Answered Prayers

 What can I say about prayer that hasn’t already been said? I can only tell about the answered prayers in my own life. No one else can tell you that.

I don’t know about you, but praying has not been natural for me. You might think that as a Preacher’s kid who was raised in the church, that prayer would be like breathing. However, prayer, for most of my life has been a mystery.

I think the first issue I had was I would ask God for BIG things only. I thought little daily stuff was not worth God’s attention. So I prayed for world peace, for the hungry to be fed, and for all people to turn to Christ. Amen. My prayers were noble but not relational. And probably not something that will be answered in my lifetime or even on this earth. So how did I bring my prayers down to my reality? I learned to pray for the next step. I prayed for my decisions that I knew I would face that very day. I recorded issues that friends were facing on that day and I prayed for them also.

[33] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16: 33 NIV

Another issue with prayer was my forgetfulness. I would pray for an issue to be resolved then never give it another thought. I did not expect or notice God’s answer. I did not follow through. Once I found a way to ensure follow through, my prayer life became vibrant. The way I found to battle my forgetfulness was to record my prayers daily. Then daily, review the previous day’s requests. To my amazement, my prayers were answered over and over again. God was constantly working on my prayers. And then I expressed my gratitude. It would take pages to describe the difference gratitude makes in my life. This is not to say that I have this gratitude thing down. I am a negative person by human nature. I fight this daily.

[14] This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

I John 5:14-15 NIV

Another issue was that I often prayed for stuff that was not God’s will. No, I didn’t pray for that mean girl to get syphilis, but I prayed for things that weren’t necessarily important to anyone’s relationship with God. So how do we know his will?  By reading his Word.  By talking to Him.  By a personal relationship with Him.  By pursuing Him. I once heard that God has priorities that are very different from ours. While we care about our earthly comforts and earthly justice, God cares first about our relationship with him and our eternal destination. So when I pray, I must keep in mind that God’s priority is his relationship to his children, before justice on earth and before my perceived happiness or comfort in this temporary life. And when my prayers are aligned with God’s desires, then I see miracles.

[2] “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: [3] ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Jeremiah 33:2-3 NIV

Image by reenablack from Pixabay

The Time Machine

There is a song by Kenny Chesney called "Better Boat" that has some great lines.  My absolute favorite line is, "I let God do what he does." Here is a link to that song if you would like to listen.

Better Boat

It would be so freeing to let go and let God do what he does.  I pray to God for so many matters but many times fail to see the answers he gives.  Sometimes it is because I have tunnel vision and the answers don't look like I expect.  Often I don't see what he is doing because his timing is not my timing. Watching for change is like watching the motion of the hour hand on a clock.

So to get a different perspective, at the end of a year I like to go back and review my journal.  As I was reading my 2018 journal I realized that it was my time machine. It is easier to see change when I looked back to compare.  I could see God doing what he does.  I saw my silly worries.  I was reminded of the deliverance he provided.  I saw the "no" answers as well as all the "later" and "yes" answers.  I saw the painful mistakes followed by victorious days.  It is like time lapse photography on the growth of a flower.  It changes the pace and lets me see miracles that are easily overlooked.   I saw change and growth in my relationship with Christ and I saw his amazing patience and love for me.

Due to arthritis in my hands, writing is painful, so journaling did not come naturally to me. I started it by chunking and summarizing months in a little tiny spiral over 14 years ago.  As time went on, I was further inspired by the character Aibileen in The Help who wrote all her prayers, and made this practice a big part of my journaling. When I went digital I found that the task was not painful on my hands and errors were easily edited. My thoughts began to flow onto the digital page like a break in a dam.  I began the digital journaling by using a journaling app.  Here is a little advice: after losing the bigger half of 2016, I learned to use a reliable company that backs up in the cloud! Currently, I journal every morning in my iPad using the notepad on iCloud.

If you choose to record 2019, many days all you may get written down is the date and a sentence.  That is fine.  If you skip, that is fine.  Come up with a system that works for you and each year you can improve on it.  Soon you will be able to look back and see God doing what he does.  Then maybe you will be able to better trust Him with your tomorrow.