Prayer Life

This topic has come up so much in the last several weeks with many people I know. For this reason I've taken my time with this and desire to be as clear as possible. Prayer means everything with your relationship with the Lord. If you want to evaluate where you are with Christ, reflect on your prayer life. Are you allowing Him into to every area in your life? Are you pushing yourself to better your prayer life? Or are you stagnant with where you are? Are you still uncomfortable praying aloud? Do you lean on others for prayer? There are so many areas in which we can continue growing in our prayers.

"Does God hear my prayers?", is a question we have all asked at some point in our walk with God. This may be something you're asking yourself now as you face difficult challenges in your life that seem like they'll never end. What if I were to say that this is the wrong question to ask? Before I answer this, let's take a look at what scripture says about prayer.

Prayer is how we speak to God directly, it's how we present ourselves before Him and build a deeper relationship with Him. Psalms 141:2 says "Let my prayer be before you as incense". If you've never heard of incense, it is a frangrance on wicks that the israelite's would burn in the tabernacle and the temple before God. The smoke of the incense would fill up the tent or room and linger with a captivating scent. When we pray, our prayers go before God and lingers with Him like incense, there is never a prayer that He forgets. Remember that God is limitless, He hears, knows, and sees all things. So if this is the case, why do we ask the question, "Does God hear my prayers?" Instead of asking this, we first need to ask ourselves the question "I know God, but does He know me?"

Scripture is clear that God is far from the wicked (Proverbs 15:29, Psalms 34:17-18), and the wicked are those who don't have a relationship with Him, but will hear the prayers of those who turn to Him and commit their lives to serving and loving Him. In other words, have you recognized you need to be saved and have you accepted that gift from Christ? If you can't think of a time you've come to the feet of Christ and seen a change in your life, then consider this. If you have then there is no doubt that He hears your prayers and will answer them.

This leads us to another topic with prayer. I have heard people say, "I've prayed for this, so I know it will happen." Understand that it is so important to be confident in our prayers, but God is not a genie in a bottle. We can make our requests known to God with confidence that He has the power to grant those requests, but remember that sometimes the answer to our prayers may not be the answer we're looking for. When we pray for healing, we may experience a different kind of healing than we want or expect. Also, remember that sometimes answers will not be immediate, it may take years before a prayer is answered. Prepare your hearts for this and find rest in Him, remember that He never forgets a prayer. Lastly, when we ask for something, sometimes the answer may be 'No'. The God of the Universe knows all things and will provide for every need, but His ways may look different than yours. This is often hard for us to accept, especially in the moment when we're asking 'why?'.

I recently spent some time at the beach and as I was walking along the water I noticed the waves and how pretty they were as they kept coming up around my feet, but when I looked up and farther out, I was overwhelmed. The ocean goes far beyond our sight and it's depth is measureless. God's love for us is the same. So maybe your being called out into deeper love with Christ, maybe He's asking you to step into a relationship with Him for the first time, or to allow Hm into areas of your life you've closed off to Him. My advice? LET HIM IN. He will transform these areas for you and bless you. Jump into the water, get off of the boat like Peter and give these things to Him. Push yourself out of your comfort zone, its the only way to grow.