certainty that God hears or has heard his/her prayers. Many non-Christians can relate stories of “near misses” in their lives or situations in which they were certain God was with them. They are convinced that in their hour of need, when they called out to God, He heard their prayers. According to Scripture this is simply not true. So how do we account for those situations in which it appears that God DOES intervene on behalf of the non-Christian? I believe the answer lies in the following verses: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5:16-18, KJV) In my humble opinion this is the key, God did intervene, not because the non-Christian called out to Him, but because somewhere Christian/Christians (maybe a mother, father, grandparents, friends, etc.) had been or were praying for the non-Christian. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous person ....”

Yes, there are conditions to having our prayers heard by God, for the Christian as well as the non-Christian, we must be in a right relationship with God, or earnestly seeking Him, nothing more and nothing less.

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

A Working Pantry

Prayer ... part 2

Does It Really Do Any Good To Pray!

part 2 in a series on prayer

By Patsy Norwood ~ © 2001-2016 ~ All Rights Reserved.

This is the heartfelt question that one who is 'prayer weary' often asks. In moments of weakness and feelings of hopelessness/despair; when we have prayed and prayed over a situation in which nothing seems to be happening, it is easy to become discouraged and ask the question, does it really do any good to pray? Hold on dear sisters, God knew there would be times like this for His children and as any good Father does, He has some words of wisdom for us. These words are found in the book of Job and I call them God’s ‘reminder course.’

Before we turn to the book of Job and look at God's reminder course though we need to do something else, we need recognize that if we are feeling this way Satan has just scored a small victory in our lives. Satan is the father of hopelessness/despair and this is where he will keep us if he can. I don't know about you, but if Satan wants me in despair with a feeling of hopelessness then that is reason enough for me not to want to be there. These feelings, left unchecked, can turn into sin, which is what Satan wants. The sin is not in having these feelings, everyone deals with these emotions at some point in their lives, but the sin comes in how we deal with them, which brings up another point, how do we deal with these feelings?

In dealing with any situation, emotions included, there has to be a starting place, and, in my opinion, the starting place is to have a heart to heart talk with God. If we are angry we need to tell Him, we need to pour out our hopeless feelings and despair to Him. There’s no need to hold back, He already knows what we are feeling anyway (Isn’t it great to know that we can go to God with everything ... including our feelings?). There have been times when I have had to humbly say to God, “this is the way I feel; I don’t want to feel this way, but I do, please help me.” This is a good place for me to stop and interject something, when we ask God for help let us be careful that we do not dictate to Him the way in which we will allow His help to come to us. Going for a walk, talking to a friend, in some cases seeking medical help, or just plain activity may be what we need. The point is, God is all powerful and there is no limit to the sources from which His help can come. Now, back to having a heart to heart talk with our Father, for me admitting my ‘inability’ to God is the first step in acknowledging my dependence upon Him and then and only then am I in a position to be helped by Him. As I said, for me this is the starting place.

Okay ladies, it’s time to take a look at God’s ‘reminder course’ that I mentioned earlier. In the book of Job, Job in the midst of his many afflictions and full of despair talks to God (Job’s despair is evident throughout the book.). God, after hearing what Job has to say, has something to say to Job (chapters 38-42). This is what I call God’s ‘reminder course.’ He reminds him that He is, was, and will always be. He reminds him that He is the creator of all that is and that he (Job) need not question His plans (at some point in all of our lives we need these reminders). After God has put Job through His reminder course and Job has repented, God has one more reminder for him. God reminds Job (by His actions) that the faithful will be rewarded (Job 42:10 - 17) ... the faithful will be rewarded, what a hope lifting thought!

Does it really do any good to pray? Yes, it does! God’s answers may not be the ones we want and they may not come when we want them, but it is evident by God’s talk with Job that we are not to question His plans. Our job is to remain faithful regardless of how or when our prayers are answered and to remember that God sees the whole picture, while we only see in part.

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

A Working Pantry

Prayer ... Part 1

What Is Prayer?

By Patsy Norwood ~ © 2001-2016 ~ All Rights Reserved.

According to Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, prayer is a humble and sincere request made to God. This is a good definition and one that is fairly simple to understand, but there is more to prayer than a simple definition. In this article we are going to dig deeper and take a closer look at “what prayer is” and hopefully come away with a deeper understanding and appreciation for this privilege.

Prayer is talking to God. This means we can converse with Him, pour out our hearts to Him and confide in Him. It means that we can literally share everything that is of concern to us with Him. God wants us to do this, in fact He tells us to do it over and over again in His word. I Timothy 2:1 is one such reference, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men.” II Thessalonians 5:17 is another, “Pray without ceasing.” Regardless of who we are or what we have or haven’t done, we can talk to God ... we have been given His permission.

As I said earlier, prayer is a privilege. That’s right ... a privilege! Where else but to God can we go with our heartfelt pleas, when our worlds or the worlds of those we love are falling apart? Where else can we go with the assurance that we are loved and that the events of our lives matter? Where else can we go and know that regardless of the answer to our prayers, “that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose"  (Romans 8:28).   Prayer is our acknowledgment of utter dependence on God. “Utter dependence on God” means that we have reached the point where we realize that we can do absolutely nothing about a given situation ... but that we have a Savior Who can. What a comforting thought ... “we have a Savior Who can.”

Prayer is an opportunity to obey God’s command to pray for others ... and to be blessed ourselves. When we are asked to pray for others do we realize that we have been given the opportunity to not only intercede in prayer on behalf of that person, but to be blessed ourselves? God wants us to pray. Luke 18:1b says, “....... at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” It is a well documented fact in the Bible that our obedience to His commands/principles result in blessings. Who would have ever thought that by praying for others we would be heaping blessings upon ourselves? Only God would have come up with something like that!

I’ve saved the best part of ‘what prayer is’ for last. Our prayers usually come from a sense of need, either in our lives or in the lives of others. Hebrews 11:6 says, “... he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” As this verse says we must have faith, we must believe, and as we want our children to do when they bring their requests to us, we must rest in the knowledge that our Father will do what is best for us. In my humble opinion, this is the best part of prayer ... resting in the knowledge that our Father will do what is best for us and for those for whom we are praying.

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

A Working Pantry